The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s1.t9: 4. Specimens of Municipal Legislation
The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c10.s1.t9
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4. Specimens of Municipal Legislation
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If the town governments of the viceregal capitals like Taxila, Ujjayinî, Tosali and Suvarṇa-giri and other important cities of the empire were modelled on that at Pâtali-putra, we may believe that special attention was paid by the townspeople to sanitation. The health regulations were strictly enforced. Persons committing nuisance on roads, in bathing places, near reservoirs, temples and palaces were fined one *paṇa* (25 cents).¹ One-eighth of a *paṇa* was the penalty for throwing dust on the road. Persons carrying carcasses of dead animals on public roads were fined three to six *paṇas*. And the highest fine known to the Mauryas, that of 3,000 *paṇas*, was inflicted on persons who carried dead bodies by other than fixed paths. Houseowners were bound to keep the gutter of their houses in such condition as to allow a free passage to gutter water.² Violation of this municipal law was likewise punished with fines. Scrupulous cleanliness of the city was thus maintained by positive law.
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¹ *Ind. Ant.*, 1905, pp. 51, 52.
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² *Ibid*, 59.
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To protect the city against fire³ the inhabitants were ordered to cook outside the house. The fire brigade was very elementary, however. The householders were expected to have five earthen pitchers filled with water in front of the house. Nobody was allowed to keep haystocks, strawmats etc hard by. And in case of fire able-bodied citizens were in duty bound to help extinguishing it under pain of fine. Such cooperation with the municipal authorities was demanded of the people in other spheres also. Citizens were expected to be on the look out as to whether a merchant had or had not paid the toll at the customs office.⁴
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³ *Ibid*, 51—52.
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⁴ *Ibid*, 48.
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Every arrival and departure of guests had to be notified to the city police by the inhabitants. Failure was visited with a fine of three *paṇas* provided there was no thieving at night. The city kept special watch on the movements and whereabouts of hermits and ascetics. The names of spendthrifts and persons cruel in nature were entered on the municipal “black list”.⁵
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⁵ *Ibid*, 51.
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The city tried to protect the consumers by market laws both as regards weights and measures as well as prices. In regard to the sale of bony flesh it was the law that butchers must give towards compensation as much more meat as was equivalent to the weight of the bone. False balance was punished with a fine of eight times the value of the meat sold. “Profiteering” was carefully guarded against, as there was an official attempt to regulate the prices of commodities. The pious wish was also expressed that such large profits as are ruinous to the people should be abandoned.¹
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¹ *Ibid*, 55—56.
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The municipal register of the *nâgaraka* recorded not only the arrivals and departures of persons. It was a complete statistical gazetteer similar to the record books of the village-magistrate, the *gopa*, and the district-magistrate, the *sthânika*. The inhabitants were numbered as males and females. Their castes and professions were described. The number of quadrupeds in each household was noted down. Even the family budgets, the incomes and expenses of the citizens found a place in this comprehensive city directory.² It was on the data of all these local statistics that the national or Imperial Gazetteer of Maurya India must have been compiled by the *samâhartâ* or collector-general of the empire.
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² *Ibid*, 51—52.