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The Mauryan Polity c8.s3: Sec. iii. Departments of Taxation and Accounts

The Mauryan Polity c8.s3

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Sec. iii. Departments of Taxation and Accounts

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The Mauryan state like any other Hindu state had for its aim the realisation of the *trivarga*—the trinity group of Dharma, Artha and Kāma. Of these the author of the *Arthaśāstra* attaches greater importance to the second, namely, Artha or wealth, for on this depended the realisation of Dharma and Kāma.

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artha eva pradhānaḥ arthamūlau dharmakāmau|

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This does not mean that Artha or wealth is superior even to Dharma. But it does mean that wealth is the means, nay the indispensable means, towards the realisation of the two ends, namely, Dharma and Kāma. This statement is conformable to another statement which says

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kośāpūrvāḥ sarvārambhāḥ¹

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¹ Bk. II, ch. 8.

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that every activity of the state was to be necessarily preceded by a well-formed treasure. The idea is further traced and it is remarked that with an insufficient treasury the king would be forced to resort to resources which would invoke popular discontent, revolt and revolution.²

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² alpakōśo hi rājā paurajānpadāneva grasate| —Bk. II.1. kṣiṇāḥ prakṛtayo lobham lubdhā yānti vīrāgatām| viraktā yāntyamitram vā bhartāram ghnanti vīrāgatām|

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In the absence of a sound treasury the consequences could be well imagined. There would be no proper exercise of daṇḍa, for neither the army nor the officials would be loyal.¹ This discussion of the pros and cons of a well-furnished, partially furnished, and non-furnished treasury, bears the test that Kauṭalya was more than a theorist. In short Kauṭalya seems to drive at the fact that a fully furnished treasury alone can ensure the successful working of the administration, home and foreign.cont

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¹ koṣābhāve dhruvaṃ daṇḍavināśaḥ

Sources of revenue

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What were, then, the direct sources which tended to swell the king's exchequer? The primary source constituted the different kinds of land-tax, such as sītā or the produce of crown lands,² and bhāga or share of revenue apparently from private owned lands.³ This was invariably the traditional one-sixth of the produce. Bhāga is itself termed in the chapter entitled koṣṭhāgārādhyakṣa, saḍbhāga.⁴ Megasthenes informs us that one-fourth went to the king's share, and mentions another tax which was one-fourth of the produce of the soil, which also the husbandman paid into the treasury. This seems to be entirely wrong. Professor Hopkins is right when he remarks "the fourth part evidently declared by Megasthenes to be the proportion exacted, contradicts the perpetual statement of native authorities, that the proportion on grain is one-sixth, and one-fourth only in emergencies."⁵ Normally and generally the king's share is one-sixth as testified to by the Arthaśāstra. Aśoka who collected a sixth share of the grain harvest made an exception in favour of the village of Lumbini by reducing it to a eighth share. The text of the inscriptions has the term aṭhabhāga. While Bühler took aṭha to mean artha,¹ others took it to mean aṣṭa.² According to Bühler’s interpretation the term aṭhabhāgīya means ‘partaking of riches’. We cannot follow this interpretation. ‘Partaking of riches’ is misleading. We are in the dark as to the ‘riches’ which Lumbini village contained and which the king made use of. Besides if Aśoka meant artha by the term aṭha he could not have added the suffix bhāga. This suffix bhāga itself implies a numerical connotation. Therefore aṭha cannot be artha but only aṣṭa. Aṣṭabhāga means ‘entitled to an eighth share’, as Fleet would have it, or ‘paying a eighth share’, as Thomas³ and Hultzsch⁴ would have it. The latter meaning is more appropriate in the light of the use of the term bhāga in the Kauṭalīya.⁵

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² Bk. II, ch. 15.

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³ Bk. I, ch. 13.

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⁴ Bk. II, ch. 1; cp. Manu, VIII, 304-5.

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⁵ J.A.O.S., XIII p. 88.

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¹ Ep. Ind. V, p. 5. See also Z.D.M.G., 68, pp. 721-22.

