The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c12.50

c12.50

The practice of committee government obtained in the sphere of military administration. There were “six divisions, with five members to each. One division is appointed to co-operate with the admiral of the fleet,² another with the superintendent of the bullock trains, which are used for transporting engines of war, food for the soldiers, provender for the cattle, and other military requisites. They supply servants, who beat the drum, and others who carry gongs; grooms also for the horses, and mechanists and their assistants. To the sound of the gongs they send out foragers to bring in grass, and, by a system of rewards and punishments, ensure the work being done with dispatch and safety. The third division has charge of the foot-soldiers, the fourth of the horses, the fifth of the war-chariots, and the sixth of the elephants. There are royal stables for the horses and elephants, and also a royal magazine for the arms, because the soldier has to return his arms to the magazine and his horse and his elephant to the stables. They use the elephants without bridles. The chariots are drawn on the march by oxen, but the horses are led along by a halter, that their legs may not be galled and inflamed, nor their spirits damped by drawing chariots. In addition to the charioteer, there are two fighting men who sit up in the chariot beside him. The war-elephant carries four men—three who shoot arrows and the driver.” Megasthenes says that “a private person is not allowed to keep either a horse or an elephant. These animals are said to be the special property of the king, and persons are appointed to take care of them."¹ It is probable that for military reasons the state had the monopoly of these assets of warfare. It was again partly for military reasons that the government attended to the means of communication. Megasthenes speaks of the royal road leading from the western frontier to the capital Pâṭaliputra and measuring 10,000 stadia in length.²