History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.326.5

v4.c62.326.5

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.