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² See, for example, Fleet J.R.A.S., 1908, pp. 479-80.

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³ J.R.A.S., 1914, pp. 391-2.

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⁴ Corpus, p. 165.

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⁵ Bk. II, ch. 24.

Other items of rural revenue

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Other items of income which came under the category of rural revenue are mentioned. Piṇḍakara was a fixed commuted tax paid by the village community from time to time. Senābhaktam was a kind of punitive tax imposed on the country parts whenever the army was marching through them. It is natural to suppose that this was in kind, such as, oils and rice. Bali is another kind of impost on the land coming down from early Vedic times⁶ and seems to have been an annual contribution to the central exchequer.¹ It is again different from ṣaḍbhāga which is a separate tax though Kullūkabhaṭṭa takes both of them as one and the same tax.² It is not a religious tax as suggested by Shāmā Śāstri.³ This is again mentioned in the Lumbini inscription of Aśoka where it is said that Aśoka caused that village free from the impost of bali⁴ in honour of his visit to the place, and as already mentioned, further reduced the traditional ṣaḍbhāga into aṣṭabhāga.

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⁶ R. V. X, 173.

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¹ Manu, 7.80.

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² See the commentary on verse 30 of the chapter viii., Manu.

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³ Cp. Raghu, I.18.

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⁴ ubali (skt. ud-bali) has the analogous form ucchulka in the Ar. Śās., Bk. II, ch. 21. See Thomas, J.R.A.S., 1909 pp. 466-67.

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luṃmini-gāme ubalike kaṭe aṭha bhāgiyccha —Corpus, p. 164.

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The term ‘ca’ meaning ‘and’ connecting bali with aṣṭabhāga in the inscriptions is an evidence to show that separate taxes were meant. From this it is evident that Aśoka accepted and followed the system of revenue collection and fiscal policy enunciated by his grandfather Candragupta.

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Next comes kara which is apparently the share of produce from fruit and flower-gardens.⁵ Shāmā Śāstri’s interpretation as ‘contribution by subdued princes’ does not fit in at all. For, it must be remembered that it finds a place in the group of taxes arising from the rāṣṭra, literally, country parts.

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⁵ Gaṇpati Śāstri Ed., Vol. I, p. 230.

Income from trade and commerce

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Another source of revenue, next only in importance to the taxes connected with the land, is trade and commerce. The Kauṭalīyan state recognised the value of this unfailing source of revenue and hence endeavoured its best to encourage trade and commerce.¹ What we understand to-day by the nationalisation of industries was, to a great extent, realised in the Mauryan epoch. The state undertook manufactures and industries. State manufactories were established. These were in charge of the Superintendent of Commerce.² But private individual efforts and co-operative activities of guilds were not interfered with. Discrimination was used in the imposition of taxes on commerce. Foreign merchants were allowed a good deal of freedom. Illicit transactions (*vyavahāra*), misappropriation (*upabhoga*)³ and defalcation (*apahāra*) were severely dealt with. To this list of punishable offences were added the offence of tampering with weights and measures⁴ and offering forbidden and bad articles for sale in the market.⁵

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¹ pracārasamardhiḥ—II.8; paṇyabāhulyam—(*Ibid.*).

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² Bk. II, ch. 16.

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³ Bk. II, ch. 8.

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⁴ Bk. II, ch. 19.

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⁵ Bk. II, ch. 21.

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The income under this head of trade and commerce included tolls which varied according as the articles were necessaries or luxuries—;⁶ *dvāradeya* (literally, the gate dues), road-cess probably collected by the *antapāla*⁷ and profits earned from weaving and spinning. This last was pursued by women of different castes and age for both, time and piece, wages.⁸ Under this head came also incomes from ocean, and river, traffic. Fishermen generally paid one-sixth of the value of their haul. Customs duties were levied on ships touching the port towns. Income also came from coastal traffic.¹ Ferry dues (*taradeya*), tax on markets (*paṭṭanam*),² fee from licences of different kinds of passports, tax from the guilds of the artisan classes (*kāruśilpigaṇaḥ*), monopoly of income from salt and other commodities, tended to swell the revenues of the State from commerce. Special mention may be made here of the encouragement given by the State for exports of indigenous goods.³

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⁶ *Ibid.*

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⁷ Bk. II, ch. 21 and 22.

