Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c9.276

c9.276

**Superintendent of Religious Institutions** (*Devatā-dhyaksha*). This officer is called by the apt name of *Devatādhyaksha* [V. 2]. He was in charge of all temples of towns and rural areas and their properties. He could also set up new shrines or *Śiva-liṅgas* in an old temple and hold in its celebration religious processions and gatherings at which he would collect moneys offered by pilgrims in aid of the institutions (*yātrā-samājābhyāṁ ājīvet*).