Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c9.214

c9.214

Superintendent of Customs (*Śulkādhyaksha*) [II. 21]. He had an Office (*Śulka-śālā*) marked by a flag (*dhvaja*) at the main gate of a town. There would be four or five collectors of customs or tolls at the office, who registered full details of answers to their queries: “Who the merchants are, whence they come, with what quantity of merchandise, and where it has been visè’d” (*ke, kutastyāḥ kiyatpaṇyāḥ kva chābhijñānamudrā vā kṛitā*).