CHAPTER V
RĀSTRA (THE TERRITORY OF A STATE)
DDT WI
The word ‘rastra’ occurs even in the Rgveda (IV. 42.1, ‘mania dvitā rāstram kṣatriyasya”)-‘mine is the kingdom on both sides (or in both spheres)’ says king Trasadasyu. In Rg. VII. 34,11 Varuna is praised as the Lord of rāṣtras ( rājā rāṣtrāṇām &c.). In Rg. VII. 84.2 and X. 109. 3 the word rāstra occurs. In a very famous benedictory 175 passage of the Tai. S. VII. 5. 18. 10 = Vāj. S. 22.22 ) one of the blessings invoked is ‘may the king in this kingdom become brave, a skilled archer, and a great warrior’, Vide Tai, Br. III. 8. 13 for explanation of the Tai, S. passage. In the Atharvaveda XII. 1. 8 and 10 the earth is called mother and invoked to impart to the rāṣtra strength and brilliance (or energy ). Kām. VI. 3 says 175 that since all the elements of the State spring from the territory of the State, the king should raise up his territory with all his efforts. The Agnipurāṇa 239, 2 holds that rāṣtra is the most important of all elements of the State. Manu VII. 69 prescribes that a king should make his home in a country that is not water-logged (i. e. is dry and not moist ), 176 is rich in crops, inhabited mostly by Aryas (or well-conducted people), not disturbed ( by epidemics &c.), that is charming (owing to trees, flowers and fruits ), the chiefs in which have submitted to him and in which livelihood can be had easily. Yāj. I. 321 and Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 4-5 are to the same .effect. Kām. (IV. 50-56 ) remarks the territory of
- 311 L Tigo TE TH OTTATTAT TT 1979 rra: TTT AUT रथो जायतां दोग्धी धेनुवादानड्यानाशुः सप्तिः पुराधियोषा जिष्णू रथेष्ठ सभेयो युवास्प पजमानस्य वीरो जायतां निकामे निकामे नः पर्जन्यो वर्षत फलिन्यो न ओषधयः पच्यन्ता
TATAT *: 9789711 . VII. 5. 18. 1, 138. . 22. 22 ( with slight variations ).
175 a. Pra wiat Tura 14: 1 MATTHAT TO THE FEWO u FTA, VI. 3. The T. *. p. 86 ascribes this to (and reads the last word as wata).
- selangit mua 18: HECTAT:
I T et dont vuurfa Fiyat: i quoted by you on #. VII. 69; F
a T वर्षातपश्च जाङ्गलो देश इति | quoted by राजनीतिप्रकाश p. 197 from a स्पति. The FATTO ON 77. 1.321 remarks uucacata rufale at UCTE देशो जाइलाग्देनाभिधीयते ।
OI)
The territory of the State
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the king depends for its prosperity on the qualities of the soil, the prosperity of the territory tends to the prosperity of the king; therefore a king should choose for the sake of his prosperity land possessing good qualities. That land is prefer red for the sake of prosperity that is endowed with various crops and minerals, is full of merchandise, mines and various substances, that is favourable to cattle-rearing, that abounds in water, is inhabited by well-conducted people, is charming, has forests and elephants, has facilities of water and road transport and does not depend upon rain-water only.’ 177 Land that is full of gravel and stones, full of forests always infested with thieves, that is waterless, full of thorny bushes and snakes is not fit for choosing as a rūśtra. A country is to be preferred that yields livelihood easily, is possessed of the qualities of good land (cited above), is full of water, that has hills in it, that consists mostly of sūdras, artisans and merchants, the husbandmen in which undertake great projects, that is loyal (to the king ) and averse to the king’s enemy, that can put up with troubles and taxes, that is large in extent, full of people from various countries, that follows the right path, that possesses plenty of cattle and wealth, the principal men in which are not foolish nor vicious. These requirements show that the country must be prosperous, well-stocked with the necessaries of life and well suited to defence. There is also some difference of opinion among the smrti writers about the composition of the population, Manu VII. 69 requires that the kingdom should consist mostly of aryas (āryaprāya), while Viṣṇu Dh. S. III. 5 holds that a country should be peopled mostly by vaiśyas and sūdras. In another place ( VIII. 22) Manu says that that country in which sūdras abound, which is full of atheists and void of dvijas is overwhelmed by disease and famine and perishes. Similar provisions are found in the Matsyapurana 217. 1-5, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 26. 1-5, Mānasol lasa (II. 3. verses 151-153), Nitivākyāmsta (Janapadasamud deśa p. 191 which defines rāṣtra, viṣaya, deśa, janapada &c.). The Matsyapurāṇa 217. 5 and Viṣṇudharmottara II. 26.5, (pvainvidhain ynthālābham rajā viṣny amāriset) point out that
- Wright or sua foto . 4. 52. Aan Huy-TITE watetega: forwafarg a reta um 11 Shtetet: where the rice crop depends solely on the rainfall the country is called TATTE (at HTUI TET) and where it depends on the water of rivers, tanks &c. it is called retar
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overy rāṣtra cannot be expected to possess all the qualities mentioned by them and that the king must do the best with such qualities as his country possesses. Kautilya II. 1 advises 178 the king to found a district of villages either on old sites or on new ones by inducing people from other countries to immigrate or by causing thickly populated parts of his own country to send its overflowing population and to see that each village consists of not less than one hundred families nor more than five hundred, is peopled mostly by śūdra cultivators, has an extent of one krosa or two and is capable of offering help to its neighbours.
According to Paurānic geography there are seven dvipas, viz. Jambu, Plakṣa, Sālmala, Kuśa, Krauñca, Saka and Puskara (Viṣṇupurāṇa II. 1. 11 ff) and each dvīpa is divided into varsas. Jambudvipa has 9 Varṣas of which Bharatavarṣa is the first (Viṣṇupurāṇa II. 2. 12 ff). The Mahabharata speaks of 13 dvipas (Ādi. 75. 19, Vanaparva 3. 52 and 134. 20 ) and 18 dvipas also (Drona 70.15). For Bharatavarṣa vide H. Dh. vol. II. pp. 17-18. Manu II. 20 looks upon the holy land of Kurukṣetra, of the Matsyas, Pancalas and Sūrasenas as ’the chosen country’ the learned brāhmaṇas in which were to be the leaders and guides of the whole world in appropriate thoughts and actions. The Viṣṇu ( II. 3.2), Brāhma, Mārkandeya 55. 21-22 and other purāṇas proudly assert that Bharatavarga is the land of action (karmabhumi). This is patriotismı of a sort but not of the kind we see in western countries. Bharatavarṣa itself has comprised numerous countries from the most ancient times. The names of countries and the tribes or people inhabiting them were the same (vide Pāṇini IV. 1. 168,
- भूतपूर्वमभूतपूर्व वा जनपद परदेशापवाहनेन स्वदेशाभियन्दव ममेन वा मि शयेत् । शुवकर्षकमायं कुलशतावरं पञ्चशतकुलपरं माम क्रोशद्धिकोसीमाममन्योन्यारक्षं
Thanh Bugil II. 1. This passage clearly shows that Kauṭilya at least employed the word janapada in the sense of a territory to be colonized and as one which was either included within the kingdom or not so included. Dr. Pran Nath’s interpretation of janapada that it was only a part of the kingdom’ (p. 47, Study in the economic condition of ancient India’) cannot be accepted in view of the express words wagening. The usage of classical writers and the Purāṇas shows that janapada means simply country’ and Amara gives it as a synonym of ast and fūr and Mirat explains that
are is called it. The Kāvyamimāmsā on which Dr. Pran Nath relies for the number of countries employs the word janapada for the names of the countries in the four quarters of India ( not for parts of any kingdom).
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IV. 2. 81 ). In the Rgveda we come aorogs the tribes of Yadus. Turvaśas, Druhyus, Anus and Pūrus (Rg. 1. 108, 8, VIII. 10.5 &c.) and the countries of Cedi (VIII. 5. 39), Kikata ( III. 53, 4), Rjika ( VIII. 7. 29), Rusama ( V. 30.12 ), Vetasu (X. 49, 4). In the Atharvaveda V, 22 several peoples or countries are mention ed of which Bahlikas (in vv 5 and 9), Mūjayat (vv 5 and 8), Gandhāri, Anga, Magadha ( in v. 14) deserve notice. The Ait. Br. (38. 3) divides India into five divisions in the east, south, west and north ( the Uttara Kurus and Uttara Madras ) and in the centre (Kuru-Pancāla and Vasa-Uśinara ). India was divided into two parts, Dakṣiṇāpatba (from the Narmadā southwards ) and Uttarāpatha at least some centuries before Christ, since the Hāthigumphā Ins. (E. I. vol. 20 at p. 79 ) mentions a great many kings of Uttarāpatha and the Maha bhāsya refers to lakes in Dakṣiṇāpatha." In the Brāhmaṇas frequent mention is made of the Kuru-Pañcālas (Tai, Br. 1.8. 4), Uttarakuru, Uttara-madra, Kuru-Pañcālas, Vaśa-Usinaras (in Ait. Br. 38.3), Kuru-Pancālas, Anga-Magadhas, Kāśi-Kośalas, Sālva-Matsyas, Vaśa-Uśinaras in Gopatha II. 10(ed. by Gastra ). The Gandhāras occur in Chandogya Up. (VI. 14. 1), Videha in Bṛ. Up. III. 1. 1, Madras in Bp.Up. III. 3.1. In the Maha bhārata there are long lists of countries in various connections, which are more than 200 (e. g. Sabhā 4. 21-32, 20. 26-30, Sabhā 25 ff, Sabhā 52. 13-19,53. 5-9, Virāta 1. 12-13, Bhiṣma. 9. 39-69, 50.47-53, Droṇa 11.15-18, 70.11-13, Aśvamedhika 73-78, 83.10 ff.) The Baudhāyana-gļhyaśeṣasūtra 1. 17 prescribes a mandala for the worship of the Sun and names nine countries in the eight directions and in the centre as representatives. The Purāṇas also contain long lists of countries e. g. Matsya 114, 34-56, Mārkandeya 57.32-67 and chap. 58, Brāhma 17.10-15 and 25.25-39. The same country sometimes has two names (e. g. Vidarbha and Krathakaiśika denote the same country in Raghuvamsa VIL 1 and 32). “Buddhist India’(by Rhys Davids p. 23) mentions the sixteen peoples (or countries), lists of which occur in the Anguttaranjkāya I. p. 213, IV. p. 252 and in the Dighanikāya
- The ATITTOU dames at least the following countries: stāl: sy, 9748, spa, Tamo sfr, A, T, E, FRIT, Fist. Pra, 94, 75, 76, prourt, afuga, igra, qatt, 5, ara, as, TIIS, T, U, #U, AF, APE, ATU, grut, , frau, face, yht, farra, &, mitte. Some countries like so , M5AE, , ruist, 95,
TAN, #TU, AT, Fira, hteite are mentioned even by Piotia (in IV. 1. 170-176, IV, 2. 108).
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II. p. 200 viz. Angas, Magadhas, Kāśis, Kosalas, Vajjis, Mallas, Cetis (Cedis ), Varsas (Vatsa ?), Kurus, Pāñcālas, Matsyas, Śūrasenas, Asmakas, Avantis, Gandhāras, Kambojas. Varāha mihira’s Bṭhatsaṁhitā, Baudhāyana-gphyasesasūtra 1. 17, Kāmasūtra V.6. 33-41, Bārhaspatya Arthasāstra (II. 83-117), the Kāvyamimāṁsā of Rajasekhara (17th chapter) name numerous countries. This last divides India into five regions and gives the names of about 70 countries in the four directions but none from Central India. The Bhāvaprakāśana (pp. 309-310) gives a list of 64 countries and states that Dakṣiṇāpatha (Deccan) is a fourth of Bharatavarṣa and that in the Tretā and Dvāpara ages people afraid of being overwhelmed by ice came down to the south, 1784 56 countries are named in some Tantra works (vide ‘Indian Culture’ vol. VIII. p. 33). In the lexicon called Vaijayanti of Yadavaprakāśa (11th century A.D.) edited by Dr. G. Oppert, over a hundred countries and capitals of some of the countries are named (in the Bhūmikānda and chapter on deśa thereof).
To constitute a rāstra a territory of some size and a large population are required. There can hardly be a rāstra of a few villages or a few hundred inhabitants. The boundaries of the numerous countries mentioned in the works cited above must have been fluid and must have changed from country to
country owing to conquests.
In ancient India the modern sentiment of nationalism had hardly taken root. Writers speak of rājya ( State ) and of rāstra ( territory ) as an element of rājya. They had no sense of ’nationality nor did they seriously work for national unity. The modern idea of a nation is more a question of feeling and senti inent than of objective fact. The State has been at all times a great co-ordinating agency, but as its boundaries were extremely variable in ancient India, the modern sentiment of nationality, of ‘my country, right or wrong’ hardly ever arose in India (except perhaps for over a century in Maharastra in the 17th and 18th centuries and among the Sikhs). In the whole of Hindu India, there was no doubt a certain unity of religion, philosophy, literary forms and conventions of arts and forms of worship, and in reverence for holy places, but this did not make for a deep seated and effective sentiment of nationhood or national unity.
179 a. farget opri 7991TH P. 309.
Farmaarrari ere are foarta om arata
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Most of the ancient sūtrakāras and smftis try to lay down the limits of the holy land of Aryāvarta and differentiate it from the lands of mlecchas. Vide H. of Dh. vol. II. pp. 11-18. The Viṣṇu (II. 3. 1-2), Mārkandeya (55. 21) and other purāṇas wax eloquent over the inportance of Bharatavarga and describe it as the land of action for those who want to secure heaven or final release or as the land where alone sin and religious merit were to be found ( karmabhūmir-iyam svargan-apavargam ca gacchatām or tat-karma bhūmir-nūnyatra samprūptih puṇyapāpayoh in Mārk.). Manu (II. 20) manifests great pride in and love for the holy countries of Brahmāvarta, Kuruksetra, Matsya, Pañcāla and Sūrasena by glorifying the brāhmanas of these countries as those from whom all men on this broad earth should learn the actions and usages appropriate to them’. Vas. I. 10 also says the same. Saṅkha Likhita (q. by Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 2) hold that the country of Āryāvarta is endowed with high qualities, is ancient and holy (desa Aryo guravān …… sinātanah puṇyah). As however the smptis were composed at different times, embodied the usages of different provinces in India and as they provided for the observances of all those who followed the Veda, they do not generally lay emphasis on localities but rather on what they thought was common to all Aryas in India (yat tu samūnam tad vakṣyūnah, as Āśv. gṛ, says). There was no doubt a great emotional regard for Bharatavarṣa or Aryavarta as a unity for many centuries among all writers from a religious point of view, though not from a political standpoint. Therefore one element of modern nationhood viz. being under the same government was wanting. But it must be noted that from very ancient times there was always the aspiration among great kings and the people to bring the whole of Bharatavarga “under one umbrella”. Even in the West the sentiment of nationality practically arose after the partition of Poland, and as a conse quence of the French Revolution and of the Industrial revolution, which led manufacturing countries to search for markets and to exploit backward and less developed peoples. Vide Laski’s ‘Grammar, of Politics’ chap. VI. Modern nationalism un doubtedly leads to great self-sacrifice and produces certain virtues of high value in the individuals that are fired by that sentiment. But the ideals of the modern nation States are not high, particularly in their treatment of other peoples and in their attitude towards less favoured States. The one aim of the leading politicians of modern nation States and most of the inhabitants of these States seems to be to raise the standard of
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living of their citizens to a high level and to maintain it at that level even by exploiting and robbing weaker races and lands. This is not the place to discuss these matters further. Whatever the value of nationalism to the individuals fired by it may be, from the point of the welfare of the whole of mankind, modern nation States do not deserve to survive, unless the so called progressive nation States are prepared to give up their racial pride, their spirit of grabbing and exploitation and to extend a brotherly hand to all struggling States to improve themselves in their own way and attain to higher standards of living without let or hindrance. It cannot be gainsaid that for several centuries in the past and also at the present moment all modern nation States have two moralities, one for their own nation and the other for their dealings with foreign States and races.
Some remarks must now be made about provincial and local administration. Each kingdom comprised deśas (countries) and subdivisions of deśas. The governor of a rāstra was called rāṣtrapati or rāṣtriya. Vide p. 117 above about Puṣyagupta hav ing been the rāṣtriya of Surāṣtra (Kathiawad) under Candragupta Maurya and Sānti 85. 12 (which describes what the rāṣtriya is to do ).
According to the Amarakośa the words desa, rāstra, visaya and janapada are synonyms. Epigraphic usage is not uniform about the dimensions of these. Sometimes visaya appears to be a sub-division of deśa (vide the words “rāstrapati-viṣayapati grāmakūta’ in I. A, vol. VIII. at p. 20 in the grant of Cālukya Tribhuvanamalla in sake 999 and I. A, vol. XII pp. 247, 251 in the grant of Rāṣtrakūta Govinda in sāke 855). But in the Hirahada galli plates (E. I. vol. I. p. 5) ‘viṣaya’ occurs first and then ‘rāṣtra’; so it appears that there’ visaya’ is deemed to be larger than rāstra. According to the Sahyadrikhanda ( uttarārdha, chap. 4) deśa is made up of 100 villages, mandala is made up of 4 deśas, a khanda of 100 mandalas and the earth has nine khandas. 180 From the Cambay plate of sake 852 (930 A. D.), we see that mandala was a sub-division of deśa (E. I. vol. 7 p. 26, at p. 40). From
- Taurat pantat TO THE WE TRUET Afefto Forte, chap. 4; Terverasai TenTHE TROTT forrera’ in E. I. vol. 7 p. 40; ‘figugutamateatefront ThapTHUT Pratique … PFA;’ 10 E, I, vol. 14 p. 324,
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the Bangarh grant of Mahipāla I (E. I. vol. 14 p. 324) and the Amgachhi plate of Vigrahapālā II we see that mandala was smaller than viṣaya which again was a subdivision of ‘bhukti’. The word’ bhoga’ (which is similar in origin to ‘bhukti’) appears to be applied to a sub-division of visaya (which in its turn is a sub-division of rāstra ) in the Bhamdak 181 plate of Krsnarāja I dated sake 694 (E. I. 14 p. 121, 126 ) and also in the Jejuri plates of Vinayāditya in 609 sake ( E. I. vol. 19 p. 62 at p. 64 where the word ‘rastrapati’ does not occur). The Mitākṣarā on Yāj. I. 319 explains that only a king (mahipati ) can make a grant of land and not a bhogapati (i. e. the officer over a bhoga). Another ancient word for a division of a country is āhārı which occurs in the Rupnath Rock inscription and Sarnath pillar Edict of Asoka (Corpus I. I. vol. I pp. 162 and 166 ), in the Nasik Inscriptions No. 3 and 12 (Govardhanāhāra and Kāpurāhāra, E. I. vol. VIII pp. 65 and 82 ) and in the Karle
Ins. No. 19 (E. I. VII. p. 64 ) where we have Mamalāhāra, modern Māval ( in Poona District ). For want of space it is not possible to pursue this subject here. For further information vide Dr. Fleet in J. R. A. S. for 1912 p. 707 and my paper on * the Ancient Geography of Mahārāstra’ (JBBRAS. vol. XXIV for 1914-1917 pp. 648-653 ). In the epigraphic records particularly of the Deccan and South India we come across names of territorial divisions to which small as well as very large figures (indicat ing the number of villages they comprised) are affixed: e. g. a group of twelve villages in Aparānta on the sea near Kalvivana (modern Kelvem) is mentioned in the Sanjan plates of Bud dhavarasa ( E. I. 14 p. 144 at p. 150 ), Nyayapadra saptadaśa in Bhoja’s grant in sarnvat 1076 (E. I. 18 at p. 322), Kisukād 70 (E. I. 15 p. 73), Beļvola 300 ( in E. I. 13 at p. 40), Konkana 900 ruled over by the Kadamba king Jayakeśi II (E. I. 13 pp. 298, 317), Tardavādi 1000 ( E. I. 15 p, 25), Kuṇdi 3000 (E. I. 13 at p. 18), Pratyandaka 4000 (E. I. II. p. 306 ), Karahāta 10000 (E. I. 13 p. 275 ), Banavāsi 12000 ( E. I. 13 p. 179), Nolambavādi 32000 (E. I. 19 p. 187), Kavadidvipa sapādalaksa (one and a quarter lakh ) in E. I. 13 at p. 299, the country of 7 lakhs (in the Lakshmeshwar Ins. of Vikramaditya VI in E. I. 16 p. 31). Vide Dr. Fleet in J. R. A, S. 1912 pp. 707-710 as to the meaning of these figures.
- ggiaforraghrefa dia para o E. I. vol. 14 p. 121 at p. 126 ; futa yurHTRATTTT txarra THERE IS Tuy 17" fa FAT EI, vol. VII. p. 26 at p. 40. .
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Kautilya II. 1 says that in the kingdom groups of villages should be set up with a chief town or fort in each, a group of ten villages being called Sangrahaṇa, of two hundred villages being called Khāryaṭika, of 400 villages being called Drona mukha, and in the midst of 800 villages 188 there is the Sthaniya.
- 3EATUFUT Aret Forefro : TAHITIT turgei ETOOTHT: au TH PET UTVI PUTTHET E II, 1. Vide Dr. Shamsāstri’s note on these. Furafit has a similarity in sound and meaning to modern thānā, Dr. Pran Nath (in Study of the economic condition of Ancient India’ p. 26 ) priocipally relying on a commentator of the Jain works called Prajñāpaoopānga ( which he misunderstands:) holds that grāma’ does not mean ‘a village’, but ‘an estate or survey village which can pay 18 kinds of Government taxes’. The learned Doctor says that he consulted many Sanskrit lexicons, but did not find this interpretation in any one of them. That should bave induced him to be cautious. But he makes the bold and facile assumption that lexicons were compiled from a literary view.point and are not of much assistance as far as the technical meanings of words are concerned’. His great authority, the Jaio commentator, says '
T H E Nunta Tala witryon na MTA: of 10: TEHETSARTE
TOMTAR IA:’. Dr. Pran Nath’s Jain authority is no better than texicographers and their commentators. Turit on Amara derives grāma as a HITHTA:’ i. e, the word yra is derived from the root ra. The Jain commentator first derives the word of# from 7 and then from 7. Dr. Pran Nath forgets that a fanciful or scholastic derivation is not a definition. The rest of the reasoning on the new meaning of grāma is on a par with this and cannot be examined in detail. A commentator expressly states (ibid p. 27) that he gives only the vyutpatti (etymology) of grāma, but Dr. Prān Nāth pays no heed to this. He has not correctly grasped the scholastic discussion in the commentary quoted on p. 27. He misunder stands the word ‘samagrāwāh’in Yaj. II. 152. The Amarakośa expressly says that sama’ and ‘samāna ’ are synonyms. He is often very dogmatic without looking into all ancient and medieval authorities e. g. on p. 51 he charges Dr. Fleet with misinterpretation of a jātaka text (addha-tiyani satani) which Dr. Fleet translated as 250, while Dr. Prān Nāth is sure that the meaning is · 150’. He probably never noticed that so far back as the 2nd century B. C. the Mahābhāṣya had explained the word ‘ardhatrtiya’ as Dr. Fleet does ( Brill arqagt or pu fa71:, vide Kielhorn, vol I. p. 426 on vārtika 22 on Pān. II. 2. 24). There is hardly any warrent for Dr. Prān Nātb’s assertion that each grāma (as interpreted by him) contained only about five families and had only about 15 or 20 acres of cropped area (pp. 39-40). Kauṭ. (note 178 ) states that a grāma contains from 100
PPM to ono inteles car to 500 families. If the inscriptions so far
which
come
published are carefully searched it will be found that grāma ordinarily meant a village in the modern sense and included several hundred acres of land. For example, in a grant of Pallava Yuvamabārāja Viṣṇugopavarman (1, A, vol. V p. 50)
(Continued on the next page)
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Manu VII. 114 similarly observes that in the midst of two, three or five villages the king should place a central post of guards called ‘gulma’ and another called ‘sangraha’ in the midst of a hundred villages. Manu VII. 115-117, Viṣṇudharma sūtra III. 7-14, Santi 87.3ff, Agnipurāṇa 223. 1-4, Viṣṇudharmot tara II. 61. 1-6, Mānasollāsa II. %. 159-162 (p. 43) require the king to appoint a hierarchy of officers for one village, for groups of ten, twenty, hundred and thousand villages, who are to report what is wrong within their jurisdictions that they cannot themselves remedy to the officer next in grade above themselves and Manu VII. 120 prescribes that a minister of the king should supervise the doings and conflicts of all these officers. The Edicts of Asoka show that he had to employ a hierarchy of officers such as the mahāmātras, the yuktas and rājukas for the administration of his vast empire. A similar administrative system seems to have been continued under the Gupta Emperors. From the Damodarpur, Baigram and other plates (E. I. XV. p. 113, E. I. XVII. pp. 345ff, E. I. XXI. p. 78 ) it appears that the Provincial Governors were appointed by the Gupta Emperor himself and were called uparika mahārāja, that either the Governors or Emperors appointed District officers (visayapati) who were often called Kumārāmātya, that the District officers were aided in their administrative work by a board of four advisers called nagara-śreṣthin (banker), sārthavāha (chief merchant), prathamakulika (chief of craft guilds) and prathama kāyastha (chief secretary), that the District officer had his
(Continued from last page) very detailed and accurate boundaries of a village of 200 nivartanas are given. A nivartana was equal to a square of twenty vanisas on each side, each vamsa being equal to ten cubits; so that a nivartana covered an area of 40000 cubits (200 x 200) i, e, about 90000 square feet, while an acre is equal to 43560 square feet. Therefore the village referred to in the above grant was over 400 acres in extent. The Mahābhāṣya (on vārtika 8 on Pan. I. 1. 7) has an interesting discussion on the several meanings of the word grāma in popular language viz. a number of houses (as in the grāma was burnt), the village wall or ditch (as in ‘he entered the grāma’), ‘men’ (as in the grāma had gone’), & village with its forests and bushes, with its boundaries (such as rivers and hills) and with embaoked fields (as in ‘a grāma was acquired’). Flagteri : I THOT A IHEET … * AT THE Hultenen una I MUUT TRAT you a As in modern times villages are found named after trees the same was the case in the days of Pan, and Patañjall GTATTAA: : UTAFT T Fortfarai AET169 on gr. I. 2. 51 (vol I. p. 224.).142
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headquarters in a place called adhiṣthāna and had his several offices or courts (adhikaranas), and that in sales of lands revenue officers called pustapūlas (keepers of records of rights ) were consulted and had to report. In E. I. vol. XVII. pp. 345, 348 a copperplate of Kumāragupta I has
grāmāsta-kulādhikaraṇam’ which means an office having jurisdiction over 8 villages. Manu VII. 119 says that the officer over 10 villages was to have as his salary a kula of land and kula is here said to mean (by Kullūka) as much land as is ploughed by two ploughs having six oxen yoked to each. The Vaijayanti on Viṣṇu Dh. S. III. 15 says “kulam haladvaya karsaniyā bhūh! Sukra (I. 191-192) states that the lord of one hundred grāmas is called sāmanta, an officer appointed by a king over one hundred villages is called anusāmanta, one over ten villages is called nāyaka ( compare modern’ naik’). Manu VII. 61 and 81, Yāj. I. 322, Kām. V. 75, Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 16-21, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 24. 48-49 say that the king should appoint as many adhyakṣas ( superintendents) as are required for the several departments of the state, who are clever, honest and of good family. Kautilya 188 IL-9 prescribes ’ those who are possessed of the qualifications for amātyas (cited on p. 107 above) should be appointed, according to their abilities, as superinten dents of the various departments and the king should constantly examine their work, since men are naturally fickle-minded and when appointed to do work exhibit like horses change of temper’. It is pointed out in works like the Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 16-21 and the Viṣṇudharmottara II. 24. 48–49, Sānti 69, 29, that those who are highly devoted to dharma should be appointed to the ecclesiastical or judicial department, the brave ones to military work, those who are skilled to revenue work and those who are very trustworthy should be placed in charge of mines, salts, toll-gates, ferries, elephant forests.
Kautilya in his 2nd adhikarana exhaustively deals with the work done in 28 departments and the duties of their superin tendents. He enters into very minute details about each and his work is encyclopaedic in character on this subject.
- Harga Tataar: Favq8: sferat e ragis: 1 ay agi farzt fint entertatemerlFAGOTT 130TAN It Agar fag: E mese artiteq II. 9; grāgrt sorang for FAIG fogorradea for
T9 gru Profa II. 24. 48. Vide a similar verse quoted by the Fapto on 71. I. 322.
