History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.326
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.326
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Kauṭilya's work became the authority on Government and several inscriptions mention officers appointed according to the section on 'adhyakṣapracāra', which is undoubtedly a reference to Kauṭilya's 2nd adhikaraṇa. For example, in the Belava plate of Bhojavarmadeva (E. I. vol. XII. at p. 40) and in the Barrackpur grant of Vijayasena (E. I. vol. XV. p. 283) we have the words 'anyāṁśca sakala-rājapādopajīvinodhyakṣapracāroktān ihākīrtitān caṭṭabhaṭa-jātīyān janapadān kṣetrakarāṁśca'. It is not possible to do anything more than indicate very briefly the sphere of each *adhyakṣa*. The duty of the sannidhātṛ (II. 5) is to look after the construc-tion of the treasury house, the store-houses for merchandise, for grain, for forest produce, for arms and of the jail. The samāhartṛ (the Collector-General) is to exercise superintendence over the collection of revenue from forts, the rural parts, mines, embank-ments, forests, herds of cattle and roads for traffic (II. 6). The samāhartṛ ¹⁸⁴ has to divide (II. 35) the kingdom into four districts and to arrange the villages into three grades, viz. those that are exempted from taxes, those that supply soldiers and those that pay taxes in the form of grain, cattle, money, forest produce, free labour and other equivalents for taxes. It is the duty of the *gopa* to look after a group of five or ten villages under the orders of the samāhartṛ.
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The gopa has not only to register the total number of the inhabitants of all varṇas in the houses that pay taxes and that are exempt in the villages, but also to keep a register of the number of cultivators, cowherds, merchants, artisans, labourers, slaves, biped and quadruped animals, of the amount of money, free labour, tolls and fines that are recovered, and the number of women, men, young and old persons, and the extent of their actions, occupations, usages, expenditures. The *sthānika* (in charge of each of the four districts) should look after his charge in the same way. The superintendent of records and accounts (akṣapaṭalādhyakṣa) should have the account office constructed with its door facing the north or the east, with rooms (for the clerks) set apart and with shelves 'of account books well-arranged (II. 7). This officer had to enter numerous matters in the accounts, recover the king's dues from the sureties of servants, to check enbezzlement and to recover fines for loss due to neglect or fraud. The account year ended with the full moon of *Āṣāḍha*, the year being of 354 days and the salary for an intercalary month being separately paid. Among the duties of the Superintendent of records and accounts was the important one of noting in his register the dharma, method of judicial procedure and the usages of countries, villages, castes, families and corporations (deśagrāmajāti-kulasaṅghātānām dharma-vyavahāra-caritra-saṁsthānam ...........
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nibandha-pustakasthaṁ kārayet). In II. 8 Kauṭilya specifies forty modes of embezzlement by Government servants (to which a reference is made in the Daśakumāracarita VIII). In II. 9 he employs the picturesque figure that it is not possible to know exactly how officers appointed to the several businesses of the State extract wealth, just as fish always dwelling in water cannot be observed when they drink water. The superintendent of treasury (II. 11) shall in the presence of qualified persons receives into the treasury gems, pearls, articles of great or small value and forest produce (like sandal wood, *agaru* etc.). The superintendent of mines and of government manufactories (II. 12) must be proficient in the science of metals, mercury, liquids that ooze from the holes, caves and sides of mountains and hills. Under him are officers called *lohādhyakṣa* (who carries on the manufacture of vessels of copper and other metals), a *lakṣaṇādhyakṣa* (a superintendent of mint, who manufactures silver and copper coins for the State), a *rūpadarśaka* 184a (examiner of coins, who regulates the dealings with paṇas as a medium of exchange among the people and for stocking in the treasury), *khanyadhyakṣa* (who attends to conches, diamonds, pearls, coral and trade in them), a lavaṇādhyakṣa (superintendent of salt).
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The suvarṇādhyakṣa (the superintendent of gold) has to construct a goldsmith's office for the manufacture of gold and silver articles with a single door and four halls, to appoint a skilful and trustworthy goldsmith to have a shop in the centre of the road (II. 13) and not to allow any one who is not an employee to enter the goldsmith's shop. If any one so entered he was to be beheaded. The State goldsmith (II. 14) has to manufacture gold and silver coins for the citizens and rural inhabitants through artisans employed by him. The superintendent of the storehouse (II. 15) has to keep together the produce of crown lands, taxes from the country districts, accidental revenue, manufacture of rice, oil &c. The superintendent of commerce (paṇyādhyakṣa, II. 16) should keep himself acquainted with the demand or absence of demand for and the rise and fall in the prices of various kinds of merchandise produced on land or from water and brought by land or water routes. The superintendent of forest produce (kūpyādhyakṣa, II. 17) was to collect forest produce through guards of forest and Kauṭilya gives a long list of trees, varieties of bamboos, creepers, fibrous plants and rope-making material, drugs and poisons, skins of various animals, that came under this officer's care. The superintendent of armoury (āyudhāgārādhyakṣa, II. 18) was to employ experienced artisans to manufacture arms, wheels, machines, armour &c.
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required in battle or for the defence of forts, or for battering the cities of the enemy. The superintendent of weights and measures¹⁸⁵ was to get manufactured weights from half *māṣaka* onwards up to one hundred suvarṇas, weights being made of iron or stones found in the Magadha country and the Mekala mountain. The superintendent of tolls (śulkādhyakṣa, II. 21) was to erect near the principal gate of the capital a toll-house and its flag and when traders arrived with merchandise make four or five toll-collectors take down their names, whence they came, what merchandise they brought and whether it bore seal-mark. In II. 22 Kauṭilya specifies various rates of tolls for imports and exports. The superintendent of weaving (II. 23) was to employ qualified persons to make threads, coats (of armour), cloths and ropes and he was to employ for cutting wool, fibres, cotton, hemp and flax, widows, cripple women, girls, ascetic women paying off fines by doing work, mothers of prostitutes, old women servants of the palace, *devadāsīs* (temple girls) who have ceased to do temple services. This superintendent was charged with the task of providing work for women who do not leave their homes, the wives of persons who have gone abroad, women who are cripple or unmarried and who have to work for their own maintenance. He was to give to them spinning work through the maid-servants in his department.
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If he stared at their faces when they came to exchange their work for wages or spoke to them on any other matter he was fined in the first amercement. Thus the State helped home or cottage industry. It is to be noted that he had large powers of levying fines and