Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c8.3.3

c8.3.3

It should have abundance of agricultural land, being not too marshy, or rocky, or dry, or undulating, or jungly, nor should it be exposed to the depredations of wild tribes (*kaṇṭaka-śreṇī*). It should be *kānta*, i.e. ‘endowed with all works and facilities of public utility and convenience such as provision of shade-giving and fruit-growing trees, gardens of medicinal plants, rivers, lakes, tanks, and resthouses’ (for which Asoka was so famous). It should be further possessed of abundance of fertile lands (*sītā*), mines yielding gold and precious stones (*khanirvajrādimani suvarṇādyākaraḥ*); vegetable gardens and timber forests and also forests of elephants, grazing grounds for cattle (*govyaḥ*), lands for settlements (*paurusheya*), reserves for hunters and foresters (*guptagocharo lubdhakādirakshitabhūmiḥ*) and abundance of livestock (*paśumān*). It should be independent of rainfall in its own supply of waters from its rivers (*adevamātṛikaḥ*). It should be possessed of roads of traffic by water and land. It should be rich in valuable merchandise and manufactures of various kinds (*sāra-chitra-bahu-paṇya*). Its people should be capable of bearing the burden of an adequate army and taxation (*daṇḍakara-sahaḥ*). It should have an industrious agricultural population (*karmasīla-karshaka*), a body of able administrators.