Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c11.67

c11.67

**Agreement of Kautilya and Megasthenes: Irrigation.** The first of their functions Megasthenes describes as relating to irrigation and land-measurement. We have already seen that in the *Arthaśāstra*, irrigation constitutes one of the charges of the *Samāhartā*. It is indicated in a number of terms such as *Nadīpāla* (the Superintendent in charge of rivers and their landing-places), *Tara*, *Nāva*, *Setu* and *Sītā*. It will be further seen that while the *Samāhartā* was the chief controlling officer or the Head of the Department, he had under him a number of departmental heads in the districts, one of whom, the *Sītādhyaksha*, Director of Agriculture, was in charge of irrigation and the revenue due from it. We have already seen how the water-rates varied with the means of irrigation employed.