Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c8.s4.2

c8.s4.2

It will be seen that most of the Heads of Departments are to work at mofussil centres and in the interior of the country. There the Head of a Department is to keep eye on people who are drifting towards bankruptcy by spending away all their ancestral assets (*mūlaharaḥ*), or those who are spendthrifts and do not save but live from hand to mouth (*tādāttika*), or those who are contemptible misers (*kadarya*) and save by famishing themselves and their dependents (*yobhṛityātmapīḍābhyāmupachinotyartham*). He should particularly keep a watch on the monetary transactions of the rich capitalists and see how they hide their wealth by hoarding it in their homes in secret places under-ground or in holes in pillars (*sva veśmani bhūgarta-stambhakoṭarādishu*); or by depositing with others, urban or rural people (*avanidhatte paurajānapadeshu*); or by spiriting it away to foreign countries (*avasrāvayati paravishaye*). Such people are potential dangers to the State to whose prosperity they do not make their due contributions by evading and avoiding taxation.