The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.150

c12.150

The king as well as the provincial governors seem to have had advisory boards called Pariṣads, which deliberated on all affairs of state, which acted as a link between the highest officers and the general body of royal servants, and which helped the latter in the discharge of their duties. The Pariṣads seem to have been composed of the higher administrative officers. Their numerical strength is not stated. It will appear that the constitution of these boards represented a further application of the principle which lay at the foundation of the military and urban boards described by Megasthenes. It seems that the Pariṣad freely debated on all questions and that members dared to differ not only among themselves but also from the wishes of the king. In the latter contingency, the matter was at once reported to the king whose word would, of course, be ultimately decisive. "When," says the king in Rock Edict VI, "in respect of anything that I personally order by word of mouth, for being issued or proclaimed, or again in respect of any emergent work superimposing itself upon the Mahâmâtras, there is any division or rejection in the Pariṣad, I have commanded that it should forthwith be reported to me at all places, and at all hours." The views of the Pariṣad, as soon as formed, were to be reported to the Emperor by the Prativedakas. In Rock Edict III, the Pariṣad is asked to advise and help the Yutas in executing his orders for the promotion of the Dhamma.