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⁸ Bk. II, ch. 23.

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¹ Bk. II, ch. 28.

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² Bk. II, ch. 34.

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³ See Kauṭilya, p. 200.

Other items of income

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The other category of income to the state comprising of those items arising from the State-owned properties like forests,⁴ wastelands including the public pasturage,⁵ land and ocean mines,⁶ treasure finds, the mintage,⁷ unclaimed properties, forced labour (*viṣṭi*), and fines of different descriptions for transgression and trespass of law. Added to these were the incomes collected by the excise department (*surādhyakṣa*),⁸ the department of gambling (*dyūta*)⁹ which was centralised lest the evil should spread widely, from the institution of prostitutes (*veśya*),¹ the department of slaughter-house,² and other miscellaneous taxes collected from religious and charitable endowments, heads of cattle, building sites (*vāstuka*), spoils of war, tributes, voluntary contributions and other several minor dues like *utsaṅga*, *pārśva*, for which there was no absolute and fixed rate.³ In cases of emergency extraordinary taxes and enhanced exactions (*praṇaya*) were collected.⁴ The resources of the rich were primarily but carefully tapped.⁵ Normally the State kept in stock half of the grain collections, to meet unforeseen circumstances⁶ like the setting of famine.

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⁴ Bk. II, ch. 17.

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⁵ Bk. II, ch. 29. Rock Edict XI refers to the superintendent of pastures. The term *vachamhi* in R. E. VI is *vraja* of the *Arthaśāstra* (II.6), meaning a herd of cattle and other animals. This *vraja* is said to have been inspected by Aśoka. If we consider the great attention paid to the preservation and upkeep of cattle in the *Kauṭalīya* as indispensable for agriculture, Aśoka’s interest in livestock only shows how the king interested himself in the material welfare of his people as in their moral welfare.

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⁶ Bk. II, ch. 12.

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⁷ Bk. II, ch. 12.

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⁸ Bk. II, ch. 25.

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⁹ Bk. III, ch. 20.

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¹ Bk. II, ch. 27.

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² Bk. II, ch. 26.

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³ See Hindu Ad. In., pp. 176, 177, 179, 180.

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⁴ Bk. IV, ch. 2.

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⁵ karśanam vamanam vā kuryāt|—Bk. II, ch. 1.

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⁶ tato ardham rakṣet āpadartham jānapadānām|| . Cp. Ind. Ant., 1896, p. 261.

Principles of taxation

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Remark has been elsewhere made that the theories of early writers like Maine who called the Hindu states ‘tax-collecting institutions’ have little justification at any rate in regard to the Mauryan times.⁷ Or in other words let us examine the principles under which taxes were imposed and expended. Kautalya is a strong advocate of a gradual system of taxation. Says he: “A king should endeavour to gather the revenue from his subjects in the same way as the fruits of a garden are gathered as often as they become ripe. Just as the gardener would abandon the unripe fruits lest their source should be disturbed, so that the State should abandon the unripe sources of the kingdom lest they should cause anger to the people.¹ Grant of immunities from taxes and escheat was another feature of the Kauṭalīyan system. This was always shown in the case of the deserving—the needy cultivators and the śrotriyas, the latter being wedded to the promotion of the public good of the country as the custodian of the education of the people in addition to other public services according to the belief of those days. Misbehaviour on the part of the tax-collecting officials was anticipated by a statesman of the type of Kauṭalya. Hence proper safeguards were taken to keep a check on these revenue officials who would collect either twice the levied tax or more than what was due, by unduly harassing the subjects at large. To prevent such corruption and extortion special Intelligence officers were appointed, and it was their duty to see that the regulations of the State were properly carried out. Any infringement was reported and severely dealt with.² Taxes were so collected that the people did not feel them to be a strain on their purse. In the light of these healthy principles there is least justification to call the Kauṭalīyan recommendations as in any way immoral or even unmoral.

