Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c9.266

c9.266

**Detectives.** Detectives were liberally employed by the administration for the purpose of preventing and tracing crime. They were recruited from all classes of people in the country such as ascetics, astrologers (*chakrachara*), bards, diviners, fortunetellers, physicians, traders, artists (*kāru-śilpī*), musicians, vintners (*śauṇḍika*), confectioners (*āpūpika*), and the like. If a person is suspected of criminal conduct, a suitable spy would be told off to shadow him.