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Kautilya’s work became the authority on Government and several inscriptions mention officers appointed according to the section on ‘adhyakṣapracāra’, which is undoubtedly a reference to Kautilya’s 2nd adhikarana. For example, in the Belava plate of Bhojavarmadeva (E. I vol. XII. at p. 40) and in the Barrackpur grant of Vijayasena (E. I. vol. XV. p. 283 ) we have the words ‘angāmsca sakala rājapādopajivinodhyakṣapracāroktın ihākirtitān cattabhata jātiyān janapadan kṣetrakarāṁsca’. It is not possible to do anything more than indicate very briefly the sphere of each adhyakṣa. The duty of the sannidhātr (1). 5) is to look after the construc tion of the treasury house, the store-houses for merchandise, for grain, for forest produce, for arms and of the jail. The samāhartr (the Collector-General) is to exercise superintendence over the collection of revenue from forts, the rural parts, mines, embank ments, forests, herds of cattle and roads for traffic ( II. 6). The samāhartr 184 has to divide (II. 35) the kingdom into four districts and to arrange the villages into three grades, viz. those that are exempted from taxes, those that supply soldiers and those that pay taxes in the form of grain, cattle, money, forest produce, free labour and other equivalents for taxes. It is the duty of the gopa to look after a group of five or ten villages under the orders of the samāharts. The gopa has not only to register the total number of the inhabitants of all varpas in the houses that pay taxes and that are exempt in the villages, but also to keep a register of the number of cultivators, cowherds, merchants, artisans, labourers, slaves, biped and quadruped animals, of the amount of monoy, free labour, tolls and fines that are recovered, and the number of women, men, young and old persons, and the extent of their actions, occupations, usages, expenditures. The sthānika (in charge of each of the four districts) should look after his charge in the same way. The superintendent of records and accounts (aksapatalādhyaksa ) should have the account office constructed with its door facing the north or the east, with rooms
184, Both the samāharts and the sannidhāts are mentioned as officers in the copperplate of Mahābhavagupta of Trikalinga (E. I. vol. VIII. p. 138 at p. 141 and E. I, vol. XI at p. 94). Sabara in his bhāsya on Jaimini XII. 1. 28 refers to the samāharts coming with his own phalanx of subordinates ‘यथा सेनापतिर्भस्यबलेन सहागतः समाइर्मा निजेन बलेन राजा त सबलस्तैश्चान्यैश्च। From Hiquen Thsang’s account of his travels (Beal’s · Buddhist Records’ vol. I. p. 78 ) we learn that each province kept a record of good and bad events.
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(for the clerks) set apart and with shelves of account books well arranged (II. 7). This officer had to enter numerous matters in the accounts, recover the king’s dues from the sureties of servants, to check onbezzlement and to recover fines for loss due to neglect or fraud. The account year ended with the full moon of Aṣadha, the year being of 354 days and the salary for an intercalary month being separately paid. Among the duties of the Superintendent of records and accounts was the important one of noting in his register the dharma, method of judicial procedure and the usages of countries, villages, castes, families and corporations ( desagrāmajāti-kulasanghātānām dharma. vyavahāra-caritra-samsthānam ………… nibandha-pustakastham kārayet). In II. 8 Kautilya specifies forty modes of embezzle ment by Government servants ( to which a reference is made in the Dasakumāracarita VIII ). In II. 9 he employs the picturesque figure that it is not possible to know exactly how officers appointed to the several businesses of the State extract wealth, just as fish always dwelling in water cannot be observed when they drink water. The superintendent of treasury (II. 11) shall in the presence of qualified persons receives into the treasury gems, pearls, articles of great or small value and forest produce (like sandal wood, (ugaru etc.). The superintendent of minos and of government manufactories (II. 12 ) must be proficient in the science of metals, mercury, liquids that ooze from the holes, caves and sides of mountains and hills. Under him are officers called lohādhyaksa ( who carries on the manu facture of vessels of copper and other metals ), a lakṣanādhyaksa ( a superintendent of mint, who manufactures silver and copper coins for the State ), a rūpadurśaka 1844 ( examiner of coins, who regulates the dealings with paṇas as a medium of exchange among the people and for stocking in the treasury), khanyadhyakṣa ( who attends to conches, diamonds, pearls, coral and trade in them), a lavaṇādhyakṣa ( superintendent of salt). The suvarṇā dhyaksa (the superintendent of gold) has to construct a goldsmith’s office for the manufacture of gold and silver articles with a single door and four halls, to appoint a skilful and trustworthy goldsmith to have a shop in the centre of the road (II. 13 ) and not to allow any one who is not an employee to
· 184 a. Patañjali in the Mahābhāṣya on vārtika 4 on Pān, I. 4. 52 cites the example qua aerei #191091 prafa guarni FOTOTA’. Here wear appears to mean one who can examine a coin or probably the same as well in Kauṭ.’.
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enter the goldsmith’s shop. If any one so entered he was to be beheaded. The State goldsmith (II. 14) has to manufacture gold and silver coins for the citizens and rural inhabitants through artisans employed by him. The superintendent of the storehouse (II. 15 ) has to keep together the produce of crown lands, taxes from the country districts, accidental revenue, manufacture of rice, oil &c. The superintendent of commerce ( panyādhyakṣa, II. 16 ) should keep himself acquainted with the demand or absence of demand for and the rise and fall in the prices of various kinds of merchandise produced on land or from water and brought by land or water routes. The superintendent of forest produce (kūpyādhyaksa, II. 17 ) was to collect forest produce through guards of forest and Kautilya gives a long list of trees, varieties of bamboos, creepers, fibrous plants and rope making material, drugs and poisons, skins of various animals, that came under this officer’s care. The superintendent of armoury (āyudhāgārādhyakṣa, II. 18 ) was to employ experienc ed artisans to manufacture arms, wheels, machines, armour &c. required in battle or for the defence of forts, or for battering the cities of the enemy. The superintendent of weights and measures 185 was to get manufactured weights from half mūṣaka
- The weights specified are: 10 seeds of māsa or 5 guñjās=1 suvarṇa. māsaka, 16 suvarṇa-masakas =one suvarṇa or karsa, 4 karsas one pala. 88 white mustard seeds=one rūpyamāsaka, 16 rūpyamāsakas or 20 saibya seeds =one dharana. The Kāsikā on Pān. II, 4.21 furnishes the interesting item of information that weights and measures (probably in vogue in its day) were first introduced by the Nandas (pandopakramāṇi mānāni). The chief measures of distance given in II. 20 are: 8 atoms=one particle of dust thrown up by a chariot wheel, 8 particles = likṣā, 8 liks as a medium-sized yūkā (louse), 8 yūkās =yava (barley corn) of medium size, 8 yavas - one angula, 12 angulas - vitasti, 2 vitastis = aratai or one prājāpatya hand, 2 vitastis plus 4 angulas (called dhanurgraha)=one hasta used in measuring pastures and cubic measures, 4 aratnis danda or dhanus or nālikā-paurusa, 10 dandas -rajju, 3 rajjus = nivartana, 1000 dbanus (or 2000 acc. to another reading) =goruta, 4 gorutas= one yojana. A nivartana was probably so called because it represented a day’s ploughing by a team of eight or six oxen (from the root vrt with ni), meaning the area from which they stopped after a day’s work. Vide H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 859 note 2021 for nivartana and gocarma. The extent of the nivartana differed acc. to different authorities. The Matsya said it was 30 dandas square, each danda being of the length of seveo hastas, while Śatātapa held the danda to be of 10 bastas, The Lilāvati (1.7 ) held that a pivartana was 20 vamsas square, each vamsa being of 10 hastas. According to the lexicon Vaijayanti, in Kosala the yojana was of four gavyūtis, while
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onwards up to one hundred suvarpas, weights being made of iron or stones found in the Magadha country and the Mekala mountain. The superintendent of tolls (sulkādhyakṣa, II. 21 ) was to erect near the principal gate of the capital a toll-house and its flag and when traders arrived with merchandise make four or five toll-collectors take down their names, whence they came, what merchandise they brought and whether it bore seal mark. In II. 22 Kautilya specifies various rates of tolls for imports and exports. The superintendent of weaving (II. 23) was to employ qualified persons to make threads, coats ( of armour ), cloths and ropes and he was to employ for cutting wool, fibres, cotton, hemp and flax, widows, cripple women, girls, ascetic women paying off fines by doing work, mothers of prostitutes, old women servants of the palace, devadāsis ( temple girls) who have ceased to do temple services. This superintendent was charged with the task of providing work for women who do not leave their homes, the wives of persons who have gone abroad, women who are cripple or unmarried and who have to work for their own maintenance. He was to give to them spinn ing work through the maid-servants in his department. If he stared at their faces when they came to exchange their work for wages or spoke to them on any other matter he was fined in the first amercement. Thus the State helped home or cottage industry. It is to be noted that he had large powers of levying fines and
(Continued from the last page) in Magadha it was only equal to two gavyūtis (last verse of desądhyāya in bhumikhanda). Kaut. gives hastas of various lengths for various purposes, Compare Mapu VIII. 132-134, Viṣṇudharmasūtra IV. 1-7, Yāj. I. 362-363, Nārada parisista 57-60, Br̥hatsamhitā, 57. 1 ff, Vāyupurāṇa 101.118 for some of these, which differ in some details from Kautilya’s statements. Kaut. (11, 20) states the duration of a nūdikā to be the time required for the passage of one ādhaka of water from a pot through an aperture of the same diameter as a wire of 4 angulas in length and made out of four suvarṇamāsakas, 2 nādikās are equal to a muhurta and 15 mubūrtas are equal to a day or a night. In II. 19 he gives measures of corn as follows: 4 kudumbas = prastha, 4 prasthas = adhaka, 4 ādhakas = droña, 16 dronas = kbāri, 20 droṇas – kumbha. The drona differed for various purposes. Vide above (p. 124 note 165) for a quotation from Mit, on Yaj. III. 274. Hemadri, vratakhanda pp. 51-57, gives quotations from various sources for measures of time, corn &c. These measures were different in different countries and at different times. The Lilāvati (of 12th century A.D.) I. 7 speaks of the khāri in Magadha being equal to 16 dronas. Vide n. 165 above and H. of Db. vol. II. p. 881 2. 2053 and L. D. Barnett’s ‘Antiquities of India’ (pp. 206-210) for tables of weights and measures.
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awarding bodily punishments e. g. if a woman refused to work after receiving the wages he could cut off her thumb (? or bind up her thumb with the index finger so as to form a pair of tongs ). The superintendent of agriculture (sitādhyakṣa, 186 II. 24) himself knowing or assisted by those who know the science of agriculture and the Ayurveda ( the ancient lore ) of trees was to collect at the proper times all kinds of corn, flowers, fruits, vegetables, bulbs, hemp and cotton seeds and to employ slaves, labourers and prisoners who worked to pay off fines they could not pay, to sow seeds on crown lands. In this chapter he makes interesting remarks about the extent of rainfall viz. the rainfall in a jāngala country (defined above at p. 132) is 16 droṇas, in anūpu (very moist) countries 24 dronas, 131 dronas in the Aśmaka country (modern Khandesh and part of Berar ), 23 droṇas in the Avanti country (round about modern Ujjain), an immense quantity in the Aparāntas ( west coast of India ) and the Himālayan regions.
The superintendent of liquor was to carry on the traffic in liquor and ferments in the capital, the other parts of the country and in army camps by employing men familiar with them, he was to impose a fine of 600 paṇas if any one other than the manufacturers, licensed vendors and vendees sold or purchased liquor, he was not to allow liquor-shops to be opened close to each other, he was to see that liquor was sold in small quantities such as or of a kudumba or a half prastha to persons of known character in order that ( lit. for fear) workmen employed should not cause loss through carelessness, that āryas might not violate the rules of good conduct and that desperadoes should not commit indiscreet acts. Sukra was even more strict as regards
- Sitā, according to the Amarakośa, means the lines or furrow made by the ploughshare’. Therefore Kautilya appears to employ the word
• sitā’ in the sense of land that has been cultivated’. Prof V. K. Ran. chandra Dikshitar (in ‘Hindu Administrative Institutions. p. 369 ) is not right when he explains FIAT MI5Wara: (of Amara) as’ methods and means connected with the plough’. Paddhati only means the line or furrow made in the field by the ploughshare. Kșiraswāmi explains as they ar e T. In II. 15 Kautilya himself explains. sitā ‘as the collection of grain brought in by the superintendent of agriculture TUTTI: Ffradra: . The sitadhyaksa appears to have been concerned with crown lands, while the share of crops leviable on lands of private ownership was called ‘bali’. Both these were the concern of the samāhartṛ as stated in V, 1. ( where rāstra is said to include sitā, bhāga, bali, kara &c.). When in II. 15 sitā and rāspra are separately mentioned that is on the analogy of the maxim of brāhman aśramana or of gobalivarda.
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wine, as he did not allow any one to drink wine in the day-time (IV. 4. 43). The superintendent of slaughter houses ( sūnk dhyakṣa, II. 26 ) was entrusted with the power to regulate the killing of animals for meat and was to impose the highest amerce ment on those who trapped or beat or killed deer, cattle, birds or fish which were declared to be under State protection or that dwelt in protected forests. The superintendent of nautch-girls (ganikādhyaksa 187 ) is dealt with in II. 27. The topic of vetyās has already been treated of in H. Dh. vol. II. pp. 637-639. Kaut, says that a gaạika was to be employed for a salary of one thousand panas, whether she was born in a prostitute’s family or not and she was to possess beauty, youth and accomplish ments (i. e. the 64 kalās enumerated in Kāmasūtra 1. 3. 16). Kaut, prescribes that, if she left the country or died, her daughter or sister took her place and estate or her mother could substitute some other gaṇikā in her place; when none of these existed the king took her wealth and her son did not inherit her wealth. A gaạikā could purchase her freedom by paying to the king 24000 paṇas as ransom. She was to hold the umbrella, the golden pitcher and the fan for the king when he was seated on the throne or in a chariot or in his palanquin. There were grades among the gapikās as best, middling and inferior and salaries differed by a thousand. The sons of prostitutes were to be the chief actors on the royal stage. It appears from these provisions that the vesyas were more or less slaves. The superintendent of ships (nāvadhyakṣa, II, 28 ) was to look after the passage of ships not only over the seas and at the mouths of rivers, but also over lakes and rivers in the sthāniya ( vide above p. 140 ) and other sub-divisions of the kingdom. Kaut. prescribes that villages on the sea-shore and river banks were to pay a fixed tax, fishermen were to render a sixth part of the haul of fish as fees for fishing licenses and merchants were to pay the customary tolls levied in port towns. This superintendent was to request the ships that touched at a harbour on their voyage to a distant port to pay the toll, he was to destroy pirate vessels bound for the country of an enemy as well as those that violated the usages of the port. The superintendent of cattle ( II. 29) was entrusted with the rearing,
- migranter stesegui t P13 F914 rate संसदि। पूजिता सा सदा राज्ञा एणवनिश्च संस्तुता । प्रार्थनीयाभिगम्पा च लक्ष्यभूता च
*#7777 1. 3. 20-21. This shows that every veśyā was not a ganika, but only one that was honoured for ber accomplishments (in 64 kalās) and who became the cynosure of all eyes.
