The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t8: Other items of expenditure
The Mauryan Polity c8.s3.t8
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Other items of expenditure
c8.s3.t8.1
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.
c8.s3.t8.2
¹ Vol. V, No. 4.
c8.s3.t8.3
² Bk. V, ch. 3.
c8.s3.t8.4
³ Bk. V, ch. 3; Bk. II, ch. 19.
Linked texts (1)
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit