Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c15.24

c15.24

**Rural Well-being.** The duties of the State towards the village and its welfare are summed up to include (1) demarcation of properties (*Setu*), (2) opening up of inaccessible tracts of roads (*pathi-saṁkramāt*), (3) works of rural development (*grāma-śobhāḥ*) and protection (*rakshā*) [III. 10]. The protection of the village was in the hands of the rural police recruited from the classes called (1) *Vāgurikas* (trappers), (2) *Śabaras* (Bhils), (3) *Pulindas* (*Kirāta*), (4) *Chaṇḍālas* and (5) *Araṇya-charas* (foresters) [II. 1]. There was also a provision for the protection of a village by constructing a palisade (*upasālam*) of pillars built of stone or wood round it [III. 10].