The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s1.t8.1

c10.s1.t8.1

The municipality of Pâtali-putra, the Rome of the Hindus, was administered almost like a complex modern city. According to Megasthenes,² the Greek ambassador (c B. C. 302) to the Maurya Empire, the city fathers of Pâtali-putra were thirty in number. In their collective capacity they had "charge both of their special departments, and also of matters affecting the general interest as the keeping of public buildings in proper repair, the regulation of prices, the care of markets, harbors and temples".