History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.282.1

v4.c62.282.1

Acc. to Kauṭilya (V.3) 48000 paṇas were the salary of the (royal) sacrificial priest, ācārya (teacher), mantrin, purohita, commander-in-chief, crown prince, the king's mother, the queens and he holds that "with that amount of maintenance they would not yield to temptation or revolt (against the king)".¹⁶⁰ The amātyas, the chief judge and even the purohita could be punished by the king, acc. to Manu, if any of them went wrong (VIII. 335 and IX. 234) and Kauṭ. (IX. 3) prescribes that when the purohita is guilty even of a great offence, the remedy is to imprison him or banish him. Some great ministers, though not exactly purohitas of the king, were learned brāhmaṇas and led simple lives such as Cāṇakya and Mādhava. There is divergence of views about the salaries set out in the Arthaśāstra (V. 3). Jayaswal (in 'Hindu Polity' part II p. 136) holds that the salaries were yearly and the paṇas in which they were paid were silver ones. Prof. Dikshitar (in 'Mauryan Polity' p. 151) holds that the salaries were monthly. Confusion is caused by the fact that there were paṇas of copper, silver and gold. Vide Rājanītiprakāśa p. 294. The Rājatarangiṇī VII. 950 speaks of *dīnnāras* of gold, silver and copper. Rao Bahadur K. V. Rangaswami Aiyangar holds that the salaries (in the Arthaśāstra) were monthly and in golden paṇas (in 'Ancient Indian Polity' pp. 44-45). Therefore this matter must be investigated. Manu (VIII.