Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t5.16

c4.t5.16

There is no clear indication of the existence of an inner cabinet like that of the *Arthaśāstra*⁹ though there is reference in a *gāthā*¹⁰ to *mantino*, the mantrins (spoken as distinct from the *Mahāmattas*) who according to Jayaswal¹¹ formed the inner cabinet of the *Arthaśāstra*. Anyway, the exact interpretation of *parisā* is open to question. It is however not improbable that there should have been a smaller advisory board consisting of such ministers, ex-officers, as the *uparājan*, *Senāpati*, *Seṭṭhi* and the *Purohita*.