Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.s4: The Succession
Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.s4
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The Succession
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Statesmanship, however, did something to retrieve the situation. A rigorous course of drill and education was prescribed to qualify the prince for his vocation. He should learn theology, philosophy, and literature under scholars, and master the sciences of politics and administration under politicians and administrators. After a certain age, he should devote afternoons to history, and forenoons to military science which dealt with elephant forces, cavalry, chariots, and arms. Time was found for cultivating folklore, tradition, and what in those days was called 'the science of wealth.' No stone was left unturned to impart a sound liberal education to the princes. But it was felt that intellectual accomplishment was not half so urgent as moral discipline. Self-restraint was, above all, insisted on. All sorts of temptations are mentioned to stimulate moral control.¹
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¹ Ibid., 10-11; tr., 10-11.
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The installation of the heir-apparent was the occasion of solemn ceremony and riotous festivity. It was, however, when the time came for him to mount the throne that rejoicing reached its height. He underwent all the rites that the Vedic age had originated and the intervening centuries had elaborated. Once more the sovereign swore to obey the popular will and to serve the popular cause.
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But the oath was an empty formality, the gathering a mere pageant. The centre of gravity had finally shifted to the King's Council, the lineal descendant of the institution which had arisen in the Vedic age, and which Vâlmiki in the Epic Age glorified as the Council of Eight. The growing complexity of the social organism. and the vast extension of state-activity, demanded ceaseless deliberation and raised the Council to the highest position in the state. In Kautalya, it consisted primarily of ministers, but other “wise men” were to be invited as the occasion required. The number varied in practice as in theory. Probably generalising from experience, Manu counselled twelve, Brihaspati sixteen, and Usanas twelve. Their successor, Kautalya, only laid down that the Council should consist of as many members as the needs of the state rendered desirable. Roughly, the numerical strength varied from twelve to twenty. The Council was avowedly advisory. It had not much in common with modern parliamentary cabinets. But it is curious that in numbers it corresponded with the British Cabinet during the last century. The Council was generally presided over by the king.
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Deliberation. It discussed war and peace, defence and alliance, finance and pensions, and all other important affairs. One by one the members should express their opinion and debate freely. The final decision rested with the king alone, but he was expected generally to accept the view of the majority. Nothing was considered more important than to maintain secrecy about the proceedings of the Council. Deliberations were to be so carried on that “even birds cannot see them.” Secret agents exhausted all human ingenuity in detecting any breach of faith. Those who disclosed the counsels should be torn to pieces. But no amount of precaution and no amount of terrorism could completely overcome the difficulty. So Kautalya recognises a kind of informal inner Council, consisting of three or four ministers whom the king should consult, especially in emergencies. Of course, the king could consult any ministers, individually or collectively, as he thought fit. In emergencies,
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Secrecy.
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Inner Council.
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the king should take others besides ministers into his confidence and follow the course which the opinion of the majority approves.¹
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¹ Ibid., 13–29; tr., 14–33. Sanskrit literature records cases of kings who lost their dominion or life through the betrayal of counsels in dreams or by birds.
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Ministers.
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The ministers were to be appointed from a sort of governing class, nobility of birth, office, and intellect, small in numbers. An excellent intellectual grounding, a high sense of duty, a blameless private life and a sound judgment, are laid down as their primary qualifications. A certain amount of popularity was wisely deemed an additional recommendation. There were those who, like Bhâradwâja, advised the king to select ministers from among his old fellow-students, but Viśâlâkṣa demurred to it as ultimately destructive of royal prestige. Parâśara emphasised faithfulness as the first qualification, but Piśuna pointed out that capacity, intellectual and administrative, was the essential desideratum. Kauṇapadanta held that high birth implied a grounding in traditional political wisdom, but Vâtayâdhi explained that new men versed in the "Science of Politics" were safer. The son of Bâhudanti, however, decried theoretical knowledge, and insisted on birth and capacity. Kautalya recognised the force of all these arguments; but he himself held capacity to be the highest qualification. But he would bar foreigners from chief offices and confine them to natives of the soil.²
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² Ibid., 13–16; tr., 14–17. Cf. the Mahâbhârata: "The person who achieves celebrity, who observes all restraints, who never feels jealous of others, who never does an evil act, who never through lust or fear, or covetousness or wrath, abandons righteousness, who is clever in the transaction of business, and who is possessed of wise and weighty speech, should be the foremost of ministers. Persons well-born, and possessed of good behaviour, who are liberal and never indulge in, brag, who are brave and respectable, learned and full of resources,
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Governing class.
