Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.s1: Clearing Forests and Valleys
Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.s1
- Language
- English
Clearing Forests and Valleys
c8.s1.1
The clearance of forests and valleys was another means of encouraging agriculture. Some forests were reserved for timber, elephants and game. When they tended to harbour thieves and robbers, they should be reconnoitred by hunters and their hounds. They ought to communicate with one another by means of carrier-pigeons, or fire, or smoke. Unreserved woods were to be cleared as the need arose. Tracts unsuited for agriculture were to be put to some other use. Lakes and rest-houses, flower and fruit-gardens, adorned many barren spots. All around roads were to be maintained in good repair and facilities provided for traffic. Everything possible should be done to counteract cattle-diseases.¹
c8.s1.2
¹ Ibid., 140-141; tr., 176-177: 48-49; tr., 53-54.
c8.s1.3
But in spite of all that man could do, the rains might fail and famine stalk across the land. Kautalya rises equal to the occasion. Half the yearly revenue in kind should be reserved for famine relief. When the state granaries failed to suffice, the ordinary laws of property were to be promptly suspended. The Government could force the rich to yield up their hoards of grain, and levy heavy taxes on them. Relief should be sought from friendly states in the neighbourhood. Wheresoever water was available, grains, vegetables, roots and fruits should be intensively cultivated. Hunting and fishing should be resorted to on a grand scale. Seeds and provisions should be distributed to cultivators. Public works could provide occupation for the poor. When all else failed, the people of the famine-stricken area should be led to emigrate *en bloc* to the sea-shore, to the banks of rivers or lakes, or to any favoured spot where nature provided some vegetable or animal sustenance. Meanwhile, fervent prayers should go to the Higher Powers. The Mahākachchha who had once saved the earth from perishing, Indra, the mighty god of rain, the mountains which stored the precious element, the holy Ganges which distributed it broadcast,—all should be worshipped.²
c8.s1.4
² Ibid., 206-207; tr., 262-263.
c8.s1.5
Similar supernatural aid was to be invoked against pestilences which so often follow hard on the steps of famine. Ascetics and saints should exert all the force of "auspicious and purificatory ceremonies." Whole nights were to be spent in
c8.s1.6
Famine relief.
c8.s1.7
Pestilence.
c8.s1.8
devotion, and oblations to gods were to be offered with lavish generosity. In the course of a great rite called Mahākachchhavardhan, cows were milked on cremation or burial grounds, and the trunk of a corpse was burnt. But more rational means were not forgotten. The Government should organise bands of physicians to carry medicine to the people.¹ A similar union of reason and faith was witnessed when nature inundated the country with superabundant water. Rivers were to be worshipped at new and fullmoon. When they persisted in overflowing their banks, priests, mystics and magicians sought to cut off the supply of rain. Meanwhile, villagers on river banks should remove themselves further up, and provide themselves with wooden planks, bamboos and boats. If overtaken by the floods, they should be rescued by means of bottle-gourds, canoes, boats or trunks of trees. Those who possessed these instruments, and yet were too heartless or timid to rescue their fellow-men, were to be fined twelve paṇas.²
c8.s1.9
¹ Ibid., 206; tr., 262.
c8.s1.10
² Ibid., 206; tr., 262.
c8.s1.11
Permanent measures were necessary for the more frequent calamities—rats, tigers, serpents, demons, and, above all, fire. Everyday, and especially on fullmoon days, offerings, oblations, and prayers should be made to the sacred element. Villagers must provide themselves with all effective instruments against risks from fire such as tubs and pots filled with water, ladders, axes, winnowers, hooks, and leather bags. Or they must cook their food outside their homes.
c8.s1.12
Rats, occasionally a serious menace to agriculture, were to be destroyed by certain chemical mixtures, and by letting loose cats and mongooses. But, with that love of paradox in which over-wise people so often indulge, rats were to be worshipped on new and fullmoon days. Ascetics and priests performed auspicious ceremonies. In similar fashion was the danger from locusts, birds, and insects to be warded off.¹ So, too, snakes could be destroyed wholesale. Medical science was encouraged to find some antidote against snake-bite. The people also resorted to charms, incantations and ceremonies of all sorts against the danger. Snakes themselves were to be worshipped. Kautalya did not inculcate the worship of tigers; but mountains were to be propitiated to keep them in safe custody. Ferocious beasts were even more numerous in those days than they are now. Bands of hunters, armed with various weapons, should patrol the forests with packs of hounds, and kill tigers in large numbers. Carcasses of cattle or calves, inoculated with juice of *madana* or *kodrava* plants, should be strewn about to give short shrift to the brutes. A reward of twelve *paṇas* was offered for a tiger's head.² It was the imperative duty of every one to rush to the rescue of a man in the clutches of a tiger. Those who lacked the heart or the courage to face the risk should be fined twelve *paṇas*. Similar measures should be adopted against other ferocious beasts, birds, and crocodiles.³
c8.s1.13
³ Ibid., 205-6; tr., 261-62.
c8.s1.14
¹ Ibid., 207; tr., 263.
c8.s1.15
² Ibid., 207; tr., 263.
c8.s1.16
³ Ibid., 207-208; tr., 264.
c8.s1.17
The means which were devised against earthly pests were not available for protection from demons. The people sought the aid of saints and ascetics, mystics, and magicians. All sorts of curious rites are mentioned by Kautalya. An umbrella or a flag, the picture of an arm or a piece of a goat's flesh, was to be hung in the verandahs to propitiate the Chaityas on the fullmoon.¹
c8.s1.18
¹ Ibid., 208; tr., 264.