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⁷ Hindu Ad. Ind. p. 190.

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¹ Bk. V, ch. 2.

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² Bk. IV, ch. 9.

Public expenditure

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The vastness of the empire and the many-sided activities in which the Mauryan state displayed itself chiefly from the point of view of the yoga-kṣema of the citizens involved a costly machinery and consequently heavy expenditure. Public expenditure depended primarily on the various functions which the State imposed on itself. The functions of the Mauryan State were political, economic, social, religious, and sociological. One of its chief political functions was to afford proper defence from internal dangers through an elaborate police system, and external dangers through the organization of the army and navy. In this direction the State built fortresses on the frontiers of the empire and garrisoned them under the control of the officers known as *antapālas*. There are the *antamahāmātras* mentioned in the Edicts of Aśoka.¹ In the interior the rural divisions of the *sthānīya*, *droṇamukha*, *kharvāṭika* and *saṃgrahaṇa* were primarily headquarters though the officials in charge of those places there were entrusted with various other duties.² In addition to these arrangements in the frontiers and the rural parts, the central administration maintained a large army and navy if we are to believe the Greek accounts. A fragment speaks of the Maurya army as consisting of six-hundred thousand footmen, thirty thousand cavalry-soldiers and thirty-six thousand elephant-men and twenty-four thousand chariot-men. The same source testifies to the fact that the naval force was equally elaborate. These are corroborated by the *Kauṭalīya*. Under the category of political functions mention must be made of the civil side of the administration and its establishment though it must be borne in mind that the Mauryan State did not draw any line of demarcation between the military and civil establishments.

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¹ See Delhi-Topra Pillar, *Corpus*, pp. 119-120.

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² *Ar. Sās.*, Bk. III, ch. 1.

The civil list

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The civil list which includes the establishment of royal household, the religious establishments, pay and pension of other officials including the menial services, is a long one involving again heavy items of expenditure.

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The following is the civil list as found in the Kauṭalīya¹:

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¹ Bk. V, ch. 3.

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Allowances for the *ṛtvik*, *guru*, minister, *purohita*, *senāpati*, crown-prince, king's mother, and queen consisted of 48,000 *paṇas* each.

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The chamberlain, controller of the household, *praśāstṛ*, revenue officer, and *sannidhātṛ* each got 24,000 *paṇas*.

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The other sons of the king, nurse, *nāyaka*, superintendents of the city, judge, superintendent of manufactories, members of the ministry, superintendent of country parts, and boundary guards were paid 12,000 *paṇas* each.

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The leaders of the military corporations, of elephantmen, cavalry and chariots, each got 8,000 *paṇas*.

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The captains of infantry, cavalry, chariots, and forest-guards were paid 4,000 *paṇas*.

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The chariot-driver, physician, horse-trainer, carpenter, trainer of other animals, each was allowed 2,000 *paṇas*.

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The astrologer, *purāṇa* reader, bards, assistants of the *Purohita*, and all superintendents of other departments were paid 1,000 *paṇas* each.

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The pay of the soldiers, accountants, and clerks was 500 *paṇas* each. While the musicians got 250 *paṇas*, artisans 120, the menials were paid each 60 *paṇas*.

Other items of expenditure

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In addition to this regular establishment the following were other items of expenditure incurred now and then by the state. Officers on special duty were paid 1,000 *paṇas*, Intelligence officials 500 *paṇas*, while travelling allowances were calculated according to distance. Honoraria for the learned ranged from 500 to 1,000 *paṇas*. Whether the above allowances were annual or monthly has been raised by N. N. Law in a note to the *Indian Historical Quarterly*.¹ On the strength of two significant statements in the *Arthaśāstra*, viz., that the pay was so fixed that the officials were above wants² and that 60 *paṇas* could be substituted only for 1 *ādhaka* or 32 seers of the staple food gram³ it is argued that the wages must have been monthly and not yearly. As there is no statement in the text to warrant that it is an yearly allowance, it is reasonable to assume the allowances to have been monthly.