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Qualifications of Ministers.
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In the Arthaśāstra the ministers are not bound to one another by corporate responsibility, but they all stand in subordination to the Chief Minister who recalls the Norman-Angevin Chancellor, the Turkish Grand Vizier, and more than anything else, the Vakil of the Indian Mughals. Par excellence, he was the sovereign's representative, the vicegerent of the empire. If the king was indifferent, lazy, or ill, the Chief Minister practically filled his place. Indian history records numerous instances of the usurpation of the royal dignity by over-mighty ministers.
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Next to the Chief Minister stood the Commander-in-Chief who presided over the whole military and naval establishment. Then came the other great ministers, the Samāhartṛ, or the Collector-General of taxes, the Sannidhātṛ, or the Treasurer-General, the Chief Judge, the Storekeeper, and so on.
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Portfolios should be occasionally exchanged. Every minister should have a number of assistants, and control one or more departments officered by Superintendents. Royal Commands and decisions were to be drawn up by Lekhakas or secretaries in prescribed form and jargon, and duly transmitted to departments.¹
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¹ For the writs, Arthaśāstra, 70–75; tr., 80–85.
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should be appointed subordinate ministers in charge of the different departments.”
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Śānti-parva, Sec. 80, Ślokas, 25–7. The sages mentioned in this connection, as elsewhere in Kauṭalya, figure in the Mahābhārata and can be identified with some well-known personages. Viśālākṣa is the god Śiva, author of the Vaiśālākṣa abridgment of Brahman's treatise. Piśuna is Nārada; Kauṇapadanta is Bhīṣma; the son of Bāhudanti is Indra; Bhāradvāja is probably Kaṇika (or Kaṇinka).
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The precise grouping of the Departments is not stated. But from the general review of the activities of the state in Kautalya it is possible to form some idea of the work of the Departments of the Goldsmith, Storehouse, Commerce, Forest Produce, Weights and Measures, Toll, Weaving, Agriculture, Pasture-lands, Cows, Slaughter-houses, Ships, Passports, and Liquor. On the military side, the chief Departments were those devoted to the Armoury, Elephants, Horses, Chariots, and Infantry. A detailed study of the working and organisation of the Departments is best reserved for separate treatment. But by way of illustration a word may be said of a few of them.
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The bureau of mines naturally fell into two sections, one concerned with the oceanic products, and the other with land mines, each run by experts. The former is charged with the collection of diamonds, pearls, corals, conch-shells, and precious stones. It also controlled salt which has almost always formed a government monopoly in India. Another branch of it regulated the commerce of the articles which came under its purview. The superintendent of land mines presided over a huge technical staff. The prospectors should wander over the plains, slopes, and the mountains in search of ores of scores of metals. Kautalya treats minutely of their numerous properties, and innumerable indications of depth of colour, weight, smell, taste, greasiness, adhesiveness, and so forth.¹ A Brāhmaṇa, guilty of a heinous crime, might be deprived of his property or sent to the mines.² The ores were scientifically purified under another branch of the Department. Finally, they were transmitted for use to the Superintendent of gold, of inferior metals, of the armoury, and so on.¹
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¹ Arthaśāstra, 81–86., tr., 94–100. N. N. Law, Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity, 5–9.
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² Arthaśāstra, 220; tr., 279. N. N. Law, Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity, 10–11.
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¹ Arthaśāstra, 85; tr., 100–102. N. N. Law, Ancient Hindu Polity.
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To take another illustration, the Department of Elephants served both civil and military purposes. The trapping of wild elephants had already been reduced to a science. A section of the Department was to train men and elephants to capture the wild beasts. Another section was to tame them, and train them for riding and military service. Stables outside the fort were to shelter the beasts that were refractory or still under training. Those inside the fort were to form the quarters of elephants that had completed their training. The stables were to be twice as high and half as wide as the length of the beasts. They should face north or east and should be provided with spacious corridors and smooth T-shaped tether posts. The sleeping places should be similar in structure but should have raised platforms for leaning upon. There should be separate apartments for female elephants. The beasts should be given fixed rations, and should be made to conform to a detailed time-table. Their whole upkeep necessitated a vast staff. It included, among others, drivers,² controllers,³ grooms,⁴ attendants,⁵ cooks,⁶ grass-suppliers,⁷ fellers,⁸ guards,⁹ night-watchers,¹⁰ trainers,¹¹ and physicians.¹² Messengers formed almost a department
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² चारोदक
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³ आचोरक
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⁴ दक्षिक
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⁵ औपहारिक
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⁶ विशापावक
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⁷ यावतिक
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⁸ पादपाक्षिक
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⁹ कुटीरक्षक
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¹⁰ उपशायिक
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¹¹ आनीकस्य
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¹² चिकित्सक
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For the whole department of elephants, N. N. Law, Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity, 58–67.
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by themselves, and were divided into various grades.¹ Every department is provided with a large secretariat: the whole paraphernalia of a bureaucracy.
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¹ Arthaśāstra, 245-47, tr., 307-10.
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Besides state officials proper, there were a number of ecclesiastical and household officers. The Sacrificial Priest, the High Priest, and the Teacher, ranked among the highest personages of the realm. The door-keeper and superintendent of the harem were placed in the second grade. The fore-teller, the astrologer, the reader of omens, the reader of Purāṇas, the sacrificial priests, the retinue of the priest, the story-teller, and the bard, occupied the same position as the Superintendents of Departments. The sorcerer and, most curious of all, the honourable playmate of the king, came a little lower. The bodyguards and attendants stood much lower.
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Ecclesiastical and Household Officers.
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In Kautalya, there is no regular department of education. But learning is patronised by both regular and spasmodic stipends to teachers and scholars. Some of them draw emoluments ranging from five hundred to a thousand paṇas a year.² Many musicians receive two hundred and fifty paṇas a year.³
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² Ibid.
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³ Ibid.
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One of the most important of state departments was that of accounts. It should be located in a building called the Accountant's office, with a door facing the north or the east. Seats were to be duly arranged for the clerks, and shelves provided for the multitudes of account books. The office seems to have been divided into several sections pertaining to the various departments. A record should be kept of all financial dealings with friendly or hostile
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Accounts Department.
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sovereigns, together with the treaties and ultimatums which determined them. Corporations or guilds were dealt with by a different section. So, too, provinces, villages, and families, whose customs, professions, and transactions were duly noted. Gems, precious stones, and other such things were registered with meticulous care—"the rate of their price, the rate of their barter, the counterweights used in weighing them, their number, their weight, and their cubical measure." But the most complicated of all branches of accounts was that relating to government factories. "The description of the work carried on, and of the results realised, in several manufactories: the amount of profit, loss, expenditure, delayed earnings, the amount of vyaji (premia in kind or cash) realised,—the status of government agency employed, the amount of wages paid, the number of free labourers engaged pertaining to the investment of capital of any work,"—all must be accurately given.
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Tremendous, indeed, are the salaries which Kautalya prescribes for officers. The highest, 48,000 a year, is given to the preceptor, the High Priest, the teacher, the Chief Minister, the Commander-in-Chief, as also to the Queen, the Queen-mother, and the heir-apparent who, for the purpose, counted as officers of the first rank. The door-keeper, the Superintendent of the harem, the commander, the Collector-general, and the Chamberlain, receive 24,000 panas a year; the prince, his nurse, the Chief Constable, the city-officer, the Superintendent of Commerce, the Superintendent of Manufactories, members of the Council, Superintendents of country parts and boundaries, 12,000; chiefs of military corporations, chiefs of elephants, of horses, of chariots, of infantry and commissioners, 8,000: Superintendents of infantry, of cavalry, of chariots,
Linked texts (2)
- Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit