The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c9.s2.t1.84

c9.s2.t1.84

Recruitment of officers. Elsewhere, too, the Śānti Parvan counsels that relations of the king or persons particularly trustworthy should be appointed to chief offices.¹⁰ In another section of the same Parvan, again, birth is prescribed as one of the considerations in making appointments.¹¹ There it is declared that to the chief offices as a whole should be appointed four Brāhmaṇas, three Kṣatriyas, twenty-one Vaiśyas, three Śūdras and one Sūta.¹ In the practice of the Mahābhārata, however, the principal officers are drawn from the aristocracy. It is possible that some of the offices were hereditary.²