Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c6.2

c6.2

**Indian Ideals of Polity.** The governance of such a vast empire which stretched from Persia to Mysore was a formidable undertaking. It was specially so in olden times, in pre-mechanical ages lacking the means of speedy communication and quick transport between the different and distant parts of a large empire. News would take months to travel from Paropanisus to Pāṭaliputra. This initial difficulty of administration led John Stuart Mill to doubt the existence of large empires in ancient times, "because the machinery of authority was not perfect enough to carry orders into effect at a great distance from the person of the ruler, nor did there exist the means of making the people pay an amount of taxes sufficient for keeping up the force necessary to compel obedience throughout a large territory."