The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t16: How accounts were kept
The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t16
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How accounts were kept
c8.s3.t16.1
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
c8.s3.t16.2
³ Bk. II, ch. 7.
c8.s3.t16.3
⁴ *Ibid.*, also ch. 8. *Note* Kauṭalya refers to forty forms of embezzlement by Government servants. See *Hindu Ad. Ins.*, pp. 208-10.
c8.s3.t16.4
⁵ *Vikṣepa*, Bk. V, ch. 3.
c8.s3.t16.5
⁶ Inscriptions at Dhauli and Jaugaḍa.
c8.s3.t16.6
⁷ Bk. V, ch 3
c8.s3.t16.7
⁸ triśataṃ caturpañcāśaccāhōrātrāṇāṃ karma saṃvatsaraḥ| tamāṣāḍhiparyayasānamūnaṃ pūrṇaṃ vā dadyāt|—Bk. II, ch. 7.
c8.s3.t16.8
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
c8.s3.t16.9
¹ Monahan, *Early History of Bengal*, p. 45.
c8.s3.t16.10
² Bk. II, ch. 7. For different kinds of official documents see Bk. II, ch. 10.
Linked texts (1)
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit