Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c8.15

c8.15

**Hierarchy of Officers.** It will appear from the above conception and description of the various needs of a country and the factors upon which its economic and political progress depends that there should be devised an elaborate system of administration, and a complex machinery to cope with the problems of government. Kauṭilya has well said [I, 7]: "Administration cannot be the work of one man, just as one wheel cannot drive a car" (*Sahāyasādhyaṁ rājatvaṁ chakramekaṁ na vartate*). Therefore, the king must carry on the administration with the help of a hierarchy of agents of different grades and jurisdictions extending and descending up to the village.