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preservation and care of cows, bulls, buffaloes and the dairy produce. The superintendent of horses ( II. 30) was to record the breed, age, colour, marks, groups and places of origin of horses, which were to be classified as those kept in salehouses for sale, those that were recently purchased, those captured in battles, those that were pledged and those temporarily kept in stables &c. Kaut. notes that the breed of horses from Kāmbhoja, Sindhu (modern Sindh), Aratta ( western Punjab ) and Vanāyu (North west of India ) countries are the best of horses, Bāhlika (modern Balkh), Pāpeya, Sauvira (eastern Sindh and western Rajputana) and Taitila breeds are of middle quality and the rest are inferior. The superintendent of elephants ( II. 31 ) had to take steps to guard elephant forests and supervise elephants that were in stables, the catching, training and feeding of them, their accoutrements &c. Kaut. devotes one chapter (II. 32 ) to the training and classification of elephants and medical treatment when they fell ill. The superintendent of chariots and that of infantry ( II. 33 ) have the charge of the chariot department and of the six classes of infantry respectively. The superintendent of passports ( mudrādhyakṣa ) issued passes to inhabitants of the country or foreigners for entering into or going out and the superintendent of pastures (II. 34 ) was to see the passes and devote himself to the care of pastures. Kautilya provides that a pass (mudrā ) was to be given on payment of a māṣaka, that one could enter into or go out of a country only when one had a pass, that a person who entered without a pass was to be fined twelve paṇas and that the superintendent of pastures and his men were to examine whether persons not going by the royal road but through pastures had a pass or not and that the superintendent of pastures and his men were to convey the approach of thieves and enemies by beating drums and blowing conches and were to send messages about the entrance of enemies into pastures by means of domesticated pigeons carrying letters bear ing the official stamp or by means of smoke and fire. The nāgaraka ( the mayor of the capital or cities or the chief of the police in the capital ) was to look to the affairs of the capital ( or the big cities ). A gopa ( under the nāgaraka ) was to superin tend a group of twenty or forty families in the capital and an officer designated sthānika was to be in charge of each of four wards into which the capital was to be divided. Yāj. II. 173 mentions an officer called sthānapāla in connection with the
finding of lost goods who appears to be the same as sthānika. The gopa and sthānika had to keep a register of the caste, gotra,
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name and occupation of the men and women in their districts and also of their income and expenditure. Managers of charitable institutions had to send information to them about the heretics and travellers arriving to reside therein. Numerous rules about reporting and punishments for various defaults and wrongs are laid down, which are passed over. Manu VII. 121 and Santi 87. 10 also provide for the appointment in each city ( in the kingdom) of a high officer, who was to superintend all matters affecting the city and who had ample powers of restraint and coercion. Many of the superintendents mentioned by Kautilya occur under the same names in the Kāmasūtra e.g. gavādhyakṣa, sūtrādhyaksa, nāgaraka (explained by the com. as dandapāśika ), paṇyādhyaksa ( in V, 5. 7-10). Vide E. I. vol. 15 pp, 127-128 for a statement on the provincial adminis tration under the Guptas.
As regards the emoluments of the officers in charge of a village, ten villages &c. Manu ( VII. 118-119 ) has some interes ting rules: The headman of a village should obtain (as his emoluments ) those articles which the villagers have to furnish every day to the king viz. food, drink, fuel and the like. The officer over ten villages should enjoy one kula 189, that over twenty villages should enjoy five kulas, the superintendent of a hundred villages should receive the revenue of one village and the high officer over a thousand villages should enjoy (the revenue of ) a town. All this, as Medhātithi says, is only approxi mate and recommendatory and was not literally followed, but
- The word ‘pratyaham’( every day) excludes taxes on fields that are levied once a year or taxes levied on particular occasions only; while the words food, drink and fuel’ exclude cattle, money &c. The word
kula’ appears to be used as a technical term. It may mean as much land as would be required for the maintenance of a family. But there is another sense given by the commentators of Manu. Sarvajña-Nārāyana quotes a text that kula means’ two halas’. He and Kullūka quote Hārita to the effect that a plough (yoked acc. to dharma ) is one of eight bullocks, one of six bullocks is employed by those who want only bare maintenance, householders employ one of four bullocks, while those who in their greed want to incur heavy sin employ a plough with two bulls only. So by kula is meant as much land as can be ploughed with two ploughs to which either 8, 6 or 4 bullocks are yoked. That 6 or 8 or 12 oxen were yoked to the plough is stated in Atharva VI. 91.1 and Tai. S. V. 2. 5. 2. Puu Sora वचनाद द्वाम्य इलाम्या या कुष्यते भूस्ता मुखीतेत्यर्थः । हलमानं च अष्टागवं धर्महलं षड्ग जीविताधिमान् । चतुर्गवं गृहस्थानी द्विगवं ब्रह्मघातिनामिति हारतोक्तम् । धर्महलं पायं UPERETITIETO on HE VII, 119.
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only means that a salary commensurate with the position and responsibilities of each officer should be received by him. Vide Sānti 87. 6-8 for rules similar to Manu’s (where the officer over a thousand villages gets as his salary the revenues of a śākhānagara). Kautilya ( in V.3) sets out the salaries of many officers and servants as follows: the salary paid to the chief mantrin, purohita and a few others has been already stated above (p. 120); the dauvārika, the superintendent of the harem ( antar vamsika), the praśāsts, the samāhartr and the sannidhātṇ were to receive 24000 panas; the princes (other than the crown prince), the nurse (māts, mother?) of the princes, nāyaka, the superinten dent in charge of justice (or commercial transactions ?) in the capital (the pauravyāvahārika ), the superintendent of royal manufactories (karmantika ), the members of the council of ministers, the rāṣtrapāla ( governor of a province), antapāla ( the guardian of the borders ) were to receive 12000 panas; the salary of the heads of śrenis ( the military corporations ?), the heads of the elephant army, cavalry, and chariot army, and the pradestrs was 8000 panas; the superintendents (below the commanders ) of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants, of the forest produce and elephant forests will each receive 4000; the chariot driver (anika), the army physician, the trainer of horses, carpenters, yoniposaka (?) will receive 2000; the foreteller (the reader of omens), astrologer ( who finds auspicious times for undertakings ), the reader of purāṇas, the sūta, māgadha ( bard), the assistants (puruṣa) of the purohita and adhyakṣas will receive 1000; trained foot-soldiers, the accountants and scribes will receive 500; musicians 250, but trumpet-blowers will receive 500; artisans ( kāru ) and craftsmen ( śilpin ) 120; servants in charge of bipeds and quadrupeds, workers doing miscellaneous things, attendants near the king, bodyguard and the officer procuring free labour (visti ) will receive 60; those appointed to do piece work (kāryayukta, v. 1. āryayukta ), the elephant driver, boys (mānavaka, a page?), mountain-diggers, all atten dants, teachers and learned men shall receive honorarium (pājā vetana) according to their merit from 500 to 1000; charioteer of the king 1000 ; spies of the five sorts ( vide above p. 129 ) will receive 1000; the village servants (like washer-man), the spies of the type of sattrin, desperado, poisoner and ascetic women will receive 500; the wandering spies (vide above p. 130) three hundred or more according to the labour involved. The superintendents in charge of a group of hundred or a thousand ( servants) were to regulate the subsistence (bhakta ), cash salary, the perquisites,152
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the appointment and transfer of those under them. But there shall be no transfer of those who are the king’s personal servants and of those who are appointed to guard forts and the country parts. The Sukranitisāra (I. 211) emphasizes that salaries should be in paṇas, that a king should not make a gift even of a finger-breadth of land as emolument to any servant, but that if he does give land, it should be held only for the life-time of the officer 189. Kautilya ( in II. 1) prescribes that lands may be granted as emoluments to superintendents (of the various depart ments ), the accountants, to officers called gopa and sthānika, to officers in the army, physicians, horse-trainers, but without power to sell or mortgage. Sukra II. 117–204 mentions numerous officers of the army, the treasury &c. Sukra IV. 7. 24-27 sets out the salaries of officers, when the king’s income is one lakh of mudrās a year. Kaut. provides for pensions and gratuities. He says’ the song and wives of those that die while on duty whall get subsistence and wages. Young children, aged persons and ailing persons related to the ( dying ) officers shall be shown favour. On occasions of funerals, sickness or child birth the king shall bestow money and honours on them’. The Mahābhārata (Sabha. 5.54 ) prescribes 190 that it is the duty of the king to support the wives of those that meet death or calamities in the king’s service. Sukra II. 406-411 contains very modern-looking rules about sick-leave, casual leave, pension after 40 years of service &c.
The above provisions from Kautilya’s work show how States in ancient India engaged in almost all the activities of modern States, had an equally complicated machinery of administration and an army of high and low officers. It will also be noticed how, as in India at present, comparatively very high salaries were paid to ministers and heads of departments as compared with the salaries of clerks (e. g. the ordinary clerks received five hundred, while the chief minister and samāharts, the
- FUFTIUFLÅG PÅ:
F T E I GETU FETETT TTECTIETO जीवति । एणी तावदेवतार्थ विसुजेच सदेव हि । आरामार्थ गृहाथै वा दयाइष्ट्वा कुटुम्धिनम् ॥
matei I. 211-212.
- FRETTIFRUTTI ara eynigami 57# guarant for HATI FT 5. 54 ; qarai hartarac ATA : 1
a न्यूनाधिक्य यथा तथा ॥ पाण्मासिकी दीर्घाते तदूषं न च कल्पयेत् । नैव पक्षार्धमातस्य हातापाल्पापि भृतिः । … चत्वारिंशत् समा नीता सेषया पेन 2 सुपः । ततः सेषां पिना तस्मै मृत्यध कल्पयेत्सदा ॥… स्वामिका पिनष्टो यस्तत्पुत्रे सर्ति बहेत् । थापालोन्यथा yuyuna gora UPU TC a gaire II, 406, 407, 410, 413.
MI )
Salaries of officers
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colleotor-general, received respectively 48000 and 24000 i. e. 96 and 48 times as much respectively. If all the different officers mentioned in the works on dharmaśāstra, arthaśāstra and in inscriptions be collected together, they will make a formidably long list. A list from one inscription is set out below as a sample. 191 Vide Vogel’s ’ Inscriptions from Chamba’ pp. 120-136 for explanations of about 30 titles of officers occurring in the inscriptions.
A few words must be said about local administration. The word grāma occurs even in the Rgveda, In Rg. I. 114, 1 the poet offers his praise and prayer to Rudra so that he hopes that ‘all bipeds and quadrupeds may fare well and all beings in this village may be free from disease and may enjoy prosperity :: 198 In Rg. V, 54.8 ‘heroes (or men) conquering grāmas’ are mentioned ( grāmajito yathā narah). In Rg. X. 62. 11 Manu is styled ‘grāmapi’ and the bestower of a thousand (cows ?) and in Rg. X. 107.5 it is said that the ‘grāmani who is endowed with (or dispenses ) dakṣiṇā ( cows or wealth) walks in front ( of the village people )’. In the Tai. $. II. 5.4.4 it is said the prosperous are three indeed, viz. the learned brāhmaṇa, the village headman (grāmaṇi) and the rājanya ( warrior)’. 19 In the Tai. Br. I. 1.4.8, the consecration of fire for a vaibya sacrificer is made with the mantra ‘manostvā grāmanyo vratapate vratenādadhāmi’ (where Manu is styled grāmaṇi). In the Sat. Br. V. 4. 4. 19 the grāmaṇi is said to be stronger than his co-sharer (sajāta). Vide S. B. E. vol. 41 p. 111. We saw above
- In the Naihati grant of Ballalasena of Bengal in E. I, vol, 14 p. 156 at p. 160 we have one of the longest lists of high and low officers. ’ E-TEHWETA-HEA T -STATE : r #99 STATĒTOOST-15 -7ṣft-1707-7995-PART-TIEN-HETTAIETH-AETHTIPU fapien-AXTART-alaga-BRETEREAUTYSTO-werartere AERITT-Herrigira-AF170774-a):
H a gno14-74-48-FFT*–ft पाजाविकादिग्यापूतक-मोल्मिक-दण्डपाशिक-दण्डनायक विषयपत्यादीनम्पाश्च सकलराज पादोपजीषिनोऽध्यक्षप्रचारोक्तानिहाकीसिंतान चहभहजातीयान जनपदान क्षेत्रकरांश माह्मणान् ब्राह्मणोत्तरान् यथाई मानयति बोधयति समादिशति च । The word ’ adhyaksapracāroktāo ’ apparently refers as said above (p. 143) to the section II on the activities of adhyaksas in Kautilya. Vide appendix for a somewhat exhaustive list of officers mentioned in dharmasāstra and arthasāstra works and in inscriptions.
-
FUT START Prodanou fost gel T STARTET $. I. 114. 1.
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marra: gør arauit istana Herat anar i 8. r. II. 5. 4. 4.
20
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(p. 111 ) that among the ratnins, grāmanı (the village headman) was one. Grāma did not necessarily mean a village but may have been applied to a town ( though not a capital). The head man of a village was called grāmani, grāmika or grāmadhipati (in Manu VII. 115-116, Kaut. III. 10 ), grāmakūta ( in inscrip tions e. g. E. I vol. VII. p. 39 of sake 852, E. I. vol. VII. p. 183, 188 ) and Pattakila, modern Patil (in Ujjain plates of 975 and 1023 A, D. in I. A, vol. 6 p. 51, 53, vol. 18 p. 322 grant of Bhoja in samvat 1076, 1. A. 16 p. 254, E. I. vol. XI. p. 304, 310 of sainvat 1176 ). In an inscription of the 13th century from the Poona District we have the form pattela’ (E. I. vol. VII. at p. 183 ). The word ‘gāvunda’ for a village headman in the Canarese Districts is derived from grāmakūta ( E, I. vol. VII p. 183). Paithinasi 193 quoted by Aparārka p. 239 states that the food of a grāmakūta could not be partaken by a brāhmana, The Gathāgaptaśati frequently refers to the great influence of the grāmani and the love adventures of his son in the village (1 30-31, VII. 24). The Kāmasūtra states (V. 5.5 ) that the young son of a grāmādhipati had certain women of the village at his beck and call. 194 According to the Sukranitisāra I. 193 a grāma (village ) is one krośa in extent and yields a revenue of one thousand silver karṣas, while half a village is called palli and half of palli was kumbha. Hemādri in Dānakhanda (p. 288 ) quotes from the Mārkandeya-purāṇa definitions of pura, kheta, kharvata and grāma. Yāj. II. 167 makes a distinc tion between grāma, kharvata and nagara (town) as regards the extent of the pasture lands to be preserved round them. Baudhāyana Dh. S. II. 3. 58 and 60 condemns residence in a city for a religious brāhmana where the body is covered with dust which enters one’s mouth and eyes and recommends for residence a grāma abounding in water, fuel, fodder, fuel-sticks, kusa grass, flowers, which is full of well-to-do people, endowed with industrious people, where the majority are āryas and which cannot be entered by robbers. In the Sabhāparva 5,84 five officers of a village are referred to. It appears that from being a very high officer (a ratnin) in Vedic times the grāmani was reduced in his influence, came to be appointed by the king alone and the office became hereditary and could be given permanently. Vide
-
Istrati Lot OCHETTE for stor p. 239.
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SATPUTATIST**4 reagierTWFT gert Arorati FATTAT vyriapertura para foran: IPTAE V. 5. 5.
TII )
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E.I. vol. VII. p. 177, 188, 189 195. The Sukranitisāra (II. 120-21 ) states that there were to be six officers in a village and (II. 428-29) prescribes their caste, viz. sāhasādhipati (i.e. a magistrate to deal with wrongs involving force) was to be a ksatriya, grāmanetr (the headman) a brahmana, bhāgahāra (the person collecting the state land revenue) a ksatriya, lekhaka (a scribe, corresponding to the modern kulkarni in the Deccan ) should be a kāyastha, sulkagrāha (the toll-gate keeper) a vaisya, pratihāra (the guard at the gate of the village wall ) a sūdra. Sukra ( in II. 170-175 ) sets out their duties. The headman was to be alert in protecting the villagers like their parents from thieves, robbers and from the State officers, the bhāgahāra was to devote special care to the tending of trees; the lekhaka was to be skilled in accounting and proficient in several spoken languages; the pratihāra was to be of strong body, proficient in arms, humble and to call the villagers with the respect due to each; and the toll-gate keeper was to levy tolls in such a way that sellers did not incur loss of capital spent by them. From Kaut. III. 10 it appears that the village headman had the authority to inflict fines in certain cases e. g. when the headman (grāmika ) had to travel on some business of the whole village the villagers were to accompany him by turns, but if they failed to do so they had to pay a fine of one pana or a half paṇa. Similarly, if a villager does not co-operate in the getting up of a show (prekṣā) in the village, he or his people would not be allowed to gee the show and he was to be fined if he clandestinely saw it. In villages, particularly in Karnataka and South India and in brahmadeya grants ( to learned brāhmaṇas ) the village assemblies (sabha ) carried on local administration. From the Kotavumachgi Inscription of Cālukya Vikramāditya V dated sake 934 ( 1012 A, D.) it appears that Ummachige was a great educational centre in the 11th century and 104 Mahājanas of the village were entrusted with the proper conduct of worship in the temple, the imparting of education, the feeding of ascetics, the supply of water to the village and the punishment of criminals (E. I. vol. 20.p. 59). Vide Gopalan’s ‘History of the Pallavas of Kāñol’ pp. 93, 158-157 for the working of the village assemblies (sabhās ) from the 9th century onwards, but as he observes (p. 154 ),‘we do not know the nature of the rules that regulated their working, their exact sphere of action and their
195.269 UTF* UTACH T
gure at any | E.I. VII p. 177 at p. 188 (grant of Eastern Calukya Amma dated 945 A. D.).
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relation to the central government.’ An inscription of king Parantaka I (907-947 A, D.) at Uttaramerur deals with several classes of village committees that were appointed by vote ( Annual Report of Archæological Survey of India, 1904-5 pp. 131 ff). Five committees, viz. annual comınittee, garden committee, tank committee, gold committee (for currency or for collecting taxes in cash), pañcavāra committee, are des cribed and reference is made to a sixth called ‘justice committee and the mode of election and the qualifications and disquali fications of members are described in detail (pp. 142-145 ). Prof. Nilkanth Sastri in ‘Studies in Cola History’ (pp. 131-175) publishes the text of two Parāntaka Inscriptions with English translation and exhaustive notes. Vide also E. I. vol. 22 p. 5 for resolutions of the sabhā at Manur to be followed in future meetings, the qualifications in property, education and character of the members &c., E. I. vol. 24 p. 28 about the regulations of sabhā from two Uttaramallur Inscriptions and E. I. vol. 23 p. 22 for a note on the pañcavāra committee. For village communities as described in Buddhist works in the 7th century B.O., vide Rhys Davids in ‘Buddhist India’ pp. 45–51. It appears from Pāṇini and the commentary Kāśikā thereon that certain craftsmen were attached hereditarily to the village, were probab ly paid a certain part of the crop produce yearly for their services and corresponded to the modern village servants (call ed the twelve bulutedūrs ) in the Deccan. For an account of these balutedūrs, vide Grant Duff’s History of the Marathas’ (Bombay ed. Of 1863, vol. I. pp. 23-27). For example, Pāṇini (VI. 2. 62 ) teaches the accent of a compound word formed from ‘grāma’ with another word denoting ‘silpin’ (craftsman), such as grāmanāpita (village barber) or grāmakulāla ( village potter ), which are two examples given by the Kaśik, on this sūtra. From Pāṇini V. 4.95 (‘grāmakauṭābhyam ca takṣpah’) it may be inferred that a carpenter also was a village servant as in modern times in the Deccan. Bphaspati 196 contains very
- Vinstraatiat Fiat FATTI UMA FT Filet en de च । हो त्रयः पञ्च वा कार्याः समूहहितवादिनः । कर्तप्यं वचनं तेषां प्रामणिगणादिभिः । सभामपादेवगृहतडागारामसंस्कृतिः । तथानाथदरिद्राणां संस्कारो यजनक्रिया ॥ कुलायन निरोधच कार्यमस्माभिरंशतः। यत्रैतल्लेखितं पत्रे धा सा समयक्रिया पालनीया समस्तस्तु पः समर्थो विसंघवेत् । सर्वस्वहरणं दस्तस्य निर्वासनं पुरात् ॥ हस्पति quoted by HTTP pp. 792-93. Fr11. 222-223, f. 4. p. 332. The latter reads कुलायननिरोधश्च and states that कल्पतर read कुल्यायननिरोधश्च meaning ’ start. ing water courses and stemming them’. अपराक omits the balf कुलायननिरोधच
&c. The word to Is variously explained by the digests,
The latteated by
Sverre
anaitthu
TIN
Village administration
152
important information about local administration in villages. A compact formed among villages, guilds and corporations (gana ) is called a samaya ( agreement);such an agreement must be observed in times of distress and for acts of dharma. Two, three or five persons shall be appointed as advisers of groups ; their advice shall be followed by the villagers, the guilds, the corporations and others. Examples of agreement as to times of distress are: When there is drought, there may be a compact that for the performance of a sacrifice to the planets or the like each field or house should contribute so much money or when there is trouble from robbers, each house should send one able-bodied and armed man. Then examples are given by Bphaspati himself about acts of dharma. The village people should put down in writing what work they are going to do, such as the repair of a house for their assembly, a shed for distributing water to travellers, a temple, a tank or a garden, the performance of the necessary saṁskāras ( upanayana or funeral rites ) of the poor and helpless, gifts for the performance of sacrifices, prevention of famine-stricken groups of families from coming. Such conyen tions would be proper and should be respected by all the villagers. Whoever being able to carry out such agreements violates them should be punished with loss of all wealth and banishment. Bphaspati further says 17 that the heads of families, guilds and ganas and the inhabitants of towns and forts may pronounce the two punishments of reprimand and condemnation against wrong-doers and may also excommunicate them and the punish ments and favours declared by them according to rules should be approved of by the king, since such power is regarded by the sages as delegated to them. For ejecting out of the village one who is not guilty of theft or adultery with another’s wife the village headman or the village was liable to pay, according to Kautilya III. 10, a fine of 24 paṇas. It will be seen from what has preceded that village administration was self-contained and would function whatever Government might happen to be at the centre. The central Government did not very much interfere with local administration, except in the matter of land revenue, protection against invasion and exercised only general control and supervision. The village communities were miniature states.
- ET HOITOTVT1: grana: 1 erformante AT 9: Tant णाम् ॥ कृतं च स्वधर्मेण निमहानुग्रहं तुणाम् । तवाज्ञोप्यनुमन्साय निसष्टार्था हि ते स्मृताः। greyft quoted by sarrani p. 794, Furae. II. p. 225, frivirere p. 329. There are some slight variations.
158
(Voi.
There was a great deal of decentralization or devolution of authority from the central government to the village committees and authorities. They were also entrusted with civil and criminal justice, as we shall see later on. For further details on the organization of a village as a political unit, Dr. R. C. Majmudar’s ‘Corporate life in Ancient India’chap. II. pp. 135 ff. and Fick (p. 161) may be consulted. Just as there was some organization in villages in general, so also guilds ( śrepis ) and groups ( ganas ) had their own regulations and conventions. In XI. 1 Kautilya refers to ksatriya guilds in the countries of Kambhoja and Suraṣtra that maintained themselves on husbandry and followed the profession of arms ( vide above p. 88 n. 120 ). In III. 14 he refers to guilds of workmen or labourers ( sangha bhrtāh). Manu (I. 118) declares that his work deals not only with the enduring dharm is of countries, castes and families, but also with the dharmas of heretical sects (pāṣanda) and of groups (gaña). Manu (VIII. 41 ) requires the righteous king to consider carefully the dharmas of castes, countries, guilds and families ( to find out whether they are opposed to the Vedas ) and uphold those dharmas ( that are not opposed ) as binding (on those respective persons). Yāj. II. 192 prescribes that the king should respect the usages and conventions of occupational guilds, merchants, heretical sects, and groups (corporations &c.) and allow them to pursue the course of action they had followed from ancient times. Narada ( samayasyānapa karma, verses 2-6) and Bphaspati quoted in the Viramitrodaya ( vyavahāra ) contain very important directions as to what conventions of guilds the king should respect and what he is not bound to respect. Nārada says that the king should enforce the conventions agreed upon by heretic sects, naigamas (merchants), śrenis and other groups residing in the country or the capital. The king may allow them to follow their special rules (e. g. speaking the truth ), their special actions ( begging in the morn ing without having taken a bath ), their mode of meeting (on hearing a drum being beaten), the means of livelihood they have been used to (e. g. dressing as an ascetic). But the king should prohibit (out of their usages and conventions) such as are opposed to the king’s interest, or are disapproved of by the people in general, would be ruinous to the purposes of the king. The king should not tolerate their creating factious groups among themselves, taking up arms for a purpose detrimental to the State, and causing injury to each other. The king should specially curb those who cause dissensions among the several
III 1
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groups ; if they are connived at in these activities they might cause terrible danger. 198 A good deal has already been said about guilds and corporations in H. Dh, vol. II. pp. 66-69. Among inscriptions, the following may be studied : the Nasik Ins. No. 15 of the time of Abhira Iśvarasena (E. I. vol. VIII p. 88, where the śrenis of potters, oil-pressers and water-drawers receive deposits), Junnar Buddhist cave Inscription (A, S. W. I. vol. 4 p. 97, where a deposit of money with śrenis of bamboo-workers and braziers is made), Gupta Inscription No. 16 p.70(an endowment was entrusted to the guild of oil-men, whose head was Jivanta), Gupta Inscript ions, No. 18 p.79 (silk weavers from Lāta coming to Dasapura and building a Sun temple ), E. I. vol. 15 p. 263, E. I. vol. 18 p. 326 and p. 30, E. I. 16 p. 332, E. I. vol. I. 155 ( of 933 saivat, inscrip tion at Gopagiri, modern Gwalior, where the guilds of oil-millers and of gardeners are mentioned), I. 184 (Pehoa inscription, where a guild of 34 horse-dealers from different countries, some being brāhmaṇas, agreed to impose upon themselves and their customers tithes to be distributed to certain temples ). Rhys Davids in ‘Buddhist India ‘(pp. 90-96 ) gives a list of the 18 guilds that probably existed in the times of the early Buddhist works (though two or three of them are of doubtful existence) and the number of which ( 18 ) is sometimes mentioned in the Jātakas (as in Mūgapakkhajātaka No. 538, vol. VI p. 14 in Cowell’s tr.). For further details about the working and organization of guilds, vide chap. I of Dr. R. C. Majmudar’s
Corporate life in ancient India’, and ’ Indian Culture’ vol. 6 (for 1940 ) pp. 421-28 (on the economic guilds of blacksmiths, barbers &b. in the Kuṣāṇa period).
In numerous places rules are laid down about the qualifica tions of the ordinary servants ( parivāra, bhrtya or anujivin) of kings, how they should conduct themselves, how servants should
- Pide Tastigatog i
rat para JUT यो धर्म कर्म यच्चैषासुपरधानविधिश्च यः । यञ्चैषां पूरयुपादानमनुमन्येत तत्तथा ॥ भानुकूलं च यहाजा प्रकल्पषमतं च यत् । बाधकं च यदर्थानां तत्सम्यो विनिवर्तयेत् ॥ मिथः सातकरण महित शनधारणम् । परस्परोपपातं च तेषां राजा न मर्षयेत् ॥ पृथग्गाश्च ये भिन्धस्ते पिनेया fastama: I den frie gritar han # RICE (FATTIT** 2-6). In the Amrkoti Inscriptions (E. I. vol. 15 p. 263 ) we find the words 15
TAĦ (of the trade guild of Dhanyakata). This place is variously identified (vide E I. vol. 20 p. 9). The water holds that नैगम and बाणिक् are synonyms. विश्वरूप on या. II. 192 explains ‘सार्थ
ETTERT , MUST p. 796 explains’ TruFor T pratar urime n’.
