Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c8.s5.28

c8.s5.28

In these aspects of justice the secret service plays no insignificant part. In Kautalya, the secret intelligence department performed four important duties. Its agents noted all trends and shades of public opinion, and sent regular reports thereon—veritable "newspapers." They toured in foreign lands, tried to fathom the intentions of ‘friends’ and the designs of enemies. As such they closely corresponded to spies in modern Europe. They tried to detect sedition and crime in the land, and thus approximated to the modern Criminal Intelligence Department of India. Lastly, they noted the doings of government servants of all ranks and reported to the highest authorities. Here they bear a partial resemblance to the wâqiâh nawisas, or news recorders of the Mughal Empire. The spies were to be drawn from both sexes and from all grades of society. ‘Saints’ and ‘ascetics,’ householders and warriors, scoundrels and prostitutes, Brâhmaṇas, and outcasts,—all found themselves in the same service. They should settle on farms, engage in trade, get into prisons or wander in all conceivable disguises from one end of the country to the other, and in regions far beyond. Or they could stoop lower, commit thefts, regale themselves with drink, or lure notable natives or foreigners alike with their lascivious charms. Their ingenuity and skill were taxed to the utmost when they undertook to discover the spies of foreign states in their native land.¹