The

Early History of

BENGAL

1.

The Lion Capital at Sarnath.

THE

EARLY HISTORY

OF BENGAL
BY
With a

F. J.

MONAHAN
University

Late Indian Civil Service

Preface by SIR JOHN WOODROFFE, B.C.L. Reader in Indian Law to the

Formerly a Judge of the High Court, Calcutta

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRES5 HUMPHREY MILFORD

1925

Oxford University Press

London
Edinburgh

Glasgow
Melbourne

Copenhagen

New

York

Toronto

Cafe Town
Shanghai

Bombay

Calcutta

Madras

Humphrey Milford

Publisher to the UNIVERSITY

Printed in England

FOREWORD
As the author, my friend Mr. Francis John Monahan, died before the completion of the work of which the present
volume is a part, I have been asked to say a word of explanaIn 1885, the author, a distion, by way of introduction. tinguished member of the Indian Civil Service, went to Calcutta as Assistant Magistrate, and was sent from thence to Cuttack. Two years later he was transferred to Rajmehal, as Sub-Divisional Officer, and worked there under the late Mr. Robert Carstairs, whose long connexion with the Sonthal Parganas began about the same time. After short periods in the Dacca and Burdwan districts, in which he gained his earliest experience of the work of a Magistrate-collector, Mr. Monahan was in 1892 transferred to Sibsagar in Assam, and then commenced the long connexion with the Eastern Province which terminated with his transfer to Jalpaiguri
as Commissioner seventeen years later. In Assam he held the post of Deputy Commissioner of Sibsagar for nearly three years, when he succeeded Sir Edward Gait as Director of
in 1898 Sir Henry Cotton, then Chief Commissioner of Assam, chose him as his Chief Secretary a post which, with short periods spent on furlough, he held until the creation of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. On the completion of the new administrativearrangements, he was appointed Commissioner of tKeAssam Valley a post which he held for three years. After a short rest in Europe he returned to India as Commissioner of the Rajshahi division in Northern Bengal, and early in 1914 he was transferred to Calcutta as Presidency Commissioner. In 1917, and again in 1918, he represented the Bengal Government on the Imperial Council, and during the last few mouths

Land Records. Early

of his service he held the appointment of Member of the Board of Revenue. It was probably at Rajmehal that the author flirt acquired

vi

Foreword

an

interest in the early history of the Province of Bengal which lasted throughout his career. He had the great

advantage which comes of a scholarly knowledge of the Bengali language and an alert desire to know and understand the life of the people amongst whom his administrative work lay. For this and other good qualities he was esteemed fey them. So far, however, as I am aware, he did not publish in any way the results of his studies until towards the close of his service, when he gave some public lectures in Calcutta. These were later published in the historical Review, Bengal, Past and Present. In these lectures the history of Bengal

was

carried

raent from service he continued at

up to the fourteenth century or so* After retire* work on his History of

Bengal with a view to publication in book form, but only the portion here published was finished at the time of his sad and unexpected death on the 20th day of November,
1928.

R.LP.

It will be seen, then, that the present volume, which deals with the Maurya Period only, is but a preliminary part of an enterprise which had in view a History of Bengal from this early age until modern times. As to the matter covered by this description, the reader is referred to the Author's preface, which so far as I can ascertain is final and complete. Though what is here published is but a fragment of the projected work, it is yet complete in itself and of a value which makes it worthy of the study of all those who are

interested in the History of India.

JOHN WOODROFFE.
OXFORD, November 27,
1924.

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

IT has seemed to the author of the following pages desirable that works on the history of India as a whole

should be supplemented by others dealing with smaller and more homogeneous units, and he has set himself the task
of presenting what
is

known

of the history of Bengal from

the establishment of the Maurya empire

down
as
is

to the
well

flrtt

Muhammadan invasion. The term Bengal,

known,

has borne different meanings at different times. Until very recently, the British official expression, 'Presidency of

Bengal % covered most of Northern India, including what are now the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, the Panjab, and the North- West Frontier Province, while the * Lower
Provinces of Bengal
*

included the present Bengal province,

with Bihar and Orissa, under one provincial government. The existing province of Bengal comprises what, under
British rule, has been

known

as 'Bengal Proper', and

corresponds roughly (excluding the districts of Sylhet and Cachar now included in Assam, and some smaller areas)

with the cbuntry in which the Bengali language is spoken. It is with the early history of this province that the author
proposes to deal.

The subject of the present volume is the Maurya Period, the establishment of the Maurya dynasty on the throne of

Magadha having been chosen

as the starting-point, because,

is

in the present state of our knowledge, it

the earliest event

in the history of Bengal to which an approximate date can be assigned. That event followed closely on Alexander the

viii

Author's Preface
known. As to what constitutes
different opinions,
historical evidence

Great's invasion of India, the date of which (887 B.C.) is

definitely

there

may be

but

it

seems to the author

that history proper does not begin until a date can be assigned, that is, a definite time fixed for some event with
4

reference to the present time.

Without
'

dates,

we have only

legends and stories beginning with

This volume will the subject

is

once upon a time \ be found open to the criticism that, while

the history of Bengal,

much

of the evidence

adduced

relates directly, not to Bengal,

but to the adjacent

this evidence

province of Bihar.
in

It

was necessary to discuss

view of the paucity of materials for early history in India,

the

known

fact that, during the

Maurya

period, as often in
political associa-

later times,
tion,

Bengal and Bihar were in close

and the strong probability that

similar political

and

both countries. Of the Maurya period some few monuments survive in Bihar, but none in Bengal. We have, for the same period, the detailed account
social conditions obtained in

of social and

political conditions in India furnished

by the

Greek Megasthenes, of whom we know that he stayed for some time at P&taliputra but did not visit Bengal.
Obviously, in dealing with the history of Bengal, though little direct evidence with regard to social and political
conditions in that country during the

Maurya period

is

forthcoming,

we must

notice the evidence for the period

relating to Bihar, since it

may

fairly

be conjectured that

conditions in Bengal at that time approximated to those

in Bihar,

and the absence of Maurya monuments from

for.

Bengal can easily be accounted

materials

In later ages, as

become more Abundant, we

if

shall find that Bengal,

not always, associated politically with some part of Bihar, has a distinct political and social

though often,

Author's Preface
history of her own.

fat

We

shall find, moreover, that

from

a time preceding by some centuries the

invasion, the political centre in the lower
shifted

Muhammadan
ample

Ganges Valley had

therefore,

from Bihar to Bengal.

There

is,

justification for treating

Bengal as a separate unit for the

purposes of history. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to add that special interest may be claimed for the history of
Bengal, because
political
it is

the establishment there of British

power, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, which may be said truly to have laid the foundation of the
fabric

which has grown into the present British Empire of

India.

F. J. M,

CONTENTS
PAGE

FOREWORD
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
I.

v
vii

xi
xii 1

Gangarides and Prasii

II.

Candragupta

20

III.

Maurya
Sdstra

Institutions.

The KautfKya Artha28

Introduction
.

IV.

The
The

Kautiliya Arthaifatra.

84

V.

KautiKya

Arthai&stra.

Superintendents
VI.

.....
Duties
Duties

of

47

The
The

KaufiKya

Arihattixtra.

Superintendents (continued)
VII.
Kautiliya
Arthai&stra.

Superintendents (continued)
VIII.

... ...
Duties

of 61

of

72
88

The Kai^illya ArfhaiOstra. IX. The KaufiKya ArihaiSstra.

tinued)

Civil

Law

Civil

Law

(con-

101
Police

X. The

Kautiliya Arthatdstra. Criminal Law

and
110
181

XI. The KautUiya ArthaSOstra. Policy

XII. Maurya Institutions. Greek Evidence
XIII.

140

Maurya

Institutions.

Greek Evidence (con.

tinued).

The Government and Laws

Greek Evidence Manners and Customs

157

XIV. Maurya

Institutions.

(con.

tinued).

106

XV. Maurya

Institutions.

Greek Evidence
. .
.

(con-

tinued).

The Court

.176

Contents

XVI.

Bindusftra.

Afoka.

The Rode

Inscriptions

185
197

Aioka
XVIII. Afoka

(continued).

The

Pillar Inscriptions

XIX. Art
INDEX

....... .........
(continued). tions

Evidence of the Inscrip205

Conclusion

of the

Maurya

Period.

228

289

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATS
1.

The Lion

Capital at Sarnath

frontispiece

2.

Chaddanta Jataka. Sculptures on the Southern Gateway of the Tope at Sanchi facing
. .
.

228

3.

Railing Pillars found at Sarnath,

now

in the

"

Sarnath Museum.
fetoeen 282-8
4,

Corner Posts of Buddhist Railings found at Sarnath, now in the Sarnath Museum.

5*

Chaddanta Jataka. Sculptures on the Western Gateway of the Tope at Sanchi facing
.

286

6.

A.

of India within the Ganges % from the MS. of Ptolemy's Geography, preserved at the Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos (V. Langlois, Gtographie de PtoUmte, Paris, 1867). B. The same Map from the Latin edition of Ptolemy's Geography, printed at Rome
in 1490.

Map

'

C. Part of Map of India 'without the Ganges 9 , from the Latin edition of Ptolemy's Geography, printed at Rome in 1490.

6etofenpp.8-9

Mount Athos

(V. Langlois, Geographic dt Ptoltm<<c, Paris, 1887).

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
A. R. A. S. I* Annual Reports, Archaeological Survey of India. De Anim. De Animalium Natura.
E.
I.

Epigraphia Indica.

IwL AU.Indi*che AUerthumshunde.

Ind. Ant. Indian Antiquary. J. A. S. B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. J&t. J&taka. J. B. O. R. S. Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society. J. R. A. S. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain

and Ireland.
Kautilytfs ArthafOstra, translated by R. Shamasastry, Bangalore, 1915. Mtmaires. Academic des Inscriptions, M&moires prtsentdes par

K.A.

P. E.

divers savants, Srie I. Pillar Edict,

R* E.

Major Rock Edict.

Smith, Atoka. Aioka y the Buddhist Emperor of India, by Vincent A. Smith, 3rd edition, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1920. Takakusu. Record of the Buddhist Religion, as practised in India

Malay Archipelago, by I* Tsing, translated into English by J. Takakusu. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1896.
the

and

Vin. Vinaya. Z. D. M. 6. ZeiUchnftderDeuischenMorgenl&ndischenGesellsch^,

Schiefner,

Tdrdn&tha. Taranathae de Doctrinae Buddhicae in India Propagations Narratio, Edidit Antonino Schiefner,
Petropoli, 1868.

Elliot, Hist. India, Hi. 850-3.

The History of India astoldbyher

awn Historians, edited from the posthumous papers of Sir H. M. Elliot, K.C.B., London, 1867-77.

GANGARIDES AND PRASII

after

related by biographers of Alexander the Great that, he had carried his victorious arms across the Panjab, invasion, and reached the Hyphasis (Bias) River, he was deterred from advancing further by accounts which reached him Septemof the military strength of two nations by whom his passage 3%*. of the Ganges would be opposed. The Greek and Latin authors whose accounts of Alexander and his conquests have come down to us wrote some centuries after his death, but professed to base their narratives on the evidence, now

IT

is

lost,

of his contemporaries and followers. Diodorus, who was born at Agyrium, in Sicily, and called &*<>* Siculus, lived in the times of Julius Caesar and Augustus, and wrote in Greek a universal History, to which he gave *& *c~

the

name

itself.

of Bibliotheke, claiming that it was a library in Describing the events which followed Alexander's
:

A D
*

arrival at the Hyphasis, he says

'

He (Alexander) had obtained from Phegeus l a description

of the country beyond the Indus. First came a desert, which it would take twelve days to traverse ; beyond this was the river called the Ganges, which had a width of thirty-two stadia, and a greater depth than any other Indian river; beyond this again were situated the dominions of the nation of the Braisioi 2 and the Gandaridai, whose King, Xandrames, had an army of 20,000 horse, 200,000 infantry, 2,000 chariots, and 4,000 elephants trained and equipped for war. Poros * assured him of the correctness of the information, but added that the King of the Gandaridai was a man of quite worthless character, and held in no respect, as he was thought to be This man, the King's father, was of the. son of a barber.
*

A local Indian chief.

w.
The
11.

*
*

Bp4<ft*, fyffonm,

Paniab

chief,

whom
B

Hydaspea (Jihlam) ia the preoeding July, and woo had become

his ally.

Alexander had defeated at the

8778

The Early History of Bengal

and of him the Queen had become deeply The old King, having been treacherously enamoured. murdered by his wife, the succession had devolved on him
a comely person,

who now reigned/

4

Elsewhere, in a general description of India, Diodorus says : Among the southern countries, the first under Kaukasos is India, a kingdom remarkable for its vast extent and the largeness of its population, for it is inhabited by very many nations, among which the greatest of all is that of the Gandaridai, against whom Alexander did not undertake an expedition, being deterred by the multitude of their elephants. This region is separated from farther India by the greatest river in those parts (for it has a breadth of thirty
stadia)/
Qttintu* Curtius.
8

At what date Quintus Curtius Rufus wrote his Life of Alexander i s uncertain, but most critics place him in and about the reign of the Roman Emperor Vespasian (A. D. 70-9),
Quintus Curtius narrates that, after Alexander had reached the Hyphasis, he asked an Indian Chief named Phegeus* for information about the country beyond, and was told that beyond the river lay extensive deserts which it would take eleven days to cross. Next came the Ganges, the largest river in all India, the farther bank of which was inhabited by two nations, the Gangaridae and the Pharrasii, whose
King, Agrammes, kept in the field for guarding the approaches
to his country 20,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry, besides 2,000 four-horsed chariots, and, what was the most for*

Plutarch.

midable force of all, a troop of 8,000 elephants. Plutarch (born at Chaironaia in Boiotia about the middle of the first century A.D.) thus describes the attitude of
Alexander's

army towards the proposed advance beyond the

was with the utmost
difficulty

Hyphasis
*

For, as

it

him

when the army he led amounted only to 20,000 and 2,000 cavalry, they now most resolutely opinfantry posed Alexander when he insisted that they should cross the
(Poros),

they had beaten

Ganges. This river, they heard, had a breadth of two-andthirty stadia, and a depth of one hundred fathoms, while its farther banks were covered all over with armed men, horses
1

Diodonu,

xvii. 98,
*

McCrinxviii.6.

dte'g translations arc followed in

these quotations.

Phegehw,

Or, according to text, possibly representing Bhagaia,

^^ **">-*

me

Gangarides and Prasii

and
elephants.
Praisioi

of 80,000 horse, 200,000 foot, 8,000 war chariots, and 6,000 fighting elephants. Nor is this number at all magnified : for Androcottus, who reigned not long after, made Sdeucus a present of five hundred elephants at one time, and, with an army of one hundred thousand men, traversed India, and conquered the whole/ x
the great geographer, a native of Amasia in Strabo. Pontos, who lived in the reigns of the emperors Augustus
Strata),

For the Kings of the Gandaritai and the were reported to be waiting for him with an awny

and Tiberius (27 B.C.-A.D. 87), writes : 4 The whole of India is watered by rivers, some of which unite with the two greatest, the Indus and the Ganges, while others enter the sea through mouths of their own. They all have their sources in the Kaukasos. At first they flow southward, but, while some continue their course in this direction those especially which fall into the Indus others
are diverted, like the Ganges, towards the east. This river, which is the largest in India, descends from the mountainous country and turns eastward upon its reaching the plains.
its

Then, flowing past Palibothra, a very large city, it pursues way to the sea in that quarter and discharges into it by a
single mouth/ ( letter written
2

3 by Krateros to his mother, Aristopatra, has been published which contains many other singular statements, and differs from every other writer, especially in saying that Alexander advanced as far as the Ganges. He says that he himself saw the river and the whales it produces, and gives such an account of its size, breadth and depth as far exceeds, rather than approaches, credibility ; for that the Ganges is the greatest of known rivers in the three continents is a fact generally allowed ; next to it is the Indus, while the Danube ranks third, and the Nile fourth. But different writers report of it differently, some assigning thirty and others three stadia as its mean breadth. According to Megasthenes the mean breadth of the Ganges is one hundred stadia, and the least depth twenty fathoms* At the meeting of this river and another the Erannoboas is situated Palibothra, a city eighty stadia in length and fifteen in breadth. It is of the shape of a parallelogram, and is girded with a wooden wall pierced with loopholes for the discharge of arrows. It has a ditch in front for defence, and for The people in whose receiving the sewage of the city.
*

Alex. 62.

xv

i.

18.

One of Alexander's gewswku

B2

The Early History of Bengal

is

situated is the most distinguished in all India, and is called the Prasi (Updo-wi). The King, in addition to his family name, must adopt the surname of Palibothros, as Sandrokottos, for instance, did, to whom Megasthenes was sent on an embassy/ 1

country this city

Cains Plinius Secundus

A.D. 28,

and

lost his life

Pliny the Elder '), who was born in the eruption of Vesuvius which
4

destroyed Pompeii (A.D. 79), was the author of an encyclopaedic Latin work entitled Historia Naturalis. In a chapter dealing with the geography of India he thus refers to his
authorities
:

*For it has been explored not only by the arms of Alexander the Great, and of the Kings who succeeded him, by Seleucus and Antiochus, who sailed round even to the Caspian and Hyrcanian sea, and by Patrokles, the admiral of their fleet, but has been treated of by several other Greek
resided at the Courts of Indian Kings, such as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphia, expressly for the purpose. . . . Seneca, one of our fellow-countrymen, who has written a treatise upon the subject of India, has given its rivers as sixty-five in number, and its nations as one hundred and eighteen/ 2
writers,

who

Discussing the Ganges, he says : * The tribes called Calingae are nearest the sea, and higher are the Mandaei and the Malli, in whose country is Mount up Mallus, the boundary of all that district being the Ganges. * This river, according to some, rises from uncertain sources, like the Nile, and inundates similarly the countries along its course; others say that it rises on the Skythian mountains, and has nineteen tributaries, of which, besides those already 4 6 6 3 mentioned, the Condochates, E ran noboas, Cosagus, and 5 Sonus are navigable. Others again assert that it issues forth at once with loud roar from its fountain, and, after

tumbling down a steep and rocky channel, is received, immediately on reaching the level plains, into a lake, whence it flows out with a gentle current, being at the narrowest eight
1 *

xv.

i.

35-6.

Bk. VI, ch* 21. * The lomaaes (Jumna), Prinas (perhaps Parnasa, another name of the Tamaaa or Terns), and the
Cainas (perhaps Cane, a tributary of the Jumna). < Probably Gandak. * There seems to be no

that the Erannoboas or Erinnoboas (Hiranyavaha or Hiranyabahu) it the Son, and that Pliny's distinction between Erannoboas and Sonus is erroneous (cf. Cunningham, A. R. A. 8. 1.
jrf,

p. 154).

Perhaps Kori.

miles and, on the average, a hundred stadia in breadth, and never of less depth than twenty paces (one hundred feet) in the final part of its course, which is through the country of the Gangarides. The royal city (regia) of the Caltnga is
Parthalis. Over their King 60,000 foot-soldiers, 1,000 horsemen, and 700 elephants keep watch and ward/ l
called

The above

translation follows the reading

'.
'

Gangaridum.

Calingarum Regia

Regia *, seems to make the Gangarides Calingae * a people having a king, capital city, and military force of their own. 2 Pliny adds
*
:

An alternative reading, Gangaridum Calingarum.

But the Prasii surpass in power and glory every other people, not only in this quarter, but one may say in all India, their capital being Palibothra, a very large and wealthy city, after which some call the people itself Palibothri, nay, even the whole tract along the Ganges. Their King has in his pay
a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 80,000 cavalry, and 0,000 elephants, whence may be formed some conjecture as to the vastness of his resources.'

In his description of the island of Taprobane (Ceylon), he remarks 3

:

The island in the former days, when the voyage to it was made with vessels constructed of papyrus and rigged after the manner of the vessels of the Nile, was thought to be twenty days' sail from the country of the Prasii, but the distance came afterwards to be reckoned as a seven days sail,
9

according to the rate of speed of our ships.

Arrian

('Appiavos, Arrianus), distinguished as philosopher,

Arrfcuu

statesman, soldier, and historian, was born at the town of Nikomedia, in Bithynia, a province in the north of Asia

Minor, towards the end of the first century of our era, and died at an advanced age in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Like Strabo, he wrote in Greek* In his work entitled Indika occurs the following passage :

The greatest city in India is that which is called Palirabothra, in the dominions of the Prasii (H/aacnoi) which the streams of the Erannoboas and the Ganges unite/
Hi*L JVol.. Bk. IV, ch. 22. Bk. VI, ch. 22.
Pliny,

IWd. 24,

The Earhj History of Bengal

It is clear that the people called

by Diodorus

Braisioi,

Bresioi, or Breisioi, by Quintus Curtius Pharrasii, and by Plutarch Praisioi, are the same to whom Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian give the name of Prasii, by which we shall in future

refer to them. 1

Their habitat

is

Putra

fication of their capital, called

determined by the identiby the Greeks Palibothra or

Palimbothra, with the ancient city, famous in Indian literature as the capital of Magadha (South Bihar) which
stood on the site of the modern Patna, and the Sanskrit name of which was Pa^aliputra. 2

According to a tradition, it was founded by King Udaya of the Saisunaga dynasty of Magadha, whose grandfather, Ajatasatru, had erected a fortress at the village of Pa^ali,

on the right bank of the

river Ganges, near the confluence

of the Son, for the purpose of curbing the powerful Licchavi 8 in the country of clan, who had their capital at VaisSli

Videha, corresponding to the modern Tirhut, on the opposite Other ancient names of Pa^aliputra side of the Ganges.

were Kusumapura and Puspapura, both meaning 4 flower* town 5 Patali, in Sanskrit, is the name of a flower, the
,

trumpet-flower (Bignonia suaveolens). Besides its strategic advantage, the position of the place at the confluence of the

'

commerce.

Son and the Ganges, no doubt, fitted it -to be a centre of The present mouth of the Son is about sixteen

miles upstream, or west, of Patna, but there is evidence that the course of the Son has changed, and that the ancient city stood near the junction of the rivers. An abandoned
river-channel,
still

the
1

name of Mara Son,

traceable, just below Patna, bears locally 4 or Dead Son *. Not far from Patna,
Spooner, D. B., Annual Re* Archaeological Survey of

Action has Praxii, Justin, Praesides, Nikolaos Damaskenos,

Prattsioi.

ports,

India,

Bottom Circle, 1912-16 and

of the Classic Qapital of P&taliputra, the Palibothra of the Greeks, and Description of the Superficial Remain*, Calcutta, 1892.

Waddell, Discovery Exact Site of Asotofs

Waddell, Report on the ExcavaP4ta6putra (Patna), the PaUbothra of the Greeks. Calcutta,
tiont cj

1918-14. Also J. R. A. S. 1915, 4 The Zoropp. 68-89, 405-55. astrian Period of Indian History.' * The site of Vaisftli has been traced in Muzaffarpur district of It is Bihar. occupied by the present villages of Basar and Bftkhira (A.R. A. S. 1908-4, pp. 81-122).

1908.

other great rivers, the Ghogra and Gandak, flowing from the Himalayas, discharge themselves into the Ganges on its northern bank. There have been, no doubt, many changes in these rivers in the course of centuries, but it is highly

probable that, from the date of

its

foundation, Pfitaliputra
It

was a convenient centre ancient times, a seaport,

for river traffic.

was

also, in

for there is evidence in

literature that the small craft in

Buddhist which trade was carried

by

sea in those days were able to ascend the Ganges to Patna, and even farther, to Benares. Thus it is related in one legend l that Mahendra, younger brother of the Emperor

Asoka, travelled by ship from Pataliputra to Tamalitti and thence to Ceylon, and a Jataka story describes a com-

pany of woodworkers
in the ocean. 8

as sailing from Benares to

an

island

Strabo, discussing the dimensions of India, says : * As regards the length (of India) from West to East, we can state it with greater confidence as far as Palibothra, since it has been measured in schoinoi, and is a royal road of 10,000 stadia. The extent of the parts beyond can only be conjectured from the ascent of vessels from the sea by the 4 Ganges to Palibothra.'
so late as the seventeenth century of our era, the Portuguese frigates were able to ascend the Ganges as far as Patna. 5

Even

long history Pa^aliputra has passed It was, as we have seen, the through many chief city of northern India at the date of Alexander's

In the course of

its

vicissitudes.

invasion, and,

on the establishment of the Maurya Empire, which followed closely Alexander's retirement from India, it became capital of the Empire a position which it retained
for at least a century. With the rise of the Gupta dynasty in the fourth century of our era, we find P&tliputra again

an empire. In the seventh century the Chinese pilgrim, Yuan Chwang, found the buildings of Pfttalipufpa a mass of ruins and long deserted *, the city having, it
capital of
*

Vin.

iii.

888 (Samantapasi-

dike).
*

Tamluk.
J*t. iv. 150.

xv. i. 11. History <tf tte Pvrtugmst in Bengal, by J. J. A. Campos, Calcutta, 1910, pp.

ft

The Early History of Bengal

seems, yielded place to Kanauj. In the ninth century we find * copperplate grant * of Dharmapala, the second King

PAla dynasty, of Gaucja, dated from Pi$aiiptttm whether it was the capital, or merely a halting-place of but that sovereign, is not certain. Later, the place evidently declined much in importance, as it is not mentioned in any othy record of the Pala or of the Sena kings, nor in the
of the
chronicles of the

to the sixteenth

Muhamraadan invaders and rulers down century. About thirty-five miles south-east
is

a small town, which stands on the site of the ancient and important Buddhist monastery of Uddandapura, said to have been founded by the first king of the Pala dynasty, Copalal, and has been called, on that
from Patna there
This place, after Muhammad-i-Bakhtiar, in 1197, became a
account, Vihara or Bihar.
its

capture by

Muhammadan

1541 head-quarters, and gave its name to a province. Sher Shah, the able Afghan adventurer, who made himself ruler of Bihar and Bengal, and thereafter of all North India,

Jn

removed the seat of local government from the town of Bihar to that which stood on the ancient site of P&taliputra, but was then known by the name of Parana ', meaning 4 the mart a name which seems to show that the place had retained some commercial importance. Thus Patna became a provincial capital, and has so remained to the present day.
'
'

Plan and

We

shall

now
*

refer to evidence afforded

by the

Outline

of Geography (Geographike Hyphegeris) of Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), but, before doing so, it is necessary to give some account of the plan and scope of that work, and of the data on which the portions of it relating to India, and especially to Eastern India, are probably based.

Compiled, in its original form, at Alexandria, about the middle of the second century of our era, it did not, tike
Strabo's Geography, aim at furnishing a complete descriptive account of the inhabited world. As McCrindle says : *

Ptolemy's object in composing it was not, like that of the ordinary geographer, to describe places, but to correct and
1

JEM.

iv. 243.

Ancient Jndfa as described fty Ptolemy, p. 2.

Gangarides and Prosit

knowledge, which had been acquired, of distant countries, and with the improved state of science. He therefore limits his argument to an exposition of the geometrical principles on which Geography should be based, and to a determination of the position of places on the surface of the earth by their latitudes and longitudes. What he con* sidered to be the proper method of determining geographical
positions he states very clearly in the following passage : 44 The proper course, 51 he says, " in drawing up a map of the world is to lay down as the basis of it those points that were determined by the most correct (astronomical) observations, and to fit into it those derived from other sources, so that their positions may suit as well as possible with the principal * points thus laid down in the first instance 'V

The method of indicating geographical position by latitude

and longitude had been adopted before Ptolemy's time. He improved on his predecessors' work, (1) by introducing a new method of projecting meridians and parallels of latitude on
the
(2)

map
by

so as to take account of the earth's spherical form ; taking advantage of additional knowledge of the

countries acquired from various sources. Ptolemy exhibits the geography of India in
4

one of India within, or on this side of, the Greek point of view (>; eWos Tdyyov 'Ii>8aciJ, India infra * Gdngem), the other for India beyond the Ganges ', including
Indo-China (^
CKTO*

two maps, the Ganges ', from

Tdyyov

'TrSwoJ,

India

extra
lists

Gdngem),
of places,

and corresponding chapters containing

countries, mountains, rivers, &c., with longitudes and latitudes, and some very brief descriptive notes. The chapter

on

'

India within the Ganges

we have a

then an Indus round to those of the Ganges, noting bays, gulfs, river estuaries, ports, and coast towns. Next, there is a list of the principal mountain ranges, seven in number, with the rivers rising in each of them, which are mentioned in the order in which their several estuaries occur, beginning

arranged as follows. First, of the boundaries of India ; general description account of the coast-line, from the mouths of the
is

'

with the Indus on the west, and working round the coast
1

Bunbury's translation, quoted by McCriodle.

10

The Early History of Bengal

of the peninsula, as before, to the Ganges. Thea follows a Kst of inland countries, nations, and towns, arranged by

same order. Lastly are given particulars of the islands near India/ The chapter on India beyond the Ganges is similarly arranged.
river-basins, in the

Data

In compiling these chapters Ptolemy, no doubt, made much use of itineraries and reports of Greek and other

European travellers, traders, and seafarers, who had visited India from the time of Alexander's invasion* Intercourse with India by sea had developed considerably, even in the
time of Strabo, who records that, when he visited Syene with Aelius Callus, Prefect of Egypt, he found that about 120 ships sailed from Myos Hormos 1 to India, * although
in the time of the Ptolemies, scarcely any one would venture on this voyage and the commerce with the Indies \ But

such navigation must have received a great stimulus from the discovery of a Greek seaman, Hippalus, about the middle of the first century A.D., that is, after Strabo, and about a century before Ptolemy, the geographer, that the monsoons could be used to carry ships from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean and back. In another place, it is true, Strabo
speaks somewhat contemptuously of commercial sources of information about India. ' The merchants of the present
* day, he says, who sail from Egypt to India by the Nile and the Arabian Gulf, have seldom made a voyage as far
9

They are ignorant men and unqualified for an account of the places they have visited/ 2 It writing may be noted, in passing, that Strabo, when he says that European merchants have seldom made a voyage as far as the Ganges *, implies that some had done so, even in his
as the Ganges.
*

time.

It is likely that, before Ptolemy compiled his Outline of Geography, many Greek traders or sailors had sailed round

the coast of India to the

mouth of the Ganges, and up the

Ganges to Tfimralipti, and even to Pft{aliputra. Such men would be 4 ignorant ', in the sense that they would be neither
qualified
1

nor disposed to write accounts of their travels, nor

ferny
*

tian count of the Bed Sea Oat. N. 27 1*), was founded by Pto

Myos Hormot, on the Egyp*

PhUaddplMM in 274
i.

B.C.

xv.

4.

Gtmgarides andPrasii \

capable t>f collecting all the information about history, manners, and customs, climates, natural product*, &e., required for a work of the scope of Strabo's Geography, but they would be likely to record particulars of distances, or, at least, times occupied in journeys, and directions, which

would be the information

chiefly needed by Ptolemy. The accounts of India left by writers who accompanied Alexander

on his expedition, and by Megasthenes, do not appear to have been utilized by Ptolemy, as may be inferred from his not quoting them, and also from apparent discrepancies between his statements and theirs* Thus he mentions only three affluents of the Ganges, whereas Pliny, on the authority of Megasthenes, gives the names of nineteen, one of which only, the Jumna, called by Pliny Jomanes, is mentioned also by Ptolemy, in the form Diamouna Strabo, as we have seen, states that the Ganges has one mouth only, whereas Ptolemy gives the names of five mouths of the As river, with their respective longitudes and latitudes.
;

regards the enumeration of rivers, it should be noted that, for all those mentioned by him, Ptolemy gives the longitudes

and latitudes of their sources and mouths, or confluences with other rivers, no doubt conceiving these data to be ascertainable from the sources of information available to him. Probably he did not include in his lists other rivers of India mentioned by Megasthenes or other Greek authorities because he had not information enabling him to give the positions of their sources and mouths or confluences with
sufficient precision.

Probably, too, he contemplated that, with the increase of knowledge regarding India, his Outline of Geography would, in time, be gradually filled up, and his work improved in completeness and accuracy of detail. As to the mouths of the Ganges, if conditions in the delta of that river were similar to those which obtain at present*

we may suppose
mouths the

that doubt might arise as to river should be considered to have.

is

how many The tract

known

as the Sundarbans

traversed

by many creeks and

channels large and small, discharging into the sea by

all ted from the Ganges, and many mouths, all of which may

12

The Early Histori/ of Bengal

be regarded as mouths of the Ganges. At the present time there are seven principal estuaries, 1 but there are many smaller mouths not named on the maps in ordinary use or
in gazetteers* At the same time there is one estuary, that of the Hooghly, which is regarded as the principal mouth, and is the only one ordinarily used by sea-going ships. It

Defects*

enough that, in Megasthenes' time also, there was one mouth of the Ganges used by, and well known to, navigators* The traditional mouth of the river, at which the annual bathing festival is held, is not the Hooghly mouth, but that of an insignificant channel, which traverses Saugar Island a few miles to the east, and is known as the Dublat KhaL In view of the frequent changes in these channels, attempts to identify the five mouths, of which Ptolemy gives latitudes and longitudes, with any of the existing seven principal estuaries, are probably vain. Ptolemy's maps of India, as we have them, are not only incomplete, but also seriously distorted and confused, owing
is likely

to inaccuracy in the astronomical observations and other information on which they are based, and, in consequence of these errors, the localities which can be identified are,
for the

and
is

part, widely misplaced in his tables of longitudes latitudes. That many of his names cannot be identified

most

not surprising, when we consider how Indian names are liable to be transformed and disguised in European mouths, and also the probable accumulation of mistakes in the sue*
cessive copies of Ptolemy's work, which have been made in the course of centuries. The oldest existing manuscripts of

Geography, preserved in the Vatopedi Monastery of is believed to date from the end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century. 8 Vivien de Saint* Martin has drawn attention to analogies between Ptolemy's account of India and geographical indications contained in

his

Mount Athos,

some of the Puranas, and suggested that the archives at

1

vd.
*

Imperial Gazetteer of India,

xxiii, p. 140.

Victor IM&OI&, Geographic dt Ptokmet, Paris, 1807* Preface, pp. v, vi. In the photographic reproduction of the Vatopedi

manuscript published by M. Langthe two chapter* relating to India are missing, but the two maps of India, with marginal planations, are given (tee nates
lois,

OA,OD).

18
Alexandria may have contained a summary description of India extracted by a Brahman from them.1 The portions of Purft&as and other works of Indian literature which are concerned with geography, furnish lists of names, which

may have been

localities

utilized

by Ptolemy, but do not

indicate

He

is

with sufficient precision for his purpose. not much concerned with political divisions, but

indicates the general position of different countries by brief notes and by the longitudes and latitudes of a few points

and river mouths and confluences. towns are noted without indication of the country or Many nation to which they belong. In some editions of Ptolemy's
in them, such as towns,

maps

of different countries. 2

there are lines showing approximately the boundaries Whether there were such lines in

the original maps is not known. In the photographic reproduction of the Vatopedi manuscript published at Paris in 1867

they are not sho^n.

Where a town is a seat

*

of government,
*

Ptolemy Examining
India,

indicates this
his

by maps and

basileion

(regia) or metropolis % tables which relate to Eastern Eastern

'

that he shows a country, Prasiake, containing seven towns, distributed on both sides of the Ganges, about its confluences with the Sarabos (probably Sarayu=*Ghogra)

we find

and the Soa (probably Son).

placed in long. 186 80', lat. long. 186 10', lat. 81 80'. Palimbothra

The Sarabos confluence 82 30', and that of the Soa

is
4

is

in

not mentioned

of Prasiake, and is shown, as a royal city (/feoAcuw, regia), not near the Soa confluence, but in long. 148, lat. 27. After Palimbothra, the next town on the Ganges mentioned is Tamalites, long. 144 80', lat. 26 80'. Farther on, there is a note: 'All the country

among the towns

'

about the mouths of the Ganges is occupied by the Gangaridai, with this city Gange, a royal city (/?a<n'Xciov, regia) lat. 19 15'.' The city last named is shown near long. 146, the junction of the branches of the Ganges leading to the

Mega C great') and Kamberikhon mouths

(long.

respectively

145
1

80', lat.

19

80').

Mtmoirt*>

vol. v, pt. 1, p.

vol. vi, pt. 1, p. 160,

Cf.Piates6B,6c.

The Early Hi*twy of Bengal

Ptolemy's Prasiake is, evidently, the country of the Prasii, Prom his placing Palimbothra, not in Prasiake, nor near the confluence of the Son and Ganges, but far to the south-east

and lower down the Ganges, we must suppose that his drawn to the fact that Palimbothra stood at the Son confluence, and that he had before him indications of distance and direction for that confluence which led him to place it in long* 186 10' and lat. 82 80', and other indications of distance and direction which led him to place Palimbothra in long. 148, lat. 27. It is not clear,
attention was not

however, that Ptolemy places Palimbothra in the country of the Mandalai, as Vivien de Saint-Martin 1 and McCrindle 2

have assumed.
in question runs : Farther east than the Adeisathroi, up to the Ganges > (fjxXFrayyov, usque Gangem), are the Mandalai, an\png whom (fr ofc, in quibus), this city
*

The passage

Asthagoura

And on

the river

apud ipsum Sambalaka

Sigalla

Palimbothra, royal city Tamalites

Oreophanta

...... ...... ...... ...... .....

:
.
.
.

142

25

itself (*-/** avr$ r$ irorafi<3, fluvium) these cities :

29 80' 141 142 28 148 27 144 80' 26 80' .146 80' 24 80' '
.

Tamal*
*****

definitely assigned to the Mandalai is which is placed in longitude a degree west, Asthagoura, and in latitude two degrees south of Palimbothra. The names Sambalaka, Sigalla, and Oreophanta have not been identified. Tamalites, no doubt, represents the Sanskrit T&mralipti and Pfili Tamalitti. We have seen that a Buddhist legend represents Prince Mahendra as sailing from Pft$aliputra to Tamalitti, and thence to Ceylon, and later references, Chinese as well as Indian, show that for many centuries, T&mralipti, situated near, but not necessarily at, a mouth of the Ganges, was a well-known seaport for the trade of Northern India with Ceylon as well as with

The only town

Indo-China and China*

,

v, pt. I

Ancient India a* described by Ptokmy, p. 108.

Tamluk, the name of a small town, the head-quarters of a subdivision of the Midnapore district, is probably the modern vernacular form of Tfimralipti. The present town
of

T&mluk

is

on the

right

bank of the Rupnarayan River,

about twelve miles from its junction with the western branch of the Ganges, or Hooghly, but the courses of these rivers have been subject to frequent change, and it is likely that
the ancient port of Tamralipti may have been situated on a western branch of the Ganges. Vessels proceeding to and

from Pataliputra by sea would touch at Tamralipti, and it is not surprising to find the two places mentioned together in Ptolemy's list, but, no doubt, owing to defective information, he has placed them much too close one to the other*

As to the situation of the Gangarides, the only information by Ptolemy is that they held all the country about the mouths of the Ganges, which might include the whole delta, and that their territory contained the royal city of
afforded

Gan-

Gauge in long. 146, lat. 19 15'. Neither Gangarides nor Gauge can be identified with any name occurring in Indian
literature*

The anonymous Periplus Moris Erythraei, believed to be the work of a Greek merchant of Berenice in Southern
Egypt,

wha

carried

on business with India

in the latter

part of the first century A.D., mentions Gauge, at the mouth of the Ganges, as a port from which fine muslins and other

goods were exported. It is quite likely that there may have been on one of the Ganges branches, near its mouth, besides Tfimralipti, a second port, which was also the capital of the people whom Ptolemy and other Greeks and Romans called Gangarides. Possibly it is not mentioned in Indian literature because it was not on the main route to P&t&liputra. From the extracts of Diodorus, Quintus Curtius, and
Plutarch, given at the beginning of this chapter, it will appear that, at the time of Alexander's invasion, the most

important power in Northern India was that of the two nations, Prasii and Gangarides, who inhabited the country
along the lower Ganges, Bihar and Bengal.

now comprised

in the provinces of

10

The Early History of Bengal

Plutarch Gandaritai, are the

by Diodorus Gandaridai, and same as the Gangarides by It is not (ae, ai) of Pliny, Quintus Curtius, and Ptolemy* whether the two peoples at that time formed one certain state or a confederation, but the evidence seems, on the whole, to point to two states, with separate kings and forces,
Clearly, the people called

but united in a close confederation so dose that the population of both was sometimes included under one name, as Prasii, or as Gangarides. Evidently, at the time of
Megasthenes* deputation to the court of Sandrokottos, the Prasii were the predominant partners in the confederation, and their chief city, P&^aliputra, was regarded as the capital
of the whole region.

The name
in

Prasii probably represents the Sanskrit pr&ci

4

or prdcya, meaning

', a term which was applied, to the countries of dryavarta lying sense, east of Prayaga (Allahabad), the eastern limit of Madhyadesa that is, to the peoples of all the region lying between the

eastern

an extended

Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains, from Pr&yaga to the Eastern Ocean and, more particularly, to the people of Magadha. 1 The Greek and Latin authors whom we have quoted make no mention of Magadha, but their evidence as to the political importance and power of the state, confederation, or empire, which had its capital at Pa^aliputra in Magadha at the time of Alexander's expedition and
Magadha.

subsequently finds ample confirmation in Indian literature. The term Magadha itself was one of varying extension.
Strictly, it

meant a

limited area, east of the

Son and south

of the Ganges, but, with the growth of the Magadha state, its name came to be applied to a wider region. These various geographical meanings of the names Pr&ci or Pr&cya

and Magadha explain why Ptolemy gives the name of Prasiake to a comparatively small tract of country around the confluences of the Son and Chogra with the Ganges. The reason for his interrupting his enumeration of towns * along the Ganges, after the seven in Prasiake ', and resuming it after mention of the Mandalai, whose country extends

to the Ganges (utqut Gangem), ^;<petbqft the physical features of the region. For a little to the east of Magadha proper a tract of hilly country extends

up
ft*

,__,
hill

close

up to the southern bank of the Ganges,

This

tract

may have been the country of the Mandalai, probably inhabited then, as it is now, by races differing from those
of the plains.

Farther

leaves the hills

down its course, the Ganges again and divides into the various branches, by

way, through level country, to the sea* Pliny seems to regard Tamalites as being in the country of the Prasii, for when he says that it is seven days* sail from Ceylon to the country of the Prasii, he must mean to Tamralipti, not P^aliputra.

which

it finds its

We have next to consider Pliny's reference to the Calingae, Calingae. the people * nearest the sea ', and * Parthalis % their * royal city ', or that of the Gangarides-Calingae. In other passages he refers to a tribe whom he names, without locating them, Maccocalingae, and to the Modogalingae, who, he says, inhabited a large island in the Ganges. Vivien de SaintMartin takes the Gangarides-Calingae, the Maccocalingae, and the Modogalingae to be branches of the Calingae, and

The Sanskrit name, Kali&ga, in ancient times, to the greater applied, appears, part of the eastern coast region of the Indian peninsula,
Parthalis to be

Burdwan.

was

it

from the Ganges southward.

stricted sense,

Later, it took a

more

re-

covering, roughly, Orissa, a term which has also varied in meaning. Even in modern times the limits of Orissa to the north-east have sometimes extended as far as the western branch of the Ganges in its lower
course.

Ptolemy does not mention the Calingae or Parthalis, but gives the name of a town, Kalliga, in the country of the Maisoloi, long. 188, lat, 17, which may be connected
with Kaluga.
inhabitants, according of a large island in the Ganges, it may be observed that, in the Ganges delta, tracts of country surrounded cm all sides by river channels are commonly called islands
to Pliny,

With regard to the Modogalingae,

18
(dvipa, dia),
1

The Early Hilton/ of Bengal

and, in English records of the eighteenth century, the area now comprising parts of the Murshidabad and Nadia districts which is enclosed by the main stream

of the Ganges,
Jalanghi,
is

western branch, the Bhftgirathi, and the" 4 the island of Cossimbaear \ referred to as
its

the evidence of Pliny and Ptolemy we may suppose that, in and about the time of Megasthenes, the inhabitants of the Gangettc delta, generally, were known to Greek

From

and writers by the name of Gangarides, but that some of them were akin in race, customs, and language to the neighbouring people of Kalufkga, and were for that reason called Calingae or Gangarides-Calingae. At a time
travellers

when the

Prasii enjoyed

political

supremacy or hegemony

over this region, it would be regarded by the Greeks as the country of the Prasii. The identification of Parthalis as

Btirdwan must be regarded as doubtful* in Indian literature we find mention of

five

nations

inhabiting the countries to the east of Magadha in ancient times, namely, those of Anga, Puftdra, Va&ga, Suhma, and There will be occasion hereafter for discussing Kaliftga.

Historical

the location of the countries indicated by the first four names : here it may suffice to notice that from the third, Vanga, the present name of Bengal is derived. There is no
hint in Indian legend or history of an important political fdle having been played by a nation of the Ganges delta

about the time of Alexander's invasion, with regard to which, indeed, that literature is wholly silent. There is no reason, however, for rejecting the Greek evidence, from which we may infer that, at that time, the Gangarides, if they were not the most powerful nation of the Ganges valley, were at least associated with the Prasii on equal terms* Later, as it would seem, in the time of Megasthenes' s
deputation to the court of Sandrokottos, the Prasii had become the paramount power, and the importance of the Gangarides had waned, but that they still enjoyed tome
1 The word drtpa means also land tying between two riven

Great. Cambridge Hittory of ImH^, vol. i, chap. xxiL /Mail the local

<** Persian

cf. Rapacm, dttft): The Succeaon of Atoemder the

Prakrit equivalent.

royal \ be supGreeks Gangarides then posed that the people called by the formed a subordinate state under the suzerainty of Magadha. We seem to have here the first example of a phenomenon which has occurred more than once in the history of India, namely, that the power which has commanded the resources of the lower valley of the Ganges has been able to attain thereby the political hegemony of northern, and sometimes

GangaridesandPrasii measure of independence is indicated by the title of

It

19
'

which Ptolemy gives to their chief town.

may

of

all,

India.

It has

in India has always

sometimes been assumed that the trend of conquest been from north to south, and in Upper

India from north-west to south-west, and that the eastern Gangetic plain, being inhabited by peoples of comparatively weak physique and unwarlike character, has been fated to

be overrun and conquered by the hardier and more vigorous But apart from evidence that races of the north-west.
unwarlike qualities have not been invariably and universally characteristic of the people of Bihar, or even of Bengal, it is fully established that, from very ancient times, wars in
India have usually been carried on by professional mercenary soldiers, and, consequently, an Indian state possessed of extensive, fertile, and populous territory, with a well-ordered
I

government, and regular and abundant revenues, has been able to maintain a relatively powerful army, recruited, it might be, in part, from beyond its own frontiers, and, by

.that means, to extend and consolidate its dominions. So it has happened more than once that the power which has
1

obtained control of the revenues of Bengal and Bihar has been able to bring under its sway the greater part of India.

The

latest

'ound in

and most conspicuous example of this may be the growth of the present British Indian Empire.

22

The Early History of Bengal

prodigy, which first inspired him with the hope of winning the throne, and so, having collected a band of robbers, he instigated the Indians to overthrow the existing Government. When he was thereafter preparing to attack Alex* ander's prefects, a wild elephant of monstrous size approached him, and, kneeling submissively, like a timae elephant, received him on its back, and fought vigorously in front of the army* Sandrocottus, having thus won the throne, was reigning over India, when Seleucus was laying the foundations of his future greatness. Seleucus having made a treaty with him, and otherwise settled his affairs in the east, returned home to prosecute the war with Antigonus.*
Treaty

Justin, it will be seen, represents

Candragupta as having

by overthrowing the Greek power in northern India. The evidence with regard to the treaty between Seleukos and Candragupta is thus summed up by Dr. Macdonald in chap, xvii, vol. i, of the
achieved the freedom of the Indians

Cambridge History of India. 4 Invaders and invaded, we are told, concluded an alliance, and sealed it by a further compact, which Appian l (Syriake, . Not only 55) calls a *!?&*, Strabo (xv. 724) an rtyofua. did Seleucus acquiesce in his (Candragupta's) sovereignty over all the country beyond the Indus. He also transferred to him the satrapies of Arachosia (Kandahar) and the Paropanisadae (Kabul), with at least some portion of Gedrosia (Baluchistan) and of Aria (Herat). In other words, the frontiers of the Maurya Empire were extended so as to embrace the southern half of Afghanistan, and, perhaps, the ' * whole of British Baluchistan. The expression presented (Stare), which is used by Strabo (loc. cit.) to describe the transaction, does not preclude the possibility of the transfer having been made on conditions. A return gift of 500 war* elephants is, in fact, mentioned. But under no circumstances could that have been looked upon as an equivalent. We may take it that there were further stipulations as to the freedom of trade and the like, such as would naturally accompany an tvtyofua* There may have been a nominal and unmeaning acknowledgement of suzerainty. It must be borne in mind that the written record contains nothing to show that Seleucus suffered defeat, nothing even to suggest that the wrote a hirfory giving Appiaaus, a native of AlexdatRoroedttriafl a&Oi* oi aadria,wboUv*datRonedttriug account of the faint* ob of and therein of Trajan, Hadrian, aod the onwtriee o oountzto oompriMd to ttw jan,
.

Pim(^D.W-161),nd

Roman

Empire.

rival armies ever

that, white

came to blows at all. The probability i* he was still endeavouring to gauge tie magnitude of the task that confronted him* w. urgent call for help reached him from the confederate kings across the 2,*00 miles that separated him from Asia Minor. , . . It wasonlv politic* therefore, to make the best terms he could with Candragupta, whose 500 elephants reached the theatre of war in time to play a conspicuous part in the final overthrow of Antigonus at Ipsus in the year 801.'
Evidently, at the time of his treaty with Seleukos, Candragupta acquired, if he had not acquired before, at

a suzerainty over the Panjab and Sind. Although no monument of Candragupta's time has been Extent of found in India, an estimate of the extent of his empire may be formed from the inscriptions of his grandson, A6oka, empire, from the tenor of some of which it may be inferred that no
least

SS^

conquest, except that of Kaliftga, was made by the latter. As there is also no satisfactory evidence of any important
1 conquest having been made by Bindusara, it is almost safe to infer that the whole of the empire over which Aoka ruled,

except, perhaps, KaliAga, gupta to his successors.

had been handed down by Candra-

Asoka's inscriptions will be discussed in detail in later chapters. With regard to the limits of his empire, as shown

by them, summary
*

it
:

may

be useful here to quote Professor Rapson's

His edicts clearly show that there were certain welldefined grades in the influence which he claimed to exercise " the in different regions. There were, first of all, King's
dominions ", by which we must, no doubt, understand the provinces of the empire the central government of Pa^aliputra (the United Provinces and Bihar), and the viceroyalties of Takijaslla (the Panjab), Avanti or Ujjayini (Western and Central India, north of the Tapti), and Kaltag* Over all (Orissa and the Ganjam District of Madras)* and peoples in these provinces the emperor was kingdoms supreme. He was the head of a great confederation of states, which were united under him for imperial purposes, bat which, for all purposes of civil government and internal
*

v. tofra, p.

i5.
I,

*
chap. xxi.

Cambrid& History tf In**, vvL

84
administration, re

Beyond the

within iiis sphere of influence* On the north-west, in the north-west Frontier Province, and in the upper Kabul Valley, they are called in the inscriptions Gandharas, Kambojas, and Yavanas (Yonas) ; and, on the south, beyond the limits of the provinces of Avanti and Kaliftga, there were the B&shtrikas of the Maratta country, the Bhojas of Berar, the Petunikas of the Aurang&bfid district of Hyderabad, the Pulindas, whose precise habitat is uncertain, and the Andhras, who occupied the country between the Godavari and the Kistna. * On the north-west Aoka's sphere of influence ended at the frontiers of the Yavana king Antiochus, i. e the Seleucid monarch Antiochus II, Theos ; and on the south it probably did not extend much beyond the locality of his southernmost group of inscriptions, at Isila, the modern Siddapura, in the Chitaldroog district of N. Mysore/

"King's dominions ", to the north-west and to the south, lay ** the border peoples ", whom the emperor regarded as coming

In the above enumeration there is no mention of Bengal, but the Greek evidence previously cited shows that the

Ganges delta was included in Candragupta's empire, probably as a subordinate or feudatory kingdom. Tfirinatha, a Thibetan monk, who wrote a history of

mentions that Candragupta's son and successor, Bindusara, was born ii\ the country of Gaucja. 1 Himself a late author,
early in the seventeenth century of our era,

Buddhism

Taranatha

may probably

have derived

his information

from

old tradition and early manuscripts stored in monastic libraries, and his evidence is not entirely unworthy of
attention.

The term

Gau<Ja, like so

many

other Indian

geographical expressions, has had different meanings. It appears to have been used, primarily, for northern Bengal,

and, perhaps, especially, for the tract of comparatively high land outside the Ganges delta, comprising portions
of

what are now the Malda, R&jshfth!, Din&jpur, Rangpur, and Bogra districts, which was also known as Varendra or sometimes it had Varendri, and is now called the Barind an extended sense, covering the whole of Bengal and adjacent territory in Magadha and Aftga (South Bihar). It
;

Schlctocr,

T&&nmka>

p. 88.

would seem

that, in the paaoage quoted,

by Gatwja, Bengal, or northern Bengal. In another passage he refers to Gau<Ja as * part of BhangalaV If we are to suppose that northern Bengal was the place of Bindus&ra's birth, we may infer that the country was included in Candragupta's dominions, and, perhaps, that he had & royal residence there, but of this there is no other evidence. In later times, much of what is now northern Bengal was
included in the separate kingdom of Kamarftpa. That the Maurya empire was probably a confederation Feudaof states, each enjoying a certain degree of independence, is emphasized by Professor Rapson in the passage just quoted, and also by Dr. Thomas, who observes, in chap. * xviii, vol. L of the Cambridge History of India :

Indian conquerors do not, for the most part, displace the rulers they subdue, nor was the example of Alexander in India to the contrary. Accordingly we may assume that

whom

the empire of Candragupta included feudatory kingdoms ; and even the presence of his viceroys would not necessarily imply, for example, in Taxila or Uj jain, the extinction of the 3 royal dynasty. It has been acutely remarked by Lassen in a number of cases, Megasthenes states the military that, power of particular provinces ; 9and he infers that these are instances of independent rule.
Professor Rapson, in his Ancient India, says : 4 Alexander, in fact, carried into practice the traditional
policy recommended by Manu (viii. 202), and followed, wherever it has been possible or expedient, by con* quering powers in India generally, both ancient and modern, that a kingdom which had submitted should be placed in charge of some member of its ancient royal family. , * * It was

Indian

always regarded as a legitimate object of the ambition of every king to aim at the position of a cakravartin or " supreme monarch ". If his neighbours agreed, so much the better; butif they resisted his pretentions, the question was decided by a pitched battle* In either case, the government of the states involved was usually not affected. The same prince continued to rule, and the nature of his rub did not depend on his position as supreme or vassal king. Generally
*,

Tfrdndfca, p. 82.

'

Laneo, Jnd.

Alt.

ii t

pp.

p. 90.

20.

speaking, the condition of the ordinary people was not or was only affected indirectly, by the victories or of their rulers. The army was not recruited from ^Mfeats the tillers of the soil. The soldier was born, not made. It was just as much the duty of certain castes to fight as it was the duty of others not to fight. War was a special department of government! in which the common people had
afie&ftfld,

no

share.

This view of the traditional origin and structure of Indian empires, which, for the proper understanding of the early history of India, it is important to keep in mind, is borne out by the KavftKya Arthai&stra, where the model
ruler is described as Vijigi^iu, 1
c

ambitious of conquest

and

virtuous conqueror (dharmavijayin), as being satisfied with obedience. 8 In the same work occurs a verse to the
tories, in

the

'

Bengal.

conquered kings preserved in their own terriaccordance with the policy of conciliation, will be 8 loyal to the conqueror and his descendants *. The fact that no inscription of ASoka has been found in the
effect that

Bengal delta is easily accounted for. The Asoka inscriptions known were incised either on conspicuous faces of natural rock in or near cities, on main lines of communication, or at
sacred spots frequented by pilgrims, or on stone pillars erected in such situations. In deltaic Bengal, natural rocks
suitable for such inscriptions are not found at all, and pillars erected in an alluvial tract, traversed in every direction by

would be very likely, in the course of centuries, to be undermined and buried under river Ten deposits.
erratic rivers,

only bearing inscriptions of in the whole of India.

pillars

Asoka have been found

As already mentioned, the term 'Kalifcga' had various extensions in ancient, as ' Orissa ' has had in modern, times.
major rock edicts inscribed at Dhauii, about seven miles south of Bhuvanesvar, in the Pun district, and at JaugatjUba, in the Ganjam district, prove that in his
time those {daces formed part of Katiftga*
'

Versions of Afoka's

'

It is likely that

K. A. Bk. VI,

ch. u;
i,

m, 5.
461, l f

&tf* p. 134.
*

% Bk.

^ XII, ch.

**

*^ p.

A* Bk VH* <*. *vi* 981,

-

the God&vari river

i Candragupta may have been the southern boundary of KatiAga, while the north-eastern may have been drawn at, or Hot far from, the Ganges western bwmchu From the
9

thirteenth Major Rock Edict we learn that ASoka conquered Kaliftga in the thirteenth year of his reign (the ninth

reckoning from his coronation), but we need not necessarily infer from this that Kaliftga had not previously formed part

Maurya empire. It might have form iiniWrd in the empire as a feudatory stitf, aH 1tH conquest by A6oka might
of the

4Mnrc rartttted from

its

throwing

off

the Maurya allegiance.

While ASoka's supremacy on the eastern seaboard of the

Indian peninsula is thus attested by the inscriptions at Dhauli and Jaugagha, another version of his edicts inscribed on a rock at Girnar, near Junaga<Jh, in Kathiaw&r, proves the
extension of the
Sea.

On

Maurya empire to the coast of the Arabian the same rock is found another inscription,

of the satrap Rudradaman, of a date some four centuries later, which sets forth that the artificial lake named Sudar'

sana,

The Beautiful
1

',

was made

for purposes of irrigation,

by Candragupta

s viceroy,

Puyagupta, the Vaiiya.

Ill

MAURYA INSTITUTIONS
THE KAUTILlYA ARTHA&ISTRA
"

and institutions, and polity in Bengal and laws, customs, administration, Bihar during the Maurya period is beset with the diffiINQUIRY with regard to
social conditions
culties

which surround

all

similar research relating to ancient

is

India*

by

supplied the various branches of Indian literature which have been

Much information under the above heads

explored by European scholars in the Dharma, Artha, and NUiiastras, and the didactic parts of the Epics, as well as from descriptions and allusions in the dramas and romances, and scientific and religious compositions of various classes.
in nearly every case, doubts arise as to the dates of the writings, and as to the periods and, sometimes, the regions

But

to which different passages relate.

Ancient texts have been

changed by interpolations and additions, and, on the other hand, it may be found that very old traditions are embodied

modern compositions. The criticism of Mayne on the Smrtis that maxims which have long since ceased
in relatively
&

to correspond with actual life are reproduced, either without comment, or with non-natural interpretation* Extinct
extinct*,

usages are detailed without a suggestion that they are 1 probably applies to the Arthatdstras and NUi-

The accounts of Greek and Latin authors purporting to be based on Megasthenes, are definitely assignable to the reign
of Candragupta, but here doubts arise as to the accuracy of Megasthenes' observation and relation, and as to the fidelity

with which his evidence has been reproduced by later

authors.

On

the epigraphic side,

all

that

we have

are the inscrip*

tions of Afoka, the interpretation of which i, in parts, open to question, while they afford, in any case, but meagre

evidence under the heads above referred to.

The KautfKya
the work of the

Brahman

Arthaitetra, already quoted, purports to be Tfaa minister named Kautilya, Vis^iu-

gupta, or C&nakya, who, according to tradition, helped Candragupta in overthrowing the last of the Nanda kings

and placing himself on the throne of Magadha.

literature.

Allusions

to this tradition are found in several places in Sanskrit Thus, in the Visnupurana^ the following passage

occurs
*

Mahftpadma, then his sons, only nine in number, will be lords of the earth for a hundred years. Those Naadas Kau^ilya, a Brahman, will slay. On their death, the Mauryas will enjoy the earth. Kautilya himself will instal Candragupta on their throne. His son will be Bindus&ra, and his
son Aokavardhana.'

Kfimandaka, in his dedication of the Ntiisara, says : * To him who shone like a thunder-bolt, and before the stroke of the thunder-bolt of whose witchcraft the rich mountain-like Nandas fell down root and branch ; who alone, with the power of diplomacy, like Indra with his thunder* bolt, bestowed the earth on Candragupta, the moon among men ; who churned the nectar of Nitiastra from the ocean of Artha&stra, to him, the wise and Brahma-like Vismigupta^

we make

salutation/

Again, in the Nitivaky&mrta by the Jaina author Somadeva (dr. 950 A.D.), a work which, from internal evidence, would appear to be based on the Kautiliya Arthat&stra, there
occurs a line mentioning the report that C&nakya caused the last Nanda king to be assassinated. The plot of the drama,

Datta, of uncertain date, but perhaps not later than the seventh century A.D., is closely connected with the same tradition* In the play, Daidkumdracarita, by Dandin, of about the sixth century, there is a comic passage which turns to ridicule some precepts of the ArthaMttra, and begins thus :
4

Mudrd RakfMO, by Vis&kha

Learn then the science of polity (dandanitim). This has

iv. 24.

The Early History of Bengal ao now been abridged in 6,000 flokas by the teacher Visnugupta
for the Maurya's benefit/

Later, in the same passage, the author of the da$4anlti is referred to, at one place, as Cfinakya.

work on

In the Kauttttya Arthatfatra, as we have it, the name of Kai4ilya appears at the end of every book as the author, and the two final verses run
;

This Sastra has been made by him, who, from intolerance of misrule quickly rescued the scriptures, and the science of weapons, and the earth, which had passed to the Nanda king. Having seen many discrepancies .on the part of commentators (bhaSyak&ra) on the &stras, Visnugupta himself has made this sfltra and commentary
(bh&sya)/
Author1

dateof*
Ariha***""*

The questions of the authorship and date of this Arthat&tra bewe b6611 the subject of exhaustive discussion by eminent scholars, a summary of which has been given by
Dr. Otto Stein in his work Megasthenes und Kauttiya, published in 1922, a most thorough, minute, and painstaking comparison between the Arthatdstra and the accounts of
authors.

Megasthenes, as handed down by different Greek and Latin Dr. Otto Stein's conclusion is expressed in the
:

following words

'Nach all dem 1st bei einer naheren Gegeniiberstellung des Berichtes des Megasthenes mit dem Artha&stra von einer tfbereinstimmung, wie sie manche Fdrscher behauptet haben, nicht die Rede. Damit wird die Gleichzeitigkeit der beiden Quellen unwahrscheinlich und die Autorschaft des Ministers Candraguptas fttr das Artha&stra zweifelhaft.'
Historical

however, sufficient evidence of a persistent tradition in India, ascribing to Candragupta's minister the author-

There

is,

ship of the ArthaAdrtra in question, and the very existence of such a tradition seems to support a presumption that,

whether the whole treatise or any part of it be the work of Canakya or not, it deals with social conditions and institutions whicH prevailed in the Maurya period, and especially
in the regions nearest the centre of the

Maurya dominion, namely, Bihar and' Bengal. Tins does not mean that we should expect to find in the <v minintration depleted agree-

ment

in all details with that which

may havc been observed

by Megasthenes

when the Magadha state The government contemplated by the Kautittya ^r//k^eWra appears to be that of a relatively
at P&^aliputra,

had grown into an empire.

small state, such as Magadha may have been in Hie early period of Candragupta's reign, before his dominions had been

much extended by conquest, and, although the Maurya empire, when fully developed through the policy of systematic
aggression inculcated in this treatise,
lized

was of the decentra-

Indian type, each of its outlying provinces enjoying a measure of independence, yet it is natural to suppose that, by the time P&taliputra had become the centre of a great federal state, a somewhat more elaborate form of administration had developed in the home provinces, and especially in the capital, than had sufficed for the original kingdom of Magadha* We may expect, then, to find in this Arthadfatra,

not exactly the administration described by Megasthenes, but institutions which might have grown in the course of

a quarter of a century or thereabouts into those described by him. The theory here adumbrated cannot be proved
conclusively
;

for the interpretation of the Kaufiltya Artha-

Aastra presents

many

difficulties

Megasthenes' s account

is

obviously superficial and inaccurate, and, when all allowances have been made, there remain discrepancies which it is difficult to explain. But, on the whole, it seems that this theory bears the test indicated above, and that, for the purposes of history, the best means of arriving at an idea of social conditions in Bihar and Bengal during the Maurya period will be by analysis of the Kaufiliya ArthaSfatra and its

comparison with the description attributed to Megasthenes and with the Aioka edicts. There is evidence of the survival in those countries, in various forms and with diverse changes,
through later centuries, of political institutions and theories of the Maurya age, and to the Arthatidstra we may look for elucidation of expressions occurring in records of the Gupta
period in the fourth and fifth centuries of our era, of the time of Harsa's empire in the seventh, and of the P&la and Sena
kings.

83
of the

The Many History oj

In the following abstract of the KaufiKya Arthattetr*, Mr. Shamasastry's translation 1 will be followed generally with a few suggested emendations. Mr. Shamasastry is
far fttHn claiming finality for his interpretation. thereto he modestly remarks :
*

In a preface

that my translation presents a correct interpretation of the text in all cases* Still I shall feel highly rewarded for my labours if it proves a stepping-stone for others to arrive at a correct interpretation/

As regards my translation, I am conscious of the fact that far from being perfect. Beset as the work is with difficulties, it would be sheer presumption on my part to hope
it is

Much
style.

f the
*

Kau&Kya
*

^rthaSdstra

is

written in

what

is

called the

sutra

style, sfitra

being the

name given to short

sentences or verses used in the Indian system of mcmoria technica, to recall the subject-matter of oral discourses.

According to time-honoured Indian tradition,

all

teaching

* * should, properly, be oral. Buhler has observed that the Hindus, even at present, in spite of a long-continued use of writing, esteem the written word less than the spoken one,

because they base their whole literary and scientific intercourse on oral communications, and because, especially in
works, writing and MSS. are mentioned very " sarasvatlmukha ", " the face rarely. Though MSS., being " of the goddess of speech , are held sacred, and are worshipped,
scientific

the Veda and the Sftstras exist, even for the modern Hindu, only in the mouth of the teacher, whose word has more

weight than a written text, and they can only be learned properly from a teacher, not from MSS. Even in our days the Hindus esteem only the * mukastha vidy& ', the

learning

which the Pandit has imprinted on his memory \ It is easy to understand that, while the tradition of oral teaching was preserved, and handed on intact, sQtras strings of short
sentences conveying by themselves no clear meaning, or merely hinting at successive heads or divisions of a subject

which might easily be committed to memory

were very

Wad to A ShamMMtry, MJLAA, Bangalore, 1915.

.

B*A.,

venion by FTk*t. //. * App.