160
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find out whether the king is pleased or displeased with them. Vide Kautilya V. 4, Virātaparva 4, 12-50 ( where the refrain of most verses is ‘sa rajavasatim vaset’), Matsyapurāṇa 216 (the whole of which is quoted in the Rajadharmakāpda pp. 24-27 and in the Rājanitiprakāśa pp. 189-192), Agni purāṇa 221, Vispudharmottara II. 25. 2-28, Kām. IV. 10-11, V. 1-4, 6, 9, 11-63 ( most of which are quoted in the Rājanitirat nākara pp. 51-58), Sukranitisāra II. 54-68, 205-253. On the word’ akṣudrapariṣad ’ occurring in Yāj. I. 310 ( where the Mit. has the reading ‘akṣudrosparusaḥ’) Viśvarūpa quotes a passage from Saṅkha 199’a haisa (gwan i, e a good king ) surrounded by vultures (greedy servants) is not desirable, but a vulture ( i.e. a greedy king ) surrounded by hamsas ( servants of spotless character) may be preferred.’ The Rājanitiprakāśa (p. 185 ) quotes the same passage from Saṅkha-Likhita with an addition viz. faults arise from those who surround the king and such faults are enough to ruin (the king). Therefore the (king) should first before engaging his servants) put down in writing whether servants are endowed with learning, character and good family.’ Sukra inculcates loyalty on servants in the following remarkable 200 words ‘one should not forsake a good master when he is in adversity. Should not one always and quickly desire the welfare of one’s protector whose salt (lit. food) one has eaten with honour even once’ (II. 246-247)? This senti ment pervaded most Hindu servants in ancient and medieval times, even under foreign rulers professing a different religion. The Rājanitiprakāśa p. 176 quotes a fine verse from the Garuḍa purāṇa as to matters to be principally considered in selecting servants, which are four, vis education, character, family and
- AUT FIT TUTRUTT: FH a qut fortart: FUTETI
F T on या. 1. 305; शालिखितौ । न गनुपरिवारः स्यास्कामं गृध्रो राजा प्रेमाल हंसपरिवारो न
1 Tiquitart: 1 set giar: rgfalt at sa faca I PARTIT Pere feeani rani i ristalfas. p. 185. This quotation seems to be corrupt. We have probably to omit the word or before offer:. IN THE XVI. 21-26 (Fuhrers’ ed. of 1916) we have a very similar passage, but it is corrupt. Vide THÁT* p. 22 for the same passage ascribed to sri fora. The
y has a similar verse of same sense (1. 302) ‘UARIT AT:
F A T: सभासदैः। ईसाकारोपि संत्याज्यो गृध्राकारैः स सेर्नुपः।’
- WITTE Hai Tera frusta ICARCTI TUTH oratori arged for forea FF TOHT
. II. 246-247.
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actions, just as gold is tested in four ways, viz. by weighing it or by rubbing it (on a touchstone), by cutting it and by heating it.&01
Some responsibilities of the Government or king in ancient India towards the people will now be dealt with. From Kautilya (II. 29 and II, 34 ) we find that the State made great efforts for the rearing of cattle, made stringent rules for their protection and for the provision of pastures. Manu VIII. 237, Yāj. 11. 167, Matsya 227. 24 also make provision for pastures round villages, towns and cities. Kautilya requires the superintendent of cattle to classify cattle as calves, steers, tameables, draught oxen, bulls to be yoked, stud-bulls, bulls meant for carts, cattle meant for meat and buffaloes meant for carrying loads or for being yoked, pregnant cows, milch cattle &c. and to mark them and note in a register of beasts the branded marks, natural marks, colour, the distance between the horns. He prescribes corporal punishments and fine for those who unauthorizedly kill or steal cattle or incite others to do so. He prescribes even the amount of fodder, oil cakes, bran and salt on which different kinds of animals put to different kinds of work are to be fed. From the Mahābhārata also we learn that even princes 80l« went to supervise and enumerate the herds of cattle belonging to the State, Vide Vanaparva 239. 4 and 240. 4-6. Even such a grammatical work as the Mahābhāgya incidentally gives expression to the view that a country’s wealth consists in its food-crops and in abundance of cattle.
We saw above (pp. 130-131) that spies were to be employed (acc. to Kāut.) to test whether State officers took bribes. Yaj. (1. 336, 338, 339 ) prescribes that the king should protect his subjects from the harassment caused by kūyjasthas (the account. ants and scribes), that he should ascertain the doings of the State officers through spies, honour those that are well-conducted and severely punish those who are badly behaved and should deprive those who take bribes of their wealth and banish them from the country. Vide also Manu VII. 122-124 and Viṣṇudharmottara for similar rules. The Pancatantra (I. 343) has the same verse as
- 160groti tur a: 696 otaqet at Hari INUTI for: graua pe pietate for ā fortfara. p. 176. This is not gror 112 3 with slight variations.
2018, rret 79: st TRIATHT@ Pri ma ef 239. 4, on which
y explains From Aromat free pornofmaat gerais odernen reya : Fran Turf I RETTIG, vol. II. p. 401.
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Yaj. I. 336 ( except the last pada ). Medhātithi on Manu IX. 294 remarks that the kingdom has no fear of ruin if kantakas (wicked people who are like thorns) are removed and justice is properly administered and that kantakas are generally under the protection of the queen, the prince, the king’s favourites or the commander-in-chief.
Great attention was paid to agriculture. In the Sabhāparva 5.77 the king 80% is advised to have large tanks in different parts of the country full of water and to see that agriculture did not depend on the rains alone. Megasthenes (Fragment I. p. 30 of McCrindle’s work ) notes that the greater part of the soil of India was in his day under irrigation and consequently bore two crops in the year. Even from the Tai. S. V. 1, 7. 3 it. appears that two crops were grown in the year ( tasmad dvih samvatsarasya sasyam pacyate ). The Vāj. S. 18. 12 contains a list of twelve different kinds of crops such as rice, yava, wheat, mūṣa, sesame, mudga, masūra &c, and the Bṛ. Up. VI. 3. 13 enumerates ton kinds of grain ( grāmyāṇi dhānyāni). In the Hathigumphā Inscription of Khāravela king of Kalinga (E. I. vol. 20 p. 71 ) it is stated that (p. 79 ) a canal which had already been opened in the 103rd year of the Nanda kings (i. e. in the 4th century B. C.) was extended by him in the 5th year of his reign. Rudradaman at great expense from his own treasury without any additional taxation or demand for free labour restored the famous Sudarsana lake near Junāgad (E. I. vol. VIII. p. 36 ) that had been built by the Governors of Candragupta and Asoka and been breached by floods. Irrigation had been made uge of from Vedic times. Rg. VII. 49.2 refers to rivers and springs naturally flowing and to channels that were dug up, South Indian Inscriptions show how the Pallavas and kings of other dynasties built tanks which were named after the kings themselves or after some distinguished chief of the locality and that are in existence even now. Vide S. I I. Vol. II part III, p. 351, E. I. vol. IV p. 152 (mention of tank called ‘parame śvaratatāka’), 8. I. 1 vol. I p. 150, E. I. vol. VIII p. 145 ( for mention of rājatatāka near which four nivartanas were granted by Cārudevi). The great engineer Suyya under Avantivarman of Kashmir ( 833-858 ) successfully dammed the river Vitastā with the result that a khari of rice which could formerly be purchased for 200 dināras could be had after the great irrigation
- I nerne goria e IC #TOFTH FT 5. 77.
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work for 36 dināras (vide Rājatarangiṇi V. 84-117). Kautilya (II. 24 ) refers to the various ways in which crops could be rais ed with water and the revenue to be demanded in each case, e. g. those who watered crops with manual labour had to pay 1/5th of the produce, those who carried water on their shoulders paid Ith, those who watered their crops by means of water-lifts or water-wheels from natural springs paid one-third and those who raised water from rivers, lakes, tanks and wells paid Ith. He notes that sugarcane crops are a heavy responsibility, as they are liable to many evils and entail great expense. Sugarcane had been grown even in the times of the Atharvaveda (I. 34. 5). The Sukranitisāra (IV. 4.60 ) remarks that the king should see to it that there is plenty of water in his kingdom by digging wells, wells with steps, tanks, lakes &c. Megasthenes (fragment XXXIV p. 86 of McCrindle’s ’ Ancient India ‘) says that some superintend the rivers, measure the land as is done in Egypt and inspect the sluices by which water is let out from the main canals into their branches so that every one may have an equal share of it. Kaut. (IV.3) devotes a special chapter to the king’s duty to save the kingdom from national calamities, viz. fires, floods, diseases, famines, rats, wild elephants (or beasts ), snakes and evil spirits. He gives practical hints for human and religious remedies and rites against these calamities. The measures against famine suggested by him are: the king may
provide the people with seeds and food, start works for those who are distressed, distribute either his own collection of provis ions or that of the rich or call for help from his allies, tax the rich and make them disgorge their wealth, migrate to other countries that have abundant harvests. National calamities are called iti, which are six: excessive rainfall, drought, rats, locusts, parrots and too close presence of foreign kings 803. The work of Kāmandaka states that calamities are either divine or human and that the first are of five kinds. In another place he gives & longer list of calamities. There are several references in ancient and medieval works to severe famines. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad I. 10. 1-3 we
- अतिवृष्टिरनावृष्टिर्मूषका: शलभ शुकाः । अस्यासमाश्च राजानः पता ईतयः स्मृताः क्षीरस्वामी on अमर, and राजनीतिमकाश p. 447; compare ईसयश्चम सन्ति # 1 sum 01. 17: carats en
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TIFTE R # *#. 13. 63-64 - vapor p. 59 verses 322-323.
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contains anaspur Coppemon people (.
have the story of Uṣasti Cakrāyana who took from another’s plate kulmāṣas that the other had been eating (i. e, he took ucchista food), when the country of Kurus was overwhelmed with a shower of hail (or by locusts ). The Bālakāṇda (chap. 9) refers to a famine in the country of Anga under Romapada. The Nirukta II. 10 refers to a drought in the dim past for twelve years in the kingdom of Santanu. A Mauryan inscription from Mahāsthāna (ancient Pundranagara) shows that Gapdaka coins were distributed and also corn to famine-stricken people (J. A. S. B. for 1932 p. 123). The Sohagpur Copperplate Inscription (of Mauryan times) contains an order of the mahāmātras of Srāvasti that the dravya storehouses were to be spent only in case of drought. Vide Annals of B. O. R. Institute, vol. XI p. 32ff., E. I vol. 2% p. 1 and J. A.S. B. vol. VII (for 1941) part 2 p. 203. The Rājatarangiṇi records several times the occurrence of famines in Kashmir at different periods (e. g. vide II. 17-54, V. 270-278, VII. 1219 ff). The Manimekhalai (chap. 28) speaks of a famine for twelve years at Kañol in South India. There was a terrible famine (called the famine of Durgādeyi) for twelve years in the Deccan about 1396 A. D. ( vide Grant Duff’s “History of the Marāthas’ vol. I. p. 43). Vide E. I. vol. 15 p. 12 for a reference to a severe famine in sake 1313 when paddy could not be had even at the rate of ten nāļis a pananı.
It has been shown ( in H. Dh. vol. II. pp. 113, 369, 856-858) how it was the king’s duty to support learned brāhmaṇas, to hold assemblies of poets and learned men, to make gifts of land to educational institutions and to promote learning in all ways. Vṛddha-Hārita VII. 229-230 says that only learned brāhmaṇas who are endowed with tapas are proper objects of the king’s bounty. Some emperors like Harṣa went far beyond what was reasonable. The Chinese pilgrim tells us ( Beal’s ‘Buddhist Records &c.’ vol. I pp. 214, 233 ) that at the end of every five years Harsa held an assembly (pariṣad ) at Prayāga and gave away all in charity. The Sukranitisāra ( I. 368-369 ) holds that a king should be on the look-out for educated men, should appoint them to offices suited to their education, should honour every year those who have attained eminence in learning and the arts and take measures for the advancement of learning and arts. It has already been shown how this had been followed by ancient and medieval Indian kings to the letter. A comparison with the British Indian Government in the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th will be highly interesting. After the battle of
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Plassey in 1757 the British East India Company got three such rich provinces as Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. During over 50 years the only thing that was done by the ruling power for the encouragement of learning among Indians was that in 1780 Warren Hastings started a Madrassa of Muslim religious learn ing at Calcutta with a moulvi and 40 stipendiaries and Lord Cornwallis founded a Sanskrit college at Benares in 1792. When the East India Company’s Charter was renewed in 1813 the only provision that was made for education and encouragement of learning (by George III, 1813 chap. 155, clause 43 ) was ’ that it shall and may be lawful for the Governor General-in-Council to direct that out of any surplus which may remain of the rents, revenues and profits arising from the said territorial acquisitions, after defraying the expenses of the military, civil and commercial establishments and paying the interest of the debt, a sum of not less than one lakh of rupees in each year shall be set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of literature and the encouragement of the learned natives of India and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India’. Detailed comment is not called for. More than 50 years after British rule began, when at least half of what is British India now had come into the hands of the British, and when the yearly income must have been many crores of rupees, the sum of u lalch of rupees was to be set apart for educa tion of two kinds (Eastern and Western) in the whole of the then British India. Further this provision was not compulsory but only permissive, and was to be availed of only if some surplus was left after everything else had been provided for.
As in western Jurisprudence, so in India the king was looked upon as parens patriæ, the protector or guardian of all minors. Gaut.206 X. 48-49 and Manu VIII. 27 prescribe that the king shall protect the property of a minor until he attains majority or until he returns from his teacher’s house. Medhātithi on Manu VIIL 27 says that the minor’s relatives like the uncles may contend that one of them is the guardian of the minor’s property but it is the king who is to see that the minor’s property is kept
- TU TASUTATUUTETTATOTT I FATTOR I ti. X. 48-49; RAST Trorat
Errort wreterani Triq. in f. t. p. 598 ; बालधर्म राज्ञा स्वधनवत्परिपालनीयम् । अन्यथा पितृस्यादिनान्धवा मयेद रक्षणीयं मयेदं CHITTRIA PUTRI #ur. on AF VIII. 27. OD HO VIII. 28 he remarks
या कम्भिवनाथस्तस्य सर्वस्य धनं राजा यथावत् परिरक्षेत् । तथा चोदाहरणमा पशादय:।
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safe. Baud. Dh. S. II. 2. 43, Vas. 16. 8-9, Viṣṇu Dh. 8. III. 65, Saökha-Likhita contain a similar rule. Nār. (rpādāpa 35) declared that a person was a minor till the 16th year. Manu VIII, 28–29, Vispudharmasūtra II. 65 extend the same rule and say that the king must take care of barren women, women who have no sons, women whose families are extinct, wives and widows who are faithful to their husbands and of those who are afflicted with disease. Nār. 80s as quoted by Medhātithi says that if a woman has nobody in her husband’s or father’s family to protect her, then it is the king who is to protect her. Kaut 206 (II. 1) makes it a duty of the elders of the village to take care of and increase the properties of minors and of temples.
