History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.358

v4.c62.358

Some responsibilities of the Government or king in ancient India towards the people will now be dealt with. From Kauṭilya (II. 29 and II. 34) we find that the State made great efforts for the rearing of cattle, made stringent rules for their protection and for the provision of pastures. Manu VIII. 237, Yāj. II. 167, Matsya 227. 24 also make provision for pastures round villages, towns and cities. Kauṭilya requires the superintendent of cattle to classify cattle as calves, steers, tameables, draught oxen, bulls to be yoked, stud-bulls, bulls meant for carts, cattle meant for meat and buffaloes meant for carrying loads or for being yoked, pregnant cows, milch cattle &c. and to mark them and note in a register of beasts the branded marks, natural marks, colour, the distance between the horns. He prescribes corporal punishments and fine for those who unauthorizedly kill or steal cattle or incite others to do so. He prescribes even the amount of fodder, oilcakes, bran and salt on which different kinds of animals put to different kinds of work are to be fed. From the Mahābhārata also we learn that even princes201a went to supervise and enumerate the herds of cattle belonging to the State. Vide Vanaparva 239. 4 and 240. 4-6. Even such a grammatical work as the Mahābhāṣya incidentally gives expression to the view that a country's wealth consists in its food-crops and in abundance of cattle.