Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity (Based on the Arthashastra of Kautilya), Vol. I c14.s1.67

c14.s1.67

From the above we have an idea of the elements that made up व्यवहार in Chandra Gupta’s time. The elements that constituted a व्यवहार may well justify us in calling it a contract, though, of course, owing to the peculiar circumstances of the time in which it prevailed, it assumed a different complexion. We notice also that Government exercised a good deal of control over the details of the subject’s life, and therefore legal interference touched spheres now looked upon as merely moral or social. A vagueness necessarily attaches to some of the details of व्यवहार, but on the whole we see its broad features and in them a generic likeness to a modern contract.