Mawrya Institutions
came

88

useful both to teachers and pupils ; but if the tradition were once lost, the sfitras by themselves, without authoritative explanation, would become unintelligible* As the use of writing extended, and schools with divergent teaching
multiplied, there

into existence writings called bhdfya

which explained and expounded the stiiras, and thus served at the same time to preserve the sciences and make the
teaching of different professors accessible to persons who could not attend their schools. The word bhdfya is usually
translated

commentary *, but it cannot be said, in general, with accuracy, that the sutra is the text of a treatise and the bhdfya the commentary thereon* Often it will be found that the sutra by itself is unintelligible, and the bhdfya is more properly the treatise. But, even of bhdfya and sutra combined, it is not expected, according to Indian ideas, that they will convey the whole teaching of a subject. It is assumed that there will be competent oral teaching too* Fortunately the KaufiKya Arthaidstra is not pure sutra. In its final verse, quoted above, it claims to be sutra and bhdfya combined, and much of it is quite intelligible as it stands. And for a portion of the work (Book II.) there
exists

a commentary of unknown date, by one Bhaftasvamin, which has been utilized by Mr. Shamasastry in his
translation.

The subject-matter of the work dandaniti, or Political DanjaScience is dealt with in others of the same class (artha- or ^g^
covered also by the Dharma- works. Jastras and didactic passages of the Epics, but apart from what they have in common with the Kattfiliya Arthaidstra, there
nittidstras),
it is

and much of

nothing to connect those compositions especially with the Maurya period. The opening sentence of the KaufiKya runs : ' This Arthatdstra is made as a compendium of almost all the arthaJdstras, which, for gaining and pre* serving the world, have been composed by former teachers
is

several

showing that dandaniti had been cultivated and that works on the subject already existed. As will be seen, a number of them are quoted by name.
2778
ft

IV

THE KAVTILIYA ARTHASASTRA

INTRODUCTION
Plan of the work,

Kautiliya Arihaidstra, which may be referred to in * future, for the sake of brevity, as the Artha&fatra ', coma tantrayukti, or summary of contents, at prises, including

THE

the end, fifteen books (adhikarana), of which the

entitled

first,

(* concerning Discipline '), rules for the conduct of the king, gives general laying injunctions for the appointment of ministers (amdtya) and

Vinayddhikdrikam

after

down

high priests (purohita), and then proceeds to describe the important institution of spies or secret agents* Then follow

a chapter on the king's council, and one on the duties of ambassadors. The remainder of this book is concerned with rules for the king's sons and wives, for his daily routine
of
life,

and

The

for securing his personal safety. second book, entitled adhyak$apracdrah

9

(*

Duties of

Superintendents

),

describes the duties of a great

many

classes of officials,

but begins with interesting chapters on

the formation of villages, the division of lands, fortification,

and town-planning. The third book, Dharmasthiyam, is concerned with Civil Law, including Administration of
Justice;

the fourth, Kantakatodhanam, with Police and The next book has the title YogavrUam, which may be translated "internal policy *, and contains

Criminal Law.

chapters on methods of dealing with seditious ministers and of replenishing an exhausted treasury; also a table of salaries for officials, chapters on the behaviour of courtiers,
rules of policy directed towards strengthening the position and prestige of the throne. The remainder of the work is chiefly concerned with foreign policy and war,

and general

but in the

first

chapter of

Book VI the

constitution of the

The 'KatUitiya ArthaMstra': Introduction

as

Statd sad tlic basis of the kingly {xmer arc bri^ disoassed, and Book XI, consisting of a single chapter, deals with the
control

and management of guilds and corporations. The form of government described is autocratic.
i

In Form of

chapter

of

Book VI

it is said

that the king, the minister

(amdiya), the country, the fort, the treasury, the army, Mid * * the ally are the elements of sovereignty (pratytitampadas).

In the chapter 1 headed amdiyoipaiii^C creation of ministers'),

Kautilya, after quoting the opinions of different authors, expresses approval of the principle that ministers should be
selected solely on the ground of their qualifications, as shown by their work. Evidently the appointment of ministers

king. The concluding verse of this chapter is thus translated by Mr. Shamasastry :
is

to be

made by the

Having divided the spheres of their powers (vibhajydmdtyavibhavam), and having definitely taken into consideration the place and time where and when they have to work, such persons shall be employed, not as councillors (mantrinas) but as ministerial officers (amdtyas)*
In the next chapter, headed mantripurohitotpattih, however, as in other parts of the book, the words amdiya and mantrin

appear to be used as synonymous, the functions of the minister being thus described : * As works do not happen to be simultaneous, are various in form, and pertain to distant and different localities, the king shall, in view of being abreast of time and place, depute his ministers to carry them out (amatyaik karayet). Such is the work of ministers (iiyamdtyakarma).'

In different parts of the Arthatdstra ambiguity arises from the old Indian practice of giving the same title indifferently to lower as well as high officials of the same department.
Thus, amdiya and mantrin mean, in some places, prime minister *, elsewhere an ordinary * councillor ' of the king,
*

from other passages again, it appears that the title amdiya was borne by a large class of civil officials of subordinate rank.1 In the army, the commander-inKJuef and a class of inferior officers are called alike There
while,

scnapati*

Bk.

I,

ch. viih

Cfc p.

15&

Cf. p. 78*

D2

$0

The Early History of Bengal

The
Counclh

appears $o have been a similar wide use of the titles o rnaMmOtra, antapMa. The chapter * on * Functions of the Council ' (mantrddhifttfra)

lays

down
by

the rule that

all

administrative measures
'

are preceded

deliberations in council

(mantrapurodssar-

vdrambhdk). After emphasizing the importance of secrecy in the deliberations of councils, the chapter proceeds to discuss the question

how many

ministers (mantrinas) should be consulted

by

the

After quoting various opinions, Kau$ilya expresses his own that the king should consult three or four ministers. Next, the chapter discusses

king on administrative measures.

what number of ministers should form the assembly of ministers ', and quotes the opinion of the school of Manu that the number should be twelve
:

mantriparisadam dvdda&dmdtydnkurwteti mdnavah'

The

school of Brhaspati says sixteen, and the school of Usanas twenty, but Kautilya opines that the assembly

(parisad) should comprise as many ministers as the needs of the dominion require. The following rule is laid down ; ' In the case of important work (dtydyike kdrye) he (the king) shall summon and inform the ministers and the assembly of ministers (mantrino mantriparisadam ca). He should do whatever the majority (bhuyiffas) there recom-

mend/
Apparently, the mantripari$ad were an executive council of ministers, each of whom had charge of a department of

In the ordinary business of government, the king consulted three or four of the ministers, presumably those in whose departments the matter lay, or whose special
administration.

experience made their advice valuable, before taking action. In cases of special importance, besides consulting a few ministers specially, he summoned the whole council, and was

guided by the opinion of the majority. In chapter i, Book VI, which deals with the salaries of officials, that allotted to
48,000 panas per annum, the highest salary given to any secular civil functionary, the salary of the
is
*

the mantrin

Bk.

I,

ch. xv.

The'KautiUyaArthaJ&stra*: Introduction
sannidhdtf

87

(chamberlain or treasurer), and samdkart? (collector-general), who, as appears from another passage, are both mantrin*, is fixed at 24,OOO panas each, while the other members of the mantriparifod receive 12,000 only. Apparently, here, the mantrin or dmdtya receiving the higher salary is the prime minister- Chapter x, Book I, lays down 4 assisted by his prime minister (mantrin) and his that, high priest (purohita), the king shall, by offering temptations, examine the character of the ministers (dmdtya) appointed to the charge of the ordinary departments (sdmdnyesvadhikaranefu) '. The various temptations which may be offered to ministers are then detailed. They fall under the four heads dharma ' or * sacred law '), artha (wealth), kdma (' religious duty

and bhaya (fear). In the first, a dismissed priest instigates ministers to rebel, on the ground that the king is unrighteous (adhdrmikd). In the second, a general dismissed for embezzlement offers the temptation of money ; in the third, a female ascetic (parivrdjikd), admitted to the queen's apartments, represents to each of the ministers here called mahdmdtra in turn, that the queen is in love with him ; in the fourth, ministers are tempted to enter into a plot against the king's life* The rule laid down is that those ministers who have resisted the dharma temptation shall be appointed to the office of judge (dharmasthlyd), or to duties of kanfakafodhana (' removal of thorns ' L e. police) ; those who resist money temptations shall be employed as collector-general (samdhartr) or treasurer (sannidhdtr) ; those who resist temptations of sensual pleasure shall be employed in the superintendence of the outer and inner pleasure-grounds (vihdra) ; those who resist ' ' temptations falling under the head of fear (bhaya) shall be appointed to offices immediately about the king's person
(sensuality),

(asannakaryd).

Those who have withstood every kind of temptation are eligible for the appointment of mantrin (prime minister ?) ? while those who have yielded to one or other may be
appointed to the charge of mines, timber* or elephant-

88
forests

The Early History of Bengal

(dravyahastivana), or manufactories (fcomdnte). Evidently all the ministers were appointed by the king,
is

and there
Guilds

no trace of what we now

call representative

institutions of government.

On

the other hand,

we

find

mention of corporations and guilds sangha, trenH JJJjJ^^ frequent turns. and it is clear, from numerous passages, that they were powerful and influential, and that it was necessary for the sovereign to conciliate them and gain them over to his side* As already mentioned, a whole chapter forming a book to itself is devoted to the subject of their control and manage* ment. Great importance is attached to the institution of spies Spies. and secret agents (gudhapurfya), who are relied upon to
procure for the king confidential information on all matters affecting his government, and especially on the conduct of

government servants of all classes, and also to spread reports and influence public opinion. Some are to be selected from
persons standing in a confidential relation to the person spied upon, as a religious disciple (chatra), a classmate or colleague (satrin). Others are to adopt various

among

disguises as a recluse (uddsthtia), stantial cultivator (grhapaiika),

*

A subtle method of influencing the public is thus described

formed as opposing factions
shall carry

an ascetic (tdpasa), a suba merchant (vaidehaka).

:

on Spies (satrin) disputations in places of pilgrimage, in assemblies, houses, and corporations. One spy may say : " This king is said to be endowed with all desirable qualities ; he seems to be a stranger to such tendencies as would lead him to oppress
and country people by levying heavy fines and Against those who seem to commend this opinion, " another spy may interrupt the speaker and say People * suffering from anarchy (mMsyanydyabhibhuidh) first made Manu, the Vaivasvata, their king, and allotted one-sixth of the grains grown, and one-tenth of merchandise as his due shares. Being maintained by this payment, kings are responsible for the security of their subjects, and are answerable for their sins, if they do not punish them. Hence, even the hermits pay to the king his one-sixth share, saying :
citizens

taxes."

flrifepmrfpi (lit, fish pracUoc, OP condition') is a proverbial expression signifying anarchy,

which results in the strong destraying the weak, as lam fish prey on small ones.

^
4

Intro(hicti<m

99

We pay the share due to him, as he protects us/ The king, as dispenser of punishments and rewards, represents both Indra and Yama. Divine punishment also reaches those who despise kings. Hence, kings should not be despised." *
Secret agents thus employed, it appears, served the purposes of a controlled or inspired press, or 'publicity'

department, in a modern state. Other secret agents should be employed to assassinate people whom the king wishes to get rid of. Such murderers
are of

two
'

classes

bullies or bravos,

who use violent means,

and are
lates as

called tiksna,
fiery
',

a word which Mr. Shamasastry transand poisoners (rasada).

Proceeding to the details of administration, the author of Forma* the ArthaSdstra first lays down rules for the settlement of village*, waste lands and the formation of villages, recognizing, doubtless, the importance of the village as a social and
administrative unit, having
at a time
its

origin in colonization, which,

relatively scanty

when population was

and waste

land abundant, formed an important branch of the State activities. The areas available for the purpose may consist
of virgin soil (abhutapurva), or of land formerly inhabited

but abandoned (bhtitapurva). In such areas, villages should be formed, each containing not less than 100 and not more

than 500 families of udra

(agriculturists),

who may be either

surplus population of the country, or immigrants from other countries. The boundaries of each village should extend to

a Kro&a or two, and the villages should be so arranged as to protect one another. Further protection should be given by fortified posts a fort of the class called sthanlya (perhaps the origin of the modern 4 thana '), in the centre of every 800 villages, a dronamukha fort for every 400, a khdrvafika for every 200, and a sangrahana for every ten villages. Besides these protective posts, there should be forts (dwrgdni) on the frontiers of the country manned by special guards
(antapSla).

Forts,

The

distribution of the arable lands of the village is next Land

dealt with.

To certon classes of religious

lands yielding sufficient produce are to

purohita, frotriya

40
be granted

Tht Early History of Bengal tax-free* To certain classes of officials,

such as

adhyakfa (superintendent), sankhydyaka (accountant), lands inalienable by sale or moTtge^{vilm^adkdnavarja) 9 but not
apparently revenue-free, are to be allotted, and similar allotments are to be set apart for the officials known as 1 gopa (village accountant) and sthdnlka (revenue supervisor),
as well as for veterinary surgeons (anikastha), physicians
(cikitsaka),

horse-trainers

(jangh&rika). further noticed below.

(a&vadamaka), and messengers These different classes of officials will be

To

ordinary revenue-paying culti-

vators (karada), lands prepared for cultivation (krtakshetrdni) should be given for life only (ekapurupikdni). Lands not previously cultivated (akrtdni) shall not be taken away from
those

who

bring

them under

may be

taken away

cultivation (kartrbhyo). Lands from those who do not cultivate them,

and given to
servants or

others, or they by traders.

may

be cultivated by
is

village-

The meaning of these rules,

apparently,

that a cultivator

who reclaimed waste land

acquired a right to hold it as long as he continued to cultivate it ; but if he ceased to do so

the king might give it to another cultivator, or to a person of the trading class, who might be willing to undertake its

and pay the revenue. Or failing such arrangement the king might have the land cultivated by hired labour. Any person to whom land reclaimed by another was given for cultivation had a right to enjoy it for his
cultivation
life

who are good revenue-payers should be this apparently favoured with grain, cattle, and money The king should allow remission of refers to advances. revenue on proper occasions.
:

only. Cultivators

State

For the general improvement of the country, the king should work mines, carry on manufactures, exploit timber-

and elephant-foretts, encourage cattle-breeding and trade, maintain roads and water communications, and establish market-towns (panyapaftana). He should construct reservoirs (setu) or provide tfites, timber, and other requisites, and
1

Cf, p. SO, infra.

The 'Kautitiya ArthoMxtra': Introduction

41

roads for those undertaking their construction. This applies also to the maintenance of {daces of pilgrimage and sacred groves* Persons refusing to take part in any joint irrigation

work (sambhUyasetubandha)

shall be punished by being with the cost of labourers and bullocks employed charged oa that account, and deprived of their share of the benefit of the work* The king should exercise rights of ownership over artificial

reservoirs in respect of fishing, navigation, and the like. He is enjoined to correct (vinayam grdhayet) those who

neglect their duty towards slaves and relatives (ddstihitakabandhuna^rnvato), and to make provision for orphans, the

aged, the sick and infirm, and the destitute, poor women in confinement, and their babies. Of these injunctions we

seem to

find

an echo in passages

of

Aoka's

edicts incul-

cating kind treatment of relatives, slaves, and servants, and the reference in his second Major Rock Edict to provision for medical relief* The village elders should take care of the property of minor orphans till they attain majority* Certain penal provisions designed for the welfare of village communities are here introduced. Persons neglecting with* out sufficient cause to maintain relatives dependent on them are liable to fine, and so is any person who embraces asceticism (pravrdjat) without making provision for his wife and family, or who causes a woman to become an ascetic (siriyam
pravrajayat). No ascetic (pravrajitabhdva) other than a vdnaprastha, no corporation (sangha) other than one composed of natives of

Village

a sdmutth&yika

the place (sajdtd), and no guild (samaydnubandha) other than shall be allowed in the village* The word

sdmutthdyika is translated by Mr* Shamasastry 'local cooperative guild', but the precise meaning seems to be
doubtful*.

Actors, dancers, singers, musicians, buffoons,

and

bards are not to be allowed to trouble the villagers and distract them from their work. The king is to protect from oppressive fines, exactions of labour, and agriculturists
*

R. JSUii,

ix, xi, xiii

P. E.

vii*

42
taxes,

The Early History of Bengal

1

and their cattle from thieves, tigers, poisonous creatures, and diseases; road-traffic from molestation by
courtiers or subordinate officials

(kdrmika),

robbers, or

boundary-guards (antapdla); herds of cattle.

Forests.

the roads from

damage by
(dis-

The next chapter

is

headed Bhumicchidravidhdnam

position of land unfit for tillage), and prescribes the reservation of forests* Brahmans are to be provided with forests

soma plantations, and for the performance of austerities. Such forests were to be safe from all danger from living or
for

inanimate things (jnradisfflhayasthdvarajatyamdni).

forest surrounded

A game-

by a

ditch (kMtaguptam) is to be reserved

for the king and another for the king's guests. Other forests are to be reserved for forest produce of different kinds, to

be more particularly described in a later chapter, and factories should be set up for the preparation of the commodities obtained from them.
greatest importance is attached to elephant-forests * (hastivana), in view of the fact that the victory of kings depends mainly upon elephants; for elephants, being of
large bodily frame, are capable not only of destroying the

The

army of an enemy,

his fortifications

and encampments, but

also of undertaking dangerous works \ In a later passage 2 of the ArthaJdstra the value to the

compared with that of an elephantforest : My teachers say that of the two forests, one productive of timber, and another of elephants, the former is the source of all kinds of works and is of immense help in forming a storehouse, the latter is of no value for these
king of a timber-forest
*

is

Not so, 9 says Kau^ilya, ' for it is possible to plant any number of timber-forests yet it is on elephants that the destruction of an enemy's army depends*' The
purposes.'
;

'

to be in charge of a superintendent (ndgavanddhyakfd), with a staff of forest-guards (ndgavanapdla), who 4 assisted by those who rear elephants, those who enchain
elephant-forest
is

the legs of elephants, those

1
*

who guard
by*
*

the boundaries, those

*

but

elsewhere

Shamasastry has workmen % WrmiJkai* rendered

clerk

Blu VI ch. VII,

xi.

4S The'KautikyaArtka&iistra': Introduction who five in forests, as well as those who nurse elephants,
shall, with five or seven female elephants to help in tethering wild ones, trace the whereabouts of herds of elephants, . * . Experts in catching elephants shall follow the instructions

given to them by the elephant doctor (anlkastha), and catch such elephants as have auspicious marks and good character/

The elephants of

and KarOia, it is and western countries are of middle quality ; while those of Saur&$$ta and Paficajana are inferior. The killing of an elephant is made a capital offence* The subject of fortifications is next dealt with. The king Fortifier may either have forts on the frontiers of his kingdom in townsituations suitable for defence, or a fortified capital (samuda- planning. yasihdnam sihdnlyam). Elaborate directions for defensive

Kaliftga and Anga, the eastern country, said, are the best, those of the Da&rna

works, as well as for the location of the palace, public buildings, inhabitants of different classes, trades, &c., in the
fortified capital, are given*

Artha&astra then proceeds to describe generally the functions of several categories of government officials, of

The

whom

the principal are the samdharir and the sannidhdtr. The samdharir is the collector-general of revenue, and his duties are laid down in great detail. Those of the sannidhdt? Duties are not so clearly explained. The name is translated by

Mr. Shamasastry as
*

'

chamberlain

',
'

treasurer

or

finance minister
'

but it would seem that would be more appro'

priate.

It is said that the sannidhdtr

shall attend to the

business of revenue collection

collection of revenue

(nicaydn anutiffet), but the

was evidently the business of the samahartr. Apparently the sannidhdtr was to receive and hold charge of revenue collected by the samdharir. He had charge of the royal treasure of precious stones, and stores of grain and forest-produce, and seems also to have been
entrusted with the construction of certain government buildings, viz. the treasure-house (koJagrha), storehouses

produce (koffdgdra) and forest produce the royal trading-house (ponj/<^Aa), the armoury (fafPSWgpAa),
for

agricultural

(dyudhdgara),

the

jail

(bandhandgdra),

courts of justice

44

The Early History of Bengal

and the
minister's
office

(dharmatihiya),

or secretariat

(mahtim&riya). All these buildings are to be provided with wells, privies, bathrooms, appliances for putting out fire
(e.g. vessels

of water, ladders, axes, hooks and pincers for

to keep

down walls, thatch, &c.), and cats and mongooses down rats and snakes. The storehouse of agricultural produce should have a bowl with a mouth one aratni
pulling

(twenty-four angulas) wide for the measurement of rainfall

(varsamdna).
Duties

Describing the duties of the samahartr, the ArthaJdstra begins by saying that he should attend to (avekshetd) the
fort (durga), the rural area (rdsfra) 9 mines (khani), irrigation works (setu), forests (vana), cattle (vraja), and communica-

tions (vanikpatha).

Under the heading

tolls

durga,

it is

explained, are included

(h4ka), fines (danda), weights

and measures

(pautava),

the duties of the city superintendent (ndgarikd), and the superintendents of coinage (laksana) and passports (mudra), manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor, cloth, oil, ghee,

and

sugar,

and slaughter-houses, the

gambling,

trade,

courtesans,

state goldsmith, royal buildings, artisans' guilds

(kdrudilpigana), religious worship, dues collected at the city gates, or octroi (dvdra), and from bahirikas, meaning perhaps, foreigners in short, all matters connected with the

administration of a city. Rdffra includes cultivation of Crown lands (sUd), the royal share of the produce of other

lands (bhdgd), religious taxes (bali), tax paid in money (kara), traders (vanik), the superintendent of rivers (nadipald),
ferries (taras),

boats (ndvab), market-towns (pattana), pas(lit.

tures (vivita), transit-dues (vartani), rajj&46orarajjiMca 4 ropes and ropes to bind thieves ').

Gold, silver, diamonds, gems, pearls, coral, conch-shells, metals (loha), salt, and other minerals (dhdtu), come under
the head of min^s (khani). The heading setu apparently includes all cultivation of crops grown with the help of
artificial irrigation, e.g. flower-, fruit-,

and vegetable-gardens,

wet

fields (ked&ra),

Vana

includes

and transplanted crops (mulavdpa)* game-, timber-, and elephant-forests

The *KautitiyaArtha^ra\- Introduction

45

Vraja includes cows, buffaloes, (pafamrgadravyaharti). goats, sheep, asses, camels, horses, and mules. The heading vanikpatha covers communications by land Mid water
(sthalapatho v&ripathaica).

This chapter concludes with a verse to the effect that a wise collector-general should bring about an increase of revenue and a decrease of expenditure* It will be seen, however, that the samahartr was also concerned with certain branches of police work. The Arthadfotra then passes to the important subject of Account* The first chapter on this subject is headed records. accounts. Aksapatale gdnanikyddhikdrdh, which Mr. Shamasastry
the business of keeping up accounts in the office '. It appears, however, from details given in this chapter, as well as from references to the akfapafola
translates
4

of accountants

in various land grants, that it served the purpose not only of an accountant's office, but also of a general record-room.

that the building should contain books well arranged by departments, relating not only to accounts, but also to the history of customs, professions, and transactions of countries, villages, families, and corporations, titles
It is laid

down

to possession of land and remission of taxes, and treaties with or ultimata issued to friendly or hostile kings. Accountants (gdnanikya) are to submit their accounts in

month of Asddha, and those who fail to furnish their accounts and pay the balances due from them at the appointed time are to be fined ten times the amounts due
the

from them. There are elaborate instructions for the checking of accounts, and penalties are provided for a superintendent (kdranika) who does not proceed to check an account when
the clerk (kdrmika) concerned who are not ready in time.
is

ready, as well as for clerks

subject of embezzlement by government servants is next dealt with. Thirty-six different forms of embezzlement

The

are enumerated, and methods of detecting as well as punishments prescribed. There

reflection
4
:

them
is

indicated,

the following

Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey or the poison

46
that finds
for

The Early History of Bengal

itself

at the tip of the tongue, so

it is

impossible

a bit of Just as it is impossible to ascertain whether fish moving under the surface are drinking water or not, so it is impossible to detect government servants taking government money. It is possible to mark the movement of birds flying high up in the sky ; but not so is it possible to ascertain the movements of government servants of hidden
least

a government servant not to eat up at

the king's revenue.

purpose/

The final injunction under this head is that the king should force his servants to give up ill-gotten gains, and transfer them from one duty to another, so that they may
be prevented from eating the substance of the state, and compelled to vomit what they have eaten. Then follows a chapter on the drafting of official documents.
Official letters (lekha) are classified
:

according to

their purport, as follows

inquiry (prcchd),
refusal
(pratiscdha),

(nindd), praise (praiamsd), narration (dkhydna), request (arthand), (pratydkhydna), censure (updlambha), prohibition

blame

command

(codana), conciliation (sdntva), pro-

mise of help (abhyavapatti), threat (bhartsand), persuasion (anunaya). Writs or decrees (idsana) are of eight kinds :
notice (prajnapana), command (djnd), gift (pariddna), remission (parthdra), licence (nisrpfi), instruction (pravrffika), reply
(pratilekha), general

proclamation (sarvatraga).

four kinds of stratagem (updyd), viz. negotiation (sdma), bribery (upapraddna), sowing dissension (bhedd), and

The

open attack (danda), are then enumerated, and minutely sub-classified. Finally, good qualities and defects of official
style are pointed out.

THE KAUflLlYA ARTHA&ASTRA

DUTIES OF SUPERINTENDENTS
second book then proceeds to describe in detail the of twenty-six superintendents (adhyatya) in different duties
departments, viz.
:

THE

The Treasury (Kota). Mines (Akara, Khani).

Metals (Loha).

Spinning
(Sutra).

and Weaving
Crown lands

Cultivation of
(Site).

The Mint (Laksana).

Salt (Lavana).

Intoxicating liquor (Sura).

Gold (Suvarna).

The Storehouse

(Kostdgdra).

Slaughter-houses (Suna). Courtesans (Ganika).

Royal trade (Panya). Forest produce (Kupya).

Shipping (Nau).
Cattle (Go).

The Armoury (Ayudhdgdra). Weights and measures of

capacity (Paitiava). Measurement of space and

Horses (Aua).
Elephants (Hasii).
Chariots (Ratha).

Infantry (Patti).
Passports (Mudrd). Pastures (VivUa).

time (Mdna).
Tolls

Besides the above, other adhyakfas are mentioned elsewhere in the Arthaidstra, namely, superintendents of
Elephant-forests (Ndgavana). General trade (SamstM).
Religious institutions (Devoid).

Gambling (Dyutd).
Jails (Bandhanagdra).

Ports (Parana).