It was the special concern of the king to see that proper weights and measures were used. Kaut. (II. 19) as stated above (pp.145-146) provides for a special superintendent of weights and measures. Vas.207 ( 19. 13 ) and Manu VIII. 403 provide that all weights and measures must be duly marked (or stamped), that once in six months they must be re-examined and that the weights and measures for objects required by the class of householders must be guarded against falsifications. Yāj. II. 240 and Viṣpudharmasutra V. 122 prescribe as punishment the highest ammercement for those who fabricate false balances, edicts, measures and coins and also for those who use them in their transactions. The Nitivākyāmrta (p. 98 ) requires the king to be vigilant as regards merchandise, balances and measures, since there is none who excels traders in stealing people’s money before their very eyes. 208 Vide Alberuni (tr, by Sachau) vol. I chap. XV about weights and measures current in India in the 11th century.
Another important responsibility of the king concerned thefts. Aśvapati, king of Kekaya, boasted that in his kingdom there was no thief, no close-fisted person, no drinker of wine,
- EMIRATHIR TTŲ © #670: I greutat gratis para farrati miuag TSHTE Page#: 5: HT:19HTUTTH Tru wat hy: 4T: #quot. ed by auto on AE V. III. 28. The first three half-verses are tre (TUIT 28-29), the printed text of which does not contain the ball verse uno &c.
206, imara HIT payer AUTE I agro si fara II. 1. p. 48.
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p. 98.
Itt
Ring’s duty in case of theft
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(Chan, Up. V. 11.5). Ap. Dh. S. 899 (II. 10. 26. 6-8) lays down that the officers should protect a city against theft for one yojana round it and in the case of villages for one krośa round them and that whatever is stolen within those limits must be returned to the owners by the officers. Gautama X. 46-47, Manu VIII. 40, Yāj. II. 36, Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 66-67, Sānti 75. 10 prescribe that the king should recover from the thief stolen property and restore it to the owner ( without distinction of caste ), that if he cannot restore it he should compensate the sufferer from his own treasury, and that, if he retained the property recovered from a thief or did not make efforts to catch the thief and compensate the owner, the king incurred sin. Kaut III. 16 contains a similar rule.210 Viśvarūpa on Yāj. II. 38 quotes a prose passage 211 of Br. with a similar import. The Viṣṇudharmottara €12 ( II. 61. 52 ) remarks that if a person is robbed by his own servants then he (the king ) may endeavour to recover it from the servants (by threatening or beating them), but need not restore it from his own treasury. Yāj II. 270-272, Nār. (pariśiṣṭa 16-21 ) and Kāt. 13 give further directions, viz. the thief should be made to restore the property stolen or its price; if the thief cannot be found the officers and wardens of the country pay the price of the stolen articles; the property stolen in the village should be made good by the headman of the village, if the thief’s foot-steps
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सर्वतो योजन नगरं तस्करेभ्यो क्ष्यम् । क्रोशे मामेभ्यः । तत्र यमुख्यते सस्तस्पति aici TT. 4. #. II. 10. 26. 6-8.
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परचक्राटवीभूतं तु प्रत्यानीय राजा यथास्वं प्रयच्छेत् । चोरहतमविद्यमानं स्व. Fotoa: 943a i flera III. 16 p 190.
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HATTEET TOTEUTH MATEI 191 quia in. X. 46-47; 8297 BAṢIFT FORGET TO Trace r te free to recar: u stran 75.10. The FAUTHOT on TT. II. 36 quotes Gauṭ, and Sānti 75. 10; ’ or ETFUTA: 1 otrok prihvatio regretariaat poster FARIṢTTET I saqraitienica para o parapet on 71. II. 38( of Tri, ed.).
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mi napreras Foreca II. 61. 52, quoted by trufas. p. 127.
- गुहे तु सुषित राजा चौरमाहास्तु वापयेत् । अरक्षकांश्च दिक्पालान् पदि चोरो न लभ्यते । मानान्तरे इतं वयं मामाप प्रदापयेत् । पिवीते स्वामिना दे चोरोद्धाऽपि. dimet n egrua quoted by one p. 844. Vide Selections from Pesówa Daftar’ vol. 43 p. 131 (No 166) for a comparatively recent (18th century) instance of a village (Pāṭas in this case) being held responsible collectively for a theft.
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are not traced as going out of the village ; if the theft takes place in a pasture land or forest (and the thief is not found), the owner of it should be made to pay; if however the theft is not committed in a forest but on the road then the officers appointed to arrest thieves should be made to pay; the whole village may be made to pay the compensation when the theft is within the boundaries of a village but outside the limit of the residential quarters, if the footsteps of the thief are not traced as going out of the village ; if the theft takes place beyond one krośa from a village then the surrounding five or ten villages may be made to pay the compensation. Yāj. II. 271 and Kāt. mention an officer called ‘cauroddhartā’ (‘or coroddharta’). The * cauroddharanika’(thief-catcher) is an officer mentioned in numerous inscriptions e. g. in the Palitana plates of Dharasena II of Valabhi in Gupta year 252 (E. I. vol. XI at p. 83 ), in the inscription of Nārāyanapāla where we have both cauroddharanika and kottapāla, modern Kotwal (I. A. vol. XV p. 304) and in the grant of Ballālasena quoted above (p. 153, n. 191). Kautilya IV. 13 also gives similar rules and mentions an officer called *corarajjuka’ who has to make good the loss of merchandise by theft between two villages or lands that are not pasture lands.
The first quality required in a king according to Yāj. I. 309 quoted above (p. 44) is great energy and Kaug. also (in VI. 1) ment ions ‘great energy’ (mahotsāha) among the qualities called ‘ābhi gāmika’. Works on dharmaśāstra and arthaśāstra emphasize the fact that a king must always be full of activity and must not be lethargic or fatalistic. In the Mahābhārata the topic of human effort and daiva (fate or destiny) comes up for treatment in numerous places and is put in the mouth of several characters with different emphasis according to circumstances. In Adi 1. 246-247, 89.7-10, Sabhā 46. 16, 47. 36, 58. 14, Vanaparva 179. 27-28, Udyoga 8. 52, 40. 32, 159. 4, 186. 18, Aśramavāsika 10. 29 the emphasis is on daiva as all powerful, it being said that human effort is useless as against daiva. A golden mean is advocated in Adi. 123. 21, Sabha 16. 12, Udyoga 79, 5-6, Santi 56. 14-15, Sauptika 2. 3, in all of which it is said that worldly affairs require both purusakāra (effort) and daiva. In certain other passages it is recommended that effort is superior to daiva and that one’s business is to make efforts and not to care for fate; e.g. in Drona 152, 27, Santi 27. 32, 58. 13-16, 163. 50, Anuśāsana 6.1 ff, Sauptika 2. 12-13 and 23-24. A few of the striking passages indicative of the three lines of thought are
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set out in the note below. $14 Energetic action, according to Santi. 58. 13-15, is declared by Brhaspati to be the root of rājadharma. Nectar was obtained and asuras were killed by the gods by means of energetic action and Indra secured his high position in heaven and here by energetic action. Br. makes the characteristic remark ‘A man who is a hero of action leads those who are heroes in speech and the latter are seen to cater for the pleasures of the former and wait humbly on him’. The Bhagavadgita in its final summing up of the philosophy of Activism without an eye to the fruit of it but from a sense of duty declares (XVIII. 13-16 ) ’ that in the Saṅkhya philosophy five categories are mentioned as conducive to the accomplishment of all actions viz. the place, the agent, various kinds of instruments, diverse and separate activities and lastly daiva; that whatever action a man commences either with his body, words or mind these five are its causes, whether the action be righteous ( nyāyya ) or the opposite of it, and that this being the true state of things (i, e, the fruit depending on the co-operation of five elements and not on one alone ) that man who regards himself alone as bringing about a result is a fool and has no correct perception.’ Kautilya also (I. 19 last two verses ) says’ activity (utthāna) is the root of wealth and the opposite of it is the root of evil. In the absence of activity the loss of present and future acquisitions is sure; by activity a king can obtain his desired object and plenty of wealth’. Yāj. ( 1. 349 and 351 ) states that success in undertakings depends upon both fate and human effort, yet fate is nothing but the
- देवं प्रज्ञाविशेषण को निवर्तितुमर्हति ॥ विधातृविहितं मार्ग न कश्चिदतिवर्तते। आदि I. 246-247; देवं पुरुषकारेण को निधर्तितमुत्सहेत् । उद्योग 186. 18; देवमेव परं माये पौरुषं त निरर्थकम् । सभा 47. 36; दैवं पुरुषकारेण को वञ्चयितुमर्हति । देवमेव परं मन्ये पुरुषार्थों निरर्थकः । वनपर्व 179, 27 ( said by भीम when caught by Ajagara); म हि दिष्टमतिकान्त शक्यं भूतेन केनचित् । दिष्टमेव ध्रुषं मन्ये पौरुषं तु निरर्थकम् ॥ उद्योग 40. 323 (2) देवे पुरुषकारे च लोकोयं संप्रतिष्ठितः । आदि 123. 21; जयस्य हेतुः सिद्धिाह कर्म दैवं च संश्रितम् । सभा 16. 12; देवेच मानुषे चैव संयुक्त लोककारणम् । उद्योग 79.5: नात्यानमृते देवं राज्ञामर्थ प्रसाधयेत् । साधारण इयं होतदेवमुत्थानमेव च ॥ शान्ति 56. 14; महि देवेन सिम्यन्ति कार्याण्येकेन सत्तम । न चापि कर्मणकेन द्वाभ्यां सिद्धिस्तु योगतः ॥ सौतिक 2. 3; (3) यत्नो हि सतत कार्यस्ततो देवेन सिध्यति । शान्ति 153. 50; तत्रालसा मनुष्याणां ये भवन्त्यमनस्विनः । उत्थान ले विगर्हन्ति प्राज्ञानां तब रोचते ॥ वृद्धानां वचनं श्रुत्वा योभ्युत्थान प्रयोजयेत् । उस्थानस्य फलं सम्यक् तदा स लभतेऽचिरात् ॥ सौप्तिक 2. 12 and 23; उत्थान हि मरेन्द्राणां वृहस्पतिरभाषत । राजधर्मस्य तन्मूलं श्लोकाश्चात्र निधोध मे ॥ उत्थानेनामृतं लग्धमुत्थानेमासुरा हताः । उत्थानेम महेन्द्रेण श्रेष्ठ प्राप्त दिवीह च । उत्थामवीर पुरुषो चारवीरानधितिष्ठति । उत्थामधीरान्वाग्वीरा रमयन्त उपासते। शान्ति 58. 13-15.
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human effort of past lives manifesting its effect ( in this life) and that as on a single wheel a chariot cannot progress, so fate cannot accomplish anything without human effort. Yāj. I. 350 refers to other views viz. fate alone leads to success, human effort alone does so, that success results of itself (without any cause ), while others say that it is Time that brings about all results. Manu VII. 205, Matsya 221, 1-12 (all of which are quoted in the Rājanītiprakāśa pp. 313-314) and Viṣṇudharmottara II. 66 ( which has the same verses as in Matsya 221 ) inculcate the same doctrine as that of Yāj. I. 349 and 351 and emphasize that one must always make efforts (tasmāt sadotthānavatā hi bhavyain-Matsya 221. 12). The Matsyapurāṇa 221. 2 empha tically 815 states that effort is superior. Medhātithi on Manu IV. 137 quotes a subhāṣitu those devoid of effort are engaged in calculating the aspects of planets; there is nothing impossible of accomplishment for those who are determined and who are able to put forth spirited efforts. Kaut. (IX. 4 last two verses ), Kām. V, 11, XII. 3-11 emphasize the importance of strenuous efforts. Sukranitisāra (I. 46-58) holds a long disquisition on effort and dair. It contains the following fine sentiments (I. 48-49):
Men of intellect whose career is honourable regard human effort as the highest (and not fate), while impotent men not being able to make efforts have recourse to fate; but all is centred in both daiva and effort’. Vide Rājanitiprakāśa pp. 312-315 and Nitimayūkha pp. 52-53 for further remarks on daiva and effort. In one place the Mahābhārata (Udyoga 127. 19 ) contains the bravest and loftiest advice ‘man should always press forward ( make efforts ), should never bend; striy ing is manliness; one may even break at a point which is not the joint, but should never bend 216, The Br̥hat-Parāsara smrti X pp. 282-283 contains a long discourse on daiva and puruṣakāra. Vide Vāyu 9. 60-61 and Mārk. purāṇa 2. 61-62 and 23. 25-26 for similar passages on daiva and effort.
An important doctrine of the writers on Arthaśāstra is more or less based on the necessity of utsāha, viz. the doctrine of three
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ATTITATE SI fout: 11 माय 221.2; धीमन्तो पन्थचारिता मन्यन्ते पौरुष महत् । अशक्ताः पौरुषं कहीवादेव 991 9 99 RE ME * sfarsi # 1. 48-49; SET भाषितम् । हीनाः पुरुषकारेण गणयन्ति प्रहस्थितिम् । सत्योचमसमर्थानां नासाग्य व्यवसा पिनाम् ॥ मेधा on मह IV. 137.
