The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c13.s1.31

c13.s1.31

Kauṭilya's akṣapaṭala is situated in the southeast part of the royal residence.⁴⁸ It is perhaps no mere coincidence that the *Āpastamba Dharmasūtra* also places a *sabhā*, "meeting hall," to the south of the royal residence and that in this sabhā we find a sacrificial fire and a place for dicing.⁴⁹ This dicing hall would seem to be the sphere of activity of a special officer, the *akṣarakṣitṛ*, the keeper of the dice, whom we encounter in the purāṇic rājadharma texts among the king's retainers (*sahāya*) and who recalls the *akṣāvāpa*, one of the "jewel bearers" (*ratnin*) in the rājasūya.⁵⁰ Though the akṣarakṣitṛ is clearly connected with dicing, his qualifications suggest a bureaucrat concerned with accounts: he should know income and expenditure, the productivity of the land, and the tasks of the king's servants.⁵¹ Here the royal game of dice with its ritual associations shades over almost imperceptibly into the bureaucratic process of accounting and auditing. Almost, for though both the puranic rājadharma texts and Kauṭilya seem consciously to gloss over the difference, this should not deceive us. Obviously there is a world of difference between the sacral king and his tribal assembly, where wealth, power, and prestige are periodically redistributed through contests, verbal and otherwise, including dicing games, and the bureaucratic state with its objective methods of administration and decision making.