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¹ Vol. V, No. 4.

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² Bk. V, ch. 3.

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³ Bk. V, ch. 3; Bk. II, ch. 19.

Productive expenditure

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The economic purposes for which the State expended lavishly were many and varied. Some of these were industrial and manufacturing establishments, such as factories, manufactories, exploitation of the forests, mines, and treasure troves, construction of big irrigation works, and aid to co-operative irrigation schemes, construction of dams and embankments, help to the new settlements of villages, grants and loans to agricultural classes, regulation of trade and commerce, and regulation of banking and currency etc. In fine the State aimed at the nationalisation of industries including that of agriculture. Need it be said that the investments under these heads were heavy and even abnormal?

Poor relief

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The social functions came in for a large item of the expenditure. Public poor relief was deemed as one of the functions of the State. The State undertook to protect the aged, the starving, and the disabled poor. It also helped otherwise poor people who deserved consideration at its hands like the *śrotriyas* and the ascetics. It was again the patron of the Brahman and the *Śramaṇa*.¹ It guarded the interests of the orphan and the widow. Relief of distress was also regarded as one of the kingly duties. The state anticipated dangers, providential and otherwise, like famines and epidemics, and made provision for such emergent purposes by keeping in reserve half of the total revenues collected possibly both in kind and cash. Whenever the unexpected happened, relief came by advances from the storehouse.

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¹ See *Meg. Fg.* Rock Edicts IV and XI.

Works of public utility

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Other works of public utility consisted in constructing lakes and other reservoirs of water and laying out roads well furnished with medicinal herbs, plants, and trees.² The Sudarśana Lake under Candragupta and the Grand Trunk Road leading to Pāṭaliputra are evidences.

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² See *Aśoka's Inscriptions, Corpus*, pp. 3-4.

Some more items of expenditure

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Closely connected with these are the sociological functions which entailed also an appreciable expenditure. Under this category mention may be made of educational grants and educational pensions. In the *Arthaśāstra* while the *śrotriyas* were teachers of the sacred branches of learning, the *ācāryas*, *vidyāvantas*, *vaktāraḥ*, and *prayoktāraḥ* were the other teachers imparting instruction in scientific and technical arts including practical training. Students including those from the artistocratic classes flocked to the cottages of these teachers which were the seats of learning. There was no fixed salary paid to them. But generally the state endowed them with gifts of lands tax-free called *brahmadeya*, and sometimes with *agrahāras* with the sole right of enjoyment. Occasional gifts of money were not uncommon. Teachers who were in charge of secular branches of learning got pensions ranging from 500 to 1000 *paṇas* each according to his worth.¹

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¹ āryayuktārohakamaṇavakāśailakhanakāssarvopasthāyina ācāryā vidyāvantaśca pūjāvetanāni yathārham labheran pañcaśatāvaram sahasraparam|—Ar. Śās., Bk. V, ch. 3.

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The state extended its hospitality in different other ways the object being the *lokayātrā* of the world. Provision was made to the families wherein the earning member had given up his life in war for the sake of the country. To avert distress and suffering, hospitals for man and beast were founded throughout the empire. The State administered to the general health of the community and its moral progress.

The Religious Establishment

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This leads us on to examine the vast expenditure on the religious establishment of the State. Reference has already been made to the salary of the purohita, ṛtvik, guru, the assistants of the purohita, and the astrologer according to the civil list. In those days people had strong belief that the performance of sacrifices, rites, and ceremonials could enable them to avert calamities or to achieve desired results. Besides, no fine distinction was made between secular and religious duties. Both were regarded as complementary to each other. The śrotriya was the recipient of all honours at the hands of the king. So also the siddhas and tāpasas. Sannyāsins as a class were looked upon with regard and esteem. Toleration was the keynote of the administration, whatever be the king's personal religion. Religious sects including those of the heterodox found favour with the State. Thus the activity of the State was many-sided and hence incurred great expenditure.

Department of Accounts

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The total income of the Mauryan State was large and the expenditure was equally enormous. This income and expenditure then necessitated an elaborate machinery of administration for receipt and audit. At the apex of this department were the Sannidhātā or the Finance Minister and Samāhartā or the Collector-General. The Samāhartā was the supreme controlling agency of the fortresses, mines, agricultural works, forests, roads and cattle. One of his duties was to look to the proper classification of the villages for the purpose of revenue collection.¹ The Sannidhātā on the other hand, was a sort of Receiving Officer whose duty it was to see that the revenues were properly received and the same kept in safe custody.² He wielded equally other onerous duties. He kept custody of precious stones, metals and coins as well as grains in charge of Koṣṭhāgārādhyakṣa, forest produce sent in by the Kupyādhyakṣa and other articles received in kind. We need not be detained by his other functions, among which figures his control over the buildings in respect of the armoury, the prison house, and courts of justice. A review of the duties pertaining to his office as outlined in the *Kauṭaliya* shows that he was in charge of both the state-treasury and the store-house.

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¹ For details see *Hindu Ad. In.*, p. 201-ff.

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² Bk. II, ch. 5.

The Treasury

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To the treasury of the Mauryas came pearls from the Pāṇḍya and Kerala States, from Persia and the Himālaya regions, gems of varied value from the Vindhya and the Malaya mountains, diamonds from Kaliṅga, Kośala and Benares and coral from the Isle of the Yavanas.³ To the capital came also varieties of sandal, perfumes of all sorts, different kinds of skins from the Himālayan forests and of woollen blankets and other fabrics including silks and fibres. These demonstrate the richness of the treasury under the Mauryas. The store-house was equally rich in grains of different kinds, varieties of oil, sugar, pungents, salts and other necessaries of life. Both the treasury and the storehouse maintained records of income and expenditure running over a hundred years.¹ The office of the Sannidhātā was again engaged in preparing budgets and presenting the same. The accounts were systematically maintained under three heads: opening balance (*vartamāna*), balance on hand (*paryuṣita*) and windfalls (*anyajāta*).²

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³ Bk. II, ch. 11.

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¹ Bk. II, ch. 5.

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² Bk. II, ch. 6. The terms may also mean 'current,' 'arrears' and 'miscellaneous'.

How accounts were kept

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The account-books were to be submitted each year at the commencement of the month of Śrāvaṇa in sealed covers for auditing and approval.³ Wrong entries and defalcations were severely dealt with.⁴ To prevent bribery and corruption among the revenue officials Kauṭalya introduced the system of periodical transfers of the State officials from one place to another.⁵ Aśoka too followed the same line and had his officers transferred in some cases every three years and in other cases every five years.⁶ It may be noted in passing that certain offices like those in charge of the palace, fortress and country parts were exceptions to this general rule.⁷ The official year was reckoned as 354 days and nights. The budget session was towards the close of the month Āṣāḍha or roughly the middle of July.⁸

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³ Bk. II, ch. 7.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, also ch. 8. *Note* Kauṭalya refers to forty forms of embezzlement by Government servants. See *Hindu Ad. Ins.*, pp. 208-10.

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⁵ *Vikṣepa*, Bk. V, ch. 3.

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⁶ Inscriptions at Dhauli and Jaugaḍa.

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⁷ Bk. V, ch 3

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⁸ triśataṃ caturpañcāśaccāhōrātrāṇāṃ karma saṃvatsaraḥ| tamāṣāḍhiparyayasānamūnaṃ pūrṇaṃ vā dadyāt|—Bk. II, ch. 7.

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The *akṣapaṭala* of Kauṭalya is not only the Accounts Office but also a general record room.¹ The assumption is that while the current accounts were maintained in the Department of Accounts, past records were kept in custody in the Record office which was under the supervising control of the Accounts department. Here were preserved, in addition to the above records, title deeds of the immovable properties, documents concerning royal grants, copies of ultimatum issued to neighbouring kings, and of treaties with other states, records generally relating to the civil list and the military administration of the land.²

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¹ Monahan, *Early History of Bengal*, p. 45.

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² Bk. II, ch. 7. For different kinds of official documents see Bk. II, ch. 10.

Gaṇanāyam

c8.s3.t17.1

The same was also the case in the administration of Aśoka as is evident from a significant expression in the Edicts (R. E. III)—the *Gaṇanāyam* which simply means the Department of Accounts referred to in the *Arthaśāstra*.³ We shall quote here the whole of the Edict as it bears relation to the topic in question.

c8.s3.t17.2

³ Bk. II, ch. 7.

c8.s3.t17.3

devānampiyo piyadasi rājā evam āha|
dbādasavāsābhisitena mayā idam ājñpitam|
śarvata vijite mama yutā cha rājūke cha prādesike cha panchasu panchasu vāsesu anusam-yānām niyātu etāyeva athāya imāya dhammānusastiya yathā ajñāya pi kammāya|
sādhu mātari cha pitari cha susrūsā mitrasamstu-tajñātīnam bāmhaṇa-samaṇānam sādhu dānam prāṇā-nam sādhu anārambho apavyayatā apabhāḍatā sādhu

c8.s3.t17.4

parisā pi yute ājñāpayisati gaṇanāyaṃ hetuto cha vyaṃjanato cha|—*Corpus*, p. 4.

c8.s3.t17.5

“King Devānāmpriya Priyadarśin speaks thus. (When I had been) anointed twelve years, the following was ordered by me. Everywhere in my dominions the *yuktas*, the *rājuka* and the *prādeśika*, shall set out on a complete tour (throughout their charges) every five years for this purpose (viz.) for the following instruction in morality as well as for other business. ‘Meritorious is obedience to mother and father. Liberality to friends, acquaintances, and relatives, to Brahmanas and Śramaṇas is meritorious. Abstention from killing animals is meritorious. Moderation in expenditure (and) moderation in possessions are meritorious.’

c8.s3.t17.6

The council (of *Mahāmātras*) also shall order the *yuktas* to register (these rules) both with (the addition of) reasons and according to the letter.”—*Ibid.*, p. 5.

c8.s3.t17.7

V. A. Smith’s transaltion is more to the point and it is as follows:—

c8.s3.t17.8

“Thus saith His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the King:

c8.s3.t17.9

“When I had been consecrated twelve years this command was issued by me:—

c8.s3.t17.10

“Everywhere in my dominions the subordinate officials, the Governor and the District Officer must every five years proceed in succession (*anu*) on transfer, as well for their other business, as for this special purpose, the inculcation of the Law of Duty (or Piety) to wit:—

c8.s3.t17.11

“An excellent thing is the hearkening to father and mother: an excellent thing is liberality to friends, acquaintances, relatives, Brahmans, and ascetics; excellent is abstention from the slaughter of living creatures: excellent is small expense with accumulation.”

c8.s3.t17.12

“The council also will inculcate (the same) on the officials in the Accounts Department, with regard both to the principle and the text (of the order).”

c8.s3.t17.13

From this some facts emerge. (1) The *mantripariṣad* was the executive authority which issued orders of the king to the various departments of the State. (2) The accountants were transferred every five years. (3) Aśoka attached great value to small expense with its inevitable accumulation though small enough. It is interesting to note that these correspond to the prescriptions in the *Kauṭalīya* which have been already examined.

c8.s3.t17.14

The Department of Finance under the Mauryan Government thus possessed many attributes of modern administration supervised by two officials of the state, the Samāhartā and Sannidhātā. It was run on efficient lines as attested partly by the fact of an elaborate machinery, and partly by the healthy principles on which the administration was based. The Kauṭalīyan State endeavoured in the direction of augmenting the sources of income with the consequent increase in the receipt with a proportionate diminution in the expenditure.¹ This does not mean that the state was chary of public expenditure but it does mean that the State recognised the value of a replenished treasury by cutting money on useless and unproductive works but without prejudice to works of public utility.

c8.s3.t17.15

¹ Bk. II, ch. 6.

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