c8.s1.19
Social helpfulness was inculcated as a positive duty not only in exceptional contingencies or calamities, but all through life. In many cases, those who did not come to the help of their fellows in ordinary times, were to be fined a hundred *paṇas*.² A similar spirit of humanity inspired another series of ordinances. Hurts from horned or tusked animals, if traced to any sort of negligence on the part of their owners, should be visited with the first, or double the first amercement. Desertion of a companion in a forest was to be punished with the middle, and, if joined to a threat, with the highest, amercement. Desertion in the course of a journey brought half the first amercement. In the case of these minute regulations, however, it is more than doubtful if they were ever enforced. Riding an animal dedicated to a god, such as a bull or an ox, or even a female calf, meant the high fine of five hundred *paṇas*. Those who drove away such animals earned the first amercement.³
c8.s1.20
² Ibid., 199; tr., 251.
c8.s1.21
³ Ibid., 203; tr., 204-05 : 199; tr., 251-52.
c8.s1.22
Among the miscellaneous duties that Kautalya set before the state was the partial regulation of the begging and borrowing of corn.⁴ All cases where death by foul means was suspected, should be subjected to a rigorous *post-mortem* examination.⁵
c8.s1.23
⁴ Ibid.
c8.s1.24
⁵ Ibid., 215-17; tr., 278-79.
c8.s1.25
It does not lie within the scope of this work to treat of civil and criminal law. But to illustrate Kautalya's treatment of the subject, a word may be said on the law of assault. The offence was divided into touching, striking, and hurting; again, as due to carelessness, intoxication, or loss of senses; and once again, as consisting of catching hold of a man by the legs, clothes, hands, hair, squeezing with the arms, thrusting, dragging, or sitting over the person or knocking him down. It was a crime to use witchcraft to harm others. A man who poisoned another, or a woman who murdered a man, should be drowned. The murder of a father, mother, son, brother, teacher, or ascetic, should be avenged by burning the head and skin of the murderer. To bite a limb of these persons was to lose one's own corresponding limb. In some cases, an insult to them was to be punished by the tongue being torn out. A woman who murdered her husband, preceptor or offspring, or poisoned a man, or cut off his joints, or set fire to another's property, should be torn by bulls. Torture was eliminated from the death sentence if the offender had employed none.¹
c8.s1.26
¹ Ibid., 195-97, 227-28; tr., 246-49; 287-88.
c8.s1.27
The code of Kautalya is disfigured by caste favouritism. The dignity of man as man is violated. To the several instances already cited may be added another. A Śūdra lost the limb with which he assaulted a Brāhmaṇa but the reverse did not hold. The amount of fines and the severity of other punishments, were partly determined by considerations of rank.²
c8.s1.28
² Ibid., 195-97; tr., 246-49: 200; tr., 252.
c8.s1.29
The activity of the government postulated a highly complex administrative machinery. Its centre was the king.
c8.s1.30
Kautalya expected him to direct the administration, to work with the energy of a giant, the regularity of a clock, and the patience of a slave. Probably on the basis of some concrete examples, Kautalya framed a time-table which sheds a flood of light on the relations of the monarchy to daily governmental work. The day and the night were each divided into eight periods of equal length, viz., 1½ hours each. The king devoted four and a half hours to sleep, three to baths, meals, and private studies. Recreation was optional in another hour and a half, and a similar span was devoted to religious exercises. The remaining nine periods of 1½ hours each, were devoted to the business of the state. The day opened with deliberation on defence and finance, followed by an examination of popular complaints. A review of the Revenue Department, and appointments to offices of state, led to correspondence with ministers and a scrutiny of the reports of the Secret Intelligence Department. Next, the elephant force, the cavalry and the armoury were to be inspected, and the military situation and plans examined with the Commander-in-Chief. The day closed with the evening prayer. As darkness descended, the king received the secret emissaries. Refreshed with a bath, supper and sleep, he began to think again of the day's work. Administrative plans were to be thought out, and spies were to be despatched in all directions. Blessed by his priests and teachers, the king should enter the Court. Here he was expected to be visible and accessible to all. Thus came the personal touch so essential to relieve the mechanical character of all bureaucratic administration. In the court he must dispose of all urgent business with the utmost expedition. He should attend personally to the affairs of religion and humanity. Gods and Brāhmaṇas had the first claim on his attention. He should look after sacred places, and enquire into heresy. Whatever his religion, the sovereign was expected impartially and benevolently to relieve the helpless and the afflicted, the minors and the aged, and to redress the plaints of women. Another object, at once humanitarian and utilitarian, demanded his personal supervision—the safety of cattle. Lastly, in a chamber lighted by the sacred fire, he should receive physicians and ascetics, and in consultation with his high priest and teacher dispose of their affairs.
c8.s1.31
The king was allowed time for technical religious exercise, but Kautalya recognised that for him religion really consisted in secular duty. He need take no other vow, we are told, than to be ready and swift in action. If he discharged his kingly functions well, it was as good as the performance of religious sacrifices. If he paid equal attention to all his subjects, it was tantamount to the "offer of fee and oblations towards consecration." 1
c8.s1.32
But there was no regular means to keep the monarch to this standard. It is doubtful if many kings conformed to the ideal which theorists laid down. Too alluring are the temptations which high station holds out. For one thing, in place of a wife who might supply the inspiration that sustains men of action through fiery ordeals, a barbarous custom encumbered the Indian king with a monstrous harem. Kautalya must regulate it as he regulates everything else. On a site, as secure as possible, should stand a large building consisting of many compartments enclosed by a parapet and a moat, and provided with a single door. Inside, a few very old men and eunuchs excepted, all the guards, attendants and servants, were to be females—a few of them, prostitutes. The strictest watch should be kept over all coming and
c8.s1.33
¹ Ibid., 37—39; tr., 42—44.
Linked texts (1)
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit