The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c14.150

c14.150

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 paṇas 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, of elephants, guards of timber and elephant forests, 4,000; charioteers, physicians, trainers of horses, chief carpenters, and rearers of animals, 2,000; the foreteller, the reader of omens, the astrologer, the reader of purāṇas, the storyteller, the bard, the retinue of the priest, and all Superintendents of departments, 1,000; musicians, 250; trumpet-blowers, twice as much; artisans and carpenters, 120; servants in charge of quadrupeds and bipeds, workmen doing miscellaneous work, attendants upon the royal person, bodyguards and procurers of free labourers, 60; honourable playmate of the king, the elephant-driver, the sorcerer, miners of mountains, all kinds of attendants, teachers and scholars, 500 to 1,000; a messenger of middle quality, ten paṇas for travelling one yojana, and twice as much for travelling from ten to a hundred yojanas; the king’s representative in the Rājasūya and other sacrifices, thrice as much as others; the charioteer of the king, 1,000; principal spies such as those who impersonated the fraudulent, the indifferent, the householder, the merchant, and the ascetic, 100; ‘fiery’ spies, such as those who served as village servants, poisoners, and those who impersonated mendicant women, 500; servants leading the spies, 250. The remuneration of the subordinate executive and ministerial posts was to be fixed departmentally.¹ So far as possible, all transfers were to be avoided among the guard of royal buildings, forts, and country parts. Besides the regular salaries, the government servants expected bonuses from the king when they had to bear the expenses of child-birth, sickness or funerals. The wives and sons of those who died on duty should receive pensions. So, too, the state should afford relief to the aged or infantine dependents of deceased royal servants. Promotion depended on good record rather than on seniority. When the treasury was