[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924) › c44.14 # Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c44.14 Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c44.14 - **Language:** English ### [c44.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44.14) § 312. We have seen that extraordinary business was decided, according to the Arthaśāstra, in a full meeting of the Council. This implies that ordinary business went through only ministerial offices. That would have required written notes. There is evidence that written notes as a matter of fact were used. Aśoka in his inscriptions speaks of his oral orders³ which implies that the orders were generally written orders. The Arthaśāstra also says that the ministers who were not in attendance wrote notes for the King.⁴ We have not yet discovered any document which passed through the offices of the ministers. There is, however, on the point a very valuable piece of detail furnished by the Śukranīti. The detail evidently belongs to the early centuries of the Christian era as the official designation \*Dūta\*, which is superseded in later (Gupta) times by \*Sāndhi-Vigrahika\*, indicates. It is highly important from the constitutional point of view. The procedure it depicts of a matter going through the offices and then reaching the king and becoming a resolution of the ministry, is as follows: - [Previous: c44.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44.13) - [Next: c44.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44.15) - [Up: c44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44) ## Cites (1) - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44.14) · Pramāṇa