The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s10.20

c19.s10.20

20. Unless we follow Kangle's translation, which renders the crucial phrase *samagrāḥ śrāvayeyuḥ* with “they should render accounts in full,” taking *samagrāḥ* in the improbable sense of "full (accounts)" as the object of the verb *śrāvayeyuḥ*. In that case, we are left in the dark as to the identity of the auditing authority. Since they would then have to "proclaim" (*śrāvayeyuḥ*)—not just "render"—their accounts, Kangle's translation leads to the conclusion that the assembled mahāmātras sit in judgment on each other's accounts. Such a procedure obviously would be undesirable, if not down right impossible, from the point of view of proper auditing.