Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c11.s2.t1.45

c11.s2.t1.45

It was otherwise with the spies. There was hardly a profession which involved such risks. Yet the number of spies employed by each government was legion. Broadly speaking, they fell into two classes, those who busied themselves with the misdeeds of officials and the opinions of subjects and those who sought to probe the designs and plans of rival monarchs. In either case, they put on various disguises and political writers classify them on that basis. There were ascetics and scholars, sorcerers and jugglers and foresters and snake-charmers, singers and dancers, tradesmen and artisans, astrologers and mathematicians, physicians and soldiers, and so forth. They must be paid adequately. In their turn, they must show assiduity in the discharge of their duties. They are the eyes of the monarch.¹