Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c11.58

c11.58

The third class of functions mentioned by Megasthenes concerns the registration of births and deaths. Kauṭilya mentions the officers called the *Sthānikas* and *Gopas* whose duty was to keep complete register of the population and prepare a regular Census, besides a record of vital statistics. This work required the visits of officers from house to house for which the city was divided into a number of wards.