- TOUTHAJUATO Turisoa qafor haar afar eru a yutu 127. 19,
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saklus, i. e. of utsāha, prabhu (or prabhāva) and mantra. These three occur in the Mahābhārata (Aśramavāsika 7. 6). The S. V. p. 46 quotes a sūtra of Gautama (not found in the printed Dh. S.) the three saktis, viz. prabhu, mantra and utsāha are based on that (kośa).2164 In VI. 2 Kautilya defines mantra-sakti as the power of the knowledge (of statecraft ), prabhusakti as the power of treasury and army and utsāhasakti as the force of the king’s bravery. 817 Kautilya (IX. 1 ) holds a discussion about the relative superiority of these three and gives it as his opinion (as against that of the ācāryas ) that prabhusakti is superior to utsāhasakti and that mantraśakti is superior to prabhusakti. Kām. XV. 32 defines in the three thus : ’the employment of the proper line of policy out of the six upāyas ( sandhi, vigraha &c.) is called mantraśakti; a full treasury and army constitute prabhusakti and activity of the strong is called utsāhasakti; the king possessed of all these three becomes the conqueror, The Nitivākyāmsta (sadguṇyasamuddeśa) p. 322 defines them in the same way.819 According to the Dasakumāracarita 2£0 VIII the goal (or purpose) of a king is determined by mantra (consul tation with ministers about policy ), commencement of actions (for securing the goal) is due to prabhāva and the successful termination of undertakings is brought about by energy. The Parasuramapratāpa (folio 15a) quotes a verse which defines
prabhusakti’ differently viz. as the power to command. Vide also Agnipurāṇa 241. 1, Mānasollāsa II. 8-10 pp. 91-94. Kām. ( XIII. 41-58 ) brings together the numerous activities of the king.
A king endowed with valour has to employ several means (upāyas) to extend his dominions and to keep his hold on his own people. According to the Rāmāyana V. 41. 2-3, Manu VII. 109, Yāj. I. 346, Sukra IV. 1. 27 and others the
216a. T QUATT I AAPNICATUST TUOT: FEITETET Hot F941. . p. 46.
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upāyas are four viz. sīma (conciliation), dana ( giving gifts or presents), bheda (causing dissensions) and daṇda (punishment or depriving of property or causing bodily harm ), 281 In the Hāthigumpha Inscription, the king Khāravela (latter half of 2nd century B. C.) states that in the 10th year of his reign he sent, following the policy of danda, sandhi and sāma, an expedition against Bharatvarṣa, conquered that land and obtained jewels and precious things ( E. I vol. XX pp. 79, 88). This shows that the theory of the upāyas must have been evolved several centuries before the Christian era. Some others such as Kām. XVII. 3, Matsya 222, %, Agnipurāṇa 226. 5-6, Bārhaspatyasutra V. 1-3, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 146-149 add three more to the above four. Sabhā 5.21 mentions the number seven and Vanaparva 150.42 mentions sāma, dāna, bheda, danda and upeksa. About the additional three there is some difference of opinion, most holding that the three are māyā, upekśā and indrajāla (Kām., Agnipurāṇa ), while the Bārhaspatyasūtra (V. 263 ) says they are māyā, upekṣā and vadha and others say they that are māyā, akṣa (dice) and indrajāla (Sarasvativilāsa p. 42 ). Māyā means ‘deceitful trick’. The Viṣṇudharmottara II. 148 gives illustrations, such as tying a firebrand to the tail of a bird that often perches on the enemy’s camp to produce the delusion that a meteor ( an evil omen) fell down from the sky. Kām. XVII. 54 cites the example of Bhima’s meeting Kicaka dressed as Draupadi. Kām. ( XVII. 51-53 ) gives other examples of’ māyā. Upekṣā consists in not preventing a person from doing what is unjust or being addicted to some vice or engaging in a fight and is illustrated by king Virāta’s connivance at the death of Kicaka ( Kām. XVII. 55-57). Indrajāla means ‘creat ing an illusion by means of incantations and other tricks’ e. g. creating the illusion before the eyes of the enemy that a vast army is coming to attack them or showing that angels are descending to fight against them or making a shower of blood fall in the enemy’s camp etc. (Kām. XVII. 58-59, Viseudharmottara II. 149 ). About the four well-known upayas, Manu (VII. 108-109 ) says that for the prosperity of one’s kingdom sama and danda (punishment) are preferred, but if
- ESTA From TAFFETTI stayraralaru U o pau मसाम रक्षा गुणाय कल्पते न दानमोपचितेषु युज्यते । न भेदसाध्या बलदर्पिता जनाः 2015*TT FAQ # TETTE 41. 2-3; YTTITCHAISET TIETATE देशोपि भूपतिर्भवति सार्वभौमः । न हि कुलागता कस्यापि भूमिः किन्तु वीरभोग्या वसुन्धरा। FTTHET MET Jurur: 1 Ferrer a P. 332.
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the king’s antagonists do not yield to him by the enployment of the first three then he may bring them round by daṇda (i. e. fighting and harassing them ) and that ( VII. 198, 200) danda is to be employed as the last resort, since victory is not certain, In the Sāntiparva 69. 23 the view of Bphaspati is quoted 228 that fighting should always be avoided (as far as possible) and that for securing one’s purpose three upāyas ( other than fighting) are to be resorted to. Bṛhat-Parāśara X p. 280 also says that a wise man should not resort to fighting and that danda is to be resorted to only when there is no other course left. In Udyoga 132. 29-30 (cr. ed. chap. 130 ) Kunti sends a message through Krṣṇa to her son: *begging is forbidden to you nor is agriculture appropriate for you; you are a ksatriya living by the power of his arms and a protector against injury (kṣatāt trātā). Recover your ancestral share by sama, dāna, bheda, danda and naya’: In Udyoga 150 (cr. ed. 148 ) Krspa informs Yudhisthira how he first employed sama, then bheda, then dāna ( viz. giving up the whole kingdom for five villages) and how only danda is the proper recourse in the case of the wicked Kauravas. Hopkins, as very often, being obsessed with his ideas of three strata in the Mahābhārata says that three means appear to be the oldest form and four means a later idea. There is hardly any warrant for this opinion as for many others in the same strain (J. A. O. S. vol. XIII. pp. 182-183 n). The Viṣṇudharmottara II. 146 speaks of the four upāyas and states that danda as regards a foreign state is open (prakāśa ) i. e. burning and not-open ( aprakāśa i. e. by poison or secret death ). The Mit. on Yāj. I. 346 and Kām. XVIII. 1 say the same thing. The Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 38 prescribes that the four upāyas are to be employed at the proper time and according to the attitudes of the hostile king, friendly king, the madhyama and udāsīna kings 223. The Mit. on Yāj. I. 346 expressly states that the four upāyas are to be employed not only in the affairs between kings but also in the lives of all ordinary people and cites a verse wherein a father or teacher addresses a son or pupil making use of all four means 224 Kām. XVII, Mānsollāsa II.
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224, FTATCTT of your programaTT:, fa a Font Tarie विषयाः । यथा-अधीय पुत्रकाधीष दास्यामि तव मोदकान् । यहान्यस्मै प्रदास्यामि कर्ण. EFTTETTA Fanton . I. 346.
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17–20 verses 972 ff (pp. 117-122), Nitivākyāmsta pp. 332-336 treat at length of these four upāyas. A few points only are noted here. Sāma is of five kinds viz. recounting the good turns done by each to the other; praising the qualities and actions of the persons to be won over; declaring the relationship of each other; representing the good that will result in future; declaring ‘I am yours and I am at your service’ ( Kām. XVII. 4-5). Dāna consists in returning what is deposited with one by another, consenting to the taking away by another of one’s things, mak ing a gift of something new, giving what the other chooses to ask for, sending at fixed times what has to be given. Bheda ( sowing dissensions) consists in giving heavy bribes or presents to minis ters or feudatories, the crown prince and high officers of the enemy that are dissatisfied for various reasons, creating distrust between the king and his ministers, the rich men and the handsome men in the kingdom by the threat of the loss of life, honour, position, and wealth, by the fear of imprisoninent, by the fear that the king may carry away the beautiful wife of a subject or by suggesting that a handsome young man has his eye on the king’s harem, and suggesting to a king that a kinsman desires to secure the kingdom to himself and thereby inducing the king to put out his eyes or cut off his limbs. This is effected by secret spies or persons who are in the pay of both kings ( ubhayavetana, acc. to Mānasollāsa p. 119 v.995 ) 225 Vide Kaut. XI. 1, Matsya chap. 223 and Sukra IV. 1. 25-54 for bheda, Kaut XI. I explains at length how an aspiring conqueror is to sow dissensions between corporations and the leaders of corporations, between chiefs and other people. One or two passages may be quoted by way of sample: “Spies gaining access to these corporations (of warriors and others ) and finding out jealousy, hatred and other causes of quarrel among them should sow seeds of a well-plan ned dissension among them, and tell one of them this man decries you’. Spies may give publicity to the consideration of priority shown to inferior persons in social intercourse in the face of the established custom of recognising the status of other persons by birth, bravery, and social position. In all these disputes the conqueror should help the inferior party with men and money and set them against the superior party. A woman who has disappointed her lover and has been for
secure the king
out off his limbs., 1
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- STEFÜTITAGerona: i flergatite t i UTT # प्राणापहो मानमो धनहानिश्च बन्धकः । दाराभिलाषोभ इति भेदोऽत्र पदविधः ॥ ARISTA II. 18, verses 988-989 p. 118.
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given may approach and say to a chief’ this chief is troubling me when my mind is set on you; when he is alive I cannot stay here’ and thus induce the former to slay the latter.” The Matsyapurāṇa 223. 4 states that united people are more than a match even for Indra unless bheda is employed, that dissensions are of two kinds, internal and external, of which the former is more serious. External dissension means the quarrel with a chief, but internal dissension means dissension between a king and his queen or heir apparent or ministers. One should try to prevent dissension with one’s own relatives. Santi 69. 23 also advises the conquest of territory by fomenting dissensions. There fore the expedient of divide et impera’ has a respectable antiquity. Danda in the case of a king’s country consists in sentencing to death or corporal punishment or fine and in the case of the eneiny in fighting, destroying or devastating his country by seiz ing his crops and grain, cattle, wealth, forts and in imprison ing and injuring his people, burning his villages and forests.
There were certain privileges , that the king enjoyed. His rights to treasure trove have already been referred to (H. Dh. vol. II, p. 146). Kaut. (IV. 1) gives the following rules. The person giving information about the discovery of a mine, jewels or treasure trove gets one-sixth, but if the informer be a servant of the king he gets I’s ; treasure trove beyond 100000 paṇas went to the king wholly ( the finder being entitled to a th share only up to 100000 paṇas of the whole ); a subject who can prove that the treasure trove belonged to his ancestors would get the whole of it; if he takes it without establishing his ancestral ownership he is to be fined 500 panas and 1000 paṇas if he appropriated it secretly. The king also took by escheat the property of a person dying without leaving any heir except in the case of brāhmaṇas (vide H. Dh. II, p. 146 where some authorities are cited). This subject will be dealt with at greater length under the next sect ion on law and justice’. The king was also entitled to all property that was lost or given up by the true owner. Vide Gaut. 226 X. 36-38, Vas. 16. 19, Manu VIII. 30-33, Yāj. II. 33, 173-174, Saṅkha-Likhita. Gaut. and Baud. Dh. S.(I. 10. 17 ) say that the king should preserve for one year articles found after proclaiming the finding by beat of drun, while Manu says that
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the period is three years. The Mit. on Yāj. II. 33 reconciles these texts by saying that if the true owner comes to the king and establishes his ownership he gets back the entire article without paying anything for safe custody, if the owner comes in the 2nd year he pays it of the price for custody, if in the third year he pays to and if he comes after three years. The finder gets out of the share taken by the king. If the owner does not come at all the finder gets and the king the rest. The king may dispose of the article if none claims it within that period, but if the owner comes after three years and the article has been disposed off, the king should return the equivalent of the portior taken by him. Yāj. II. 174 specifies other scales of charges for the custody of unclaimed animals such as four panas for a horse &c. Another special privilege of the king was that he could not be cited as a witness in a judicial proceeding between private parties. Vide Kaut. III. 11 (p. 175), Manu VIII. 65, Viṣṇudharma. sūtra 8. %.
Constitutionally there was no one who could directly bring to book the king guilty of injustice. But the Dharmaśāstra writers insisted that dhar ma was the king of kings (Br. Up. I. 4. 14 quoted above p. 97 n. 125 ), that Varuna was the chastiser of kings (Manu IX. 245); therefore they appealed to the higher nature and conscience of the king and prescribed that if a king levied an unjust fine, he should offer thirty times of that amount to Varuna, throw the amount in water or distribute it among brāhmaṇas ( Yāj. II. 307) and that where an ordinary man would incur a fine of one kārsāpaṇa for a wrong, the king certainly deserves to be fined a thousand kārsāpanas (Manu VIII. 336 ). The remarks of Medhātithi on that verse quoted below are very interesting, when he insists on the principle that fines for the same wrong should vary with the capacity to pay 227. Even Kautilya (IV. 13 last two verses ) falls in line with Manu IX. 245 and Yaj. II. 307. But these prescriptions of Manu, Yāj. and Kaut, were counsels of perfection and must have been futile. No king would ordinarily fine himself. Therefore some medieval
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digests like the Vivādaratnakara and the Dandaviveka (p. 55 ) interpret these texts as meaning that the word ‘rājan’ applies here only to subordinate chiefs and not to a king who is independent.
The flourishing state of a kingdom well governed by a good, well-equipped and active king is very graphically describ ed in the Rāmāyaṇa ( II. 100. 43-46 ) ’ I hope your country is full of hundreds of caityas (platforms for sacred trees) and of people who are well-placed; is rendered charming by temples, prapās (sheds where water is distributed to travellers gratis ) and tanks; in which men and women are joyful: which is set off to advan tage by merry gatherings and festivals; the whole extent of which is well cultivated; which is full of cattle and free from injury (to beings ); which does not depend upon rains alone (for its crops ); which is beautiful, free from beasts of prey and all kinds of dangers; which is endowed with mines; which is free from wicked men and enjoys prosperity and happiness’. The Adiparya chap. 109 (cr, ed. chap. 102 ) also contains a fine description of a well-governed and prosperous country. The country was to be full of public wells, gardens and meeting halls ( sabhā). The Viṣṇu-dharmottara I. 13. 2-1% contains an ideal description of ancient Ayodhyā. “It was endowed with hundreds of parks; it celebrated festivals and held gatherings of people; its population was free from disease and had valiant mon; it always resounded with the music of lutes, flutes and tabors; it had fair complexioned, charming hetarai clever in brilliant conversation; its population was always gay; it re sounded with the recitation of the Veda and was endowed with companies of brāhmaṇas ; its market rows were full of men that had applied scents to their bodies ; there was not a man there who was wretched, dirty or emaciated; it stretched for three yojanas on the bank of the Sarayū and was ten yojanas in the middle.’