Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c19.18

c19.18

| *Asoka's Edicts.* | *Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra.* |
| | merit release according to Kauṭilya [*Ib.*]. |
| 33. Asoka's concern for the *Ajīvikas* as expressed in PE. VII and also in the grant to them of the cave-dwellings. | 33. Kauṭilya [III. 20] shows his Brahmanical prejudice against them by branding them along with the Buddhists (*Śākyājīvakādīn*) as being unworthy of entertainment at any ceremony connected with the gods or ancestors (*devapitṛikāryeshu*). |
| 34. *Devī-Kumālānaṁ* in PE. VII. | 34. The word *Devī* for queen is also used by Kauṭilya [I. 10], as well as the word *Kumāra* for a prince [I. 20]. |
| 35. Asoka's control over the harem through his officers called *Dharma-Mahāmātras* and *Strī-adhyaksha-mahāmātras* as described in RE. V, XII and PE. VII. | 35. Kauṭilya [I. 20] acquaints us with the administrative arrangements for the royal harems of the day. The *Antaḥpura* with its inmates, the *avarodhas* (cf. *orodhana* of RE. VI), was placed under a military guard, the *Antarvaṁśikasainya*, and civil officers, the *Abhyāgārikas*, comprising both males and females, who regulated all communications between the harem and the outside world. It may be noted that Kauṭilya does not per- |