From
that
all

the range of the samdharifs duties, 1 it would appear the adhyakfas above mentioned were subordinate to

him, except those of the treasury and storehouse,

who

48

The Early History of Bengal

were, presumably, under the sannidhStf, and those of the armoury, the infantry, horses and cavalry, chariots, and
elephants,
in-chief.
1

who would be under the

salaries,

senapati, or

Commander-

In the chapter on

those of the superintendents

of elephants, chariots, and infantry are set down at 4,000 panas, and of other adhyakfas at 1,000 panas each. In the same chapter there is a sentence indicating that an adhyakfa should have charge of 100 or 1,000 communities
It seems to be contemplated that, for the purpose of administration in the various departments, the country
(cargo).

would be mapped out in circles of unequal size, each under an adhyaksa, subordinate, presumably, to the minister
(manfrtn, dmdtya) in charge of his department.

In the polity described, much of the official agency is employed in the management and exploitation of Crown property. There were important royal estates and forests, and it seems that the State kept a monopoly of mines. The king carried on both export and import trade, and had
State factories for working up the raw products of his country. Moreover, as a great part of the revenue was paid

had to be maintained for with the agricultural products received in payment dealing of taxes, as well as those raised from the Crown lands. Of the general store, it appears part was kept as a reserve
in kind, important establishments

to meet years of famine, part went to the maintenance of the royal household and the remuneration of officials, who

were paid in kind, and part as raw material for the royal
manufactories.

The
Treasury,

fo^

Taking the chapters of Book II in their order, we find A the fa^ js headed Examination of Jewels received in
'

(Ko4apravefyaratnaparlkf&)> but, by a somewhat perplexing arrangement, the chapter deals not only with pearls (mauktika), gems (ratna), diamonds (vajra), and coral (pravSla), but also with certain perfumes, skins, and furs, and woven fabrics of different kinds.

the Treasury

These

articles are classified according to

1

the countries

Cf. p. 78

The 'Artkatottos' : Duties of "^&tende*t*

from which they come, wad, in omc tmteneeg, tin* of countries given in the ^rtikoAWre bare been explained by the commentator, Bha#asvftmin, aa indicated below. Pearls are classified as follows : Tamraparnika, produced in the Tamraparni (a rirer in
the

Com,)* obtained in P&$4yakavftta (a mountain Pditfyakavtitaka, known as Malayakoti in the P&$4ya country Com.).
P&sikya, produced in the Pftsa (a river Com.)* Kauleya, produced in the Ktkla (a river near the village Mayura, in the island of Simhala Com.)*

P&p4y* country

Chaurneya, produced in the Chftrna (a river near the village Murachi in the Kerala country Com.)*

Mahendra, that which Mahendra.

(pdrasika)

is

obtained near the mountain of

Kfirdamtfca, produced in the

Kardama

(a river in Persia
falling into

Com.).

produced in the Srotasi (a river the Barbara Sea Com.).

SrattiasiyOi

Hrddlya, produced in the Hrada (a gulf or bay of the Barbara Sea Com.).

Haimavata, obtained near the Himalayas.

bad shape, roughness, bad perforation) and good qualities (e.g. size, weight, good spherical shape, and good perforation) are next enumerated* Several
Defects of pearls
(e.g.

different kinds of pearl necklaces, distinguished according to

the

number of
all

of pearls
yatfi,

of one

strings or otherwise, e.g. firfaka, composed size, except a larger one in the centre ;

a string of pearls with a gem (mani) in the centre ; apavartaka, a string made of pearls and gold beads
(hemamani\ are also mentioned.

Gems (mani) are classified as those found in the K&(a Gems. and MOleya mountains, and pdrasamiubaka, brought from beyond the sea ; also by colour, e.g. saugandkika (? ruby),
having the colour of the red lotus, the parijOta flower 1 (crithrina Indica), or the rising sun; twii^flrya, having
notes that the mountain, tuch as the Vlmihya,

the Vidura, and that part of the Makya wUdb -t~rrt: the
i

m
{? sapphire).

The Early History f Bengal

fee cok*if of the bine totes flower; the JirfM, water, young bamboo, or parrt*'s featlHM (? emerald) ; ito4m*8*

Diamonds are
rftrtra

said to be found in the countries of Sabhft-

(Vidarbha Com.), Madhyamarttfm (Kerala-Corn.), Kafaiaka (Benares Com.)* They are also described as Srikafanaka (found near the mountain Vedotka^a Com.) ; manimantaka (found near the mountain Manimin or Mani-

Com.) ; and indrav&naka (found in KaliAga Com.)* Diamonds, again, are distinguished according to colour and
quality.
Coral.

mania

Coral

is

of two kinds

of the river of Barbara

alakandaka (obtained in the mouth Com.) and vaivarnaka (of Vivaria,

Com.).

the ocean near the island of Yavanas

Pcrfdm.

Under the head of perfumes, we have sandal-wood (eon** dona) of sixteen kinds, of which two (jongaka and taurupa) are said by the commentator to be products of Kfimarupa and one nagapan;atoA:a, of the Naga mountains ; three kinds
of agaru (Agallochum) wood, jongaka (from Kfimarupa Com*), p&rasamudraka (available in the island of Simhala
Com.), and dongaka, a black kind ; and tailaparnika, a per* fume, or class of perfumes not identified, of which seven kinds (afokagramika, jongaka, grameruka, sauvarnakudyaka, p&rnadvtpaka, paralauhityaka, and antarvaiya) are said by the commentator to be obtained from K&marupa, one kind, kaleyaka^ is noted (in the text) as coming from Svaniabhflmi, and one as produced in northern mountains (auttaraparvataka).

Fun.

The furs, of which several kinds are enumerated, appear to be skins of small animals (fox, marten, &c.) found in the Himalayas. Thus, bisi and maMbisi furs are said, in the text, to be twelve angulas (inches) long, and products of ' twelve villages \ which, according to the commentator, are
situated in the Himalayas, and inhabited by Mlecchas, Five kinds of skins are said to come from Aroha, and three 6001
cfcaracterfftks

a
of

aad the
ttoe

acWMs

Stririj va,

v*l****A

the Vlndhya, Malabar, ate

r women1!

realm'),

Malabar, evidently

leCmto

ap^ied to
the

matriarchal eaatoia of that

Toe

Hie
1

best ft&s azg soft*

0iB0crtii,

tt

andt3ftfajM^teareddns<rfaqttic

Y otters).

The enumeration of woven fabrics is detailed, but in perta, not quite clear, as the text stands. Under the head of woollen fabrics we have kambala (a coarse blanket Com.), Kaucapaka (v.l. Kucelaka usually worn by cow-herds
Com.), ktdamitika (v.l. kathamitika

a head-dress

Com.),

saumUika (bullock-covering
blanket blanket

Com.), turagartarana (horseCom.), varnaka (v.l. varna kambaK a coloured

Com.), talicchaka (blanket Com.), varaxtfna (coat Com.), paristoma (large blanket Com.), samaniabhadraka (elephant-covering Com.), bhingisi (said to be rain-proof)

and apasdraka, products of Nepal.

following fabrics of hair (mrgaroma) are mentioned ; samputika (janghatrana, trousers Com.), caturafrika, lam-

The

bara (pracchadapata, a curtain or wrapper Com.), kotovdnaka (the same, but coarser Com.), pravdraka (the same, another variety Com.), sattalika (carpet Com.).

In the next passage it is said that the duktila of Vafcga (Vdngaka) is white and soft, that of Ptuufra (paundraka) black and 'gem-soft* (manimigdha, rubbed with a gem
Com.), suvarnakudya, gem-soft and wet* woven (udakavdnam), and this applies also to Aotftfto, and the kfauma of Pu$<Jra. On this Bhat^asvamin notes that dukula is a fine fabric and faauma is a little coarse *. The word kfauma is ordinarily translated 'linen', but more 1 The use of jute clothing by probably, here, it means jute. the poorer classes in Bengal was common before cotton cloth became cheap through trade with England. Then there is a somewhat obscure reference to fabrics produced in Magadha, Pu$<Jra, and Suvar$aku<jlya from
c

while being woven

certain trees

the ndgavj-k^a, the likucha (artocarpas Wfew-

cAa), the vakula (mimusop* ekngi), and the vafa (ficus indica). Probably silks spun by worms fed on these trees

are here referred to, for the next sentence says that
Cf. Watted,

this

Yum Chaxmg,

I.

Aparftnte (JfconJtona-ComO, Kfcfi, Vaftga, V*U* (Kausambi Com.), and Mahi$a (the country called Mahij* mati om.) are said to be the best. Discussion of the names of {daces and countries in this

would be out of place here, but it may be mentioned that Va&ga, in its more restricted sense, applied to central and sometimes to northern, and Pufltfra to northern and
list

eastern Bengal*

In the chapter on mining and connected industries (dkarakarmdntapravartana)

it is

said that the superintendent of

mines (dJcarddhyakfa) should have a knowledge of the science of minerals, or be assisted by persons with such knowledge, and be provided with a staff of miners and necessary tools.
Instructions are given for recognizing and classifying ores* The rule is laid down that * mines yielding minerals from which vessels are made (bhdndopakdriri), and those requiring
large outlay to work should be leased for a share of the output or a fixed rent (bhdgena prakraycna vd). Those

which are cheap to work should be exploited directly by the king/ The Lohddhyaksa, it is said, should carry on the manufacture of copper, lead, tin, brass, &c. The commentator explains that ' loha is a general name of metals,
except gold and silver '. Hie coins to be minted
tiilddhik&rin,
fied*

by the Lak$anddhyak$a (TankaCom*) are next speci-

mint superintendent

made the following: with four parts of copper and the weight r&pyar&pa, of a m&sa seed of any of the metals, *iA#na(?), tin, lead, or antimony added pana, half, quarter, and oneIt is said that he should cause to be

eighth pana ; pdddjivam i&mrarupam mdfaka, half mdfaka, IcSkani (one-quarter mdfaka), and half Mkani (one-eighth

The commentator notes that

rupyartipa

is

the same as

* karfapana and that p&dpjivam tdmrarHpam means made up of four parts of silver, eleven parts of copper, and one ' part of tikfoa or any other metal

4ldliiihk!t^u& jliiJih^ '^tttiifMiAtti^M&-' jfe^tttjUAjti^tk*'!

BtettMvtmin aay^
-

^ the asthor

gcte
J
' '

on to
v
'

follows the native system of weights, as given in Manu VIII, 182 If. The basis of this system is the rail (raktika) or gufija berry, the weight of which is estimated at 1*88 grains

VAV; \ geneMu currency (pyiicHimlraiMi/. If Bhaftasvlmin's commentary is right, two kinds of coin were minted, viz. (1) rfipyorfipa, of an alloy mainly composed of silver, (2) idmrarUpa, of an alloy mainly composed of copper and the r&pyar&pa only were received in the public treasury. This passage may be compared with the following extract from Rapson's Indian Cains : 4 The most ancient coinage of India, which seems to have been developed independently of any foreign influence,

describe coins of

*v

r'

or 0-118 grammes. Of the gold standard coin, the suvarna of r0ti* 146-4 grains or 9-48 grammes, no specimens are known, but of the silver purdna or dharana of 82 ratis = 58*56 grammes, or 8*79 grammes, and of the copper karfapand of 80 ratis (same weight as the suvarna), and of various multiples and subdivisions of them, numerous examples have been discovered in almost every part of India. . . . The shape of these coins is approximately square or oblong, the silver coins having been, as a rule, cut from a flat sheet of metal, and the copper coins from a bar. These primitive coins are little more than weights of metal, on which was stamped, from time to time, the symbol of the authority responsible for their correctness and purity/

80

It will be noticed that, in the Arthaifatra, there is no mention of the minting of gold coins by the Lakfanddhyakfo.

The

table of weights given is as follows : 10 mdpa-seeds or 5 guftja-seeds 1 suvarna mdfa, 16 mdfas =1 suvarna or &arjra, 4 kar?as=\ pafa. 88 white mustard seeds (gaurasarfapa) =*1 r&pya mfea. 16 r&pya m&fas or 20 iaibya seeds =-1 dharana. The commentator's note on rapyar&pa, that it is 4 the same as karfapapa % would apparently mean that thejwma

coin of that alloy should have the same weight as or karpapana, namely, 16 suvarna mSfas^8& ratis or
1

seeds *1 60

m^a seeds.

In the Jfltaka and other eariy Buddhist literature, the eoin

Tht Early History of Bengal

to
is

the fcoAo

Other instrument* of exchange mentioned are the nft&fe*

(Sansk. of gpld*
originally a gold ornament), and the weapp* the Jfcamjro,pJda m&faka, &ndkOkanikaof bronze and

v*o

or copper. 1 An official called the r&padariaka is charged with the regulation of currency (panay&ra). Certain mint
charges are mentioned, viz.
:

R&pika, 8 per cent.

Vy&fi, 5 per cent. securing a profit on transactions between government and the public by the use of special weights or measures.

apparently a seignorage. a device frequently mentioned for

P&rikfika,

per cent.

testing charge.

There

is

also

mention of a

fine (atyaya) of

25 panas,
seller,

except in the case

of the maker, the buyer, the the meaning is not dear*

and the examiner ', but

The next

official

mentioned

is

the khanyadhyaksa,

who

looks after the collection of conch-shells, pearls, and coral, the working of diamonds and other precious stones, the

manufacture of salt, and commerce in such articles. His ' title, also, would mean, literally, superintendent of mines ', and Mr. Shamasastry translates it ' superintendent of oceanmines*. His duties are concerned with articles obtained from the sea, but he is entrusted also with the working of diamonds and other precious stones, apparently because
Salt.

they are grouped with pearls. Salt manufacture is supervised by a special officer, the LavayddAyakfa, and carried on, it seems, under a system of licences, cm payment of a fixed fee, or a share of the output, the salt received by government as its share being sold by the superintendent. In these government sales of
the vy&jl of 5 per cent, should be realized through the difference between the royal measure and the measure generally used in other wozds, the actual price
salt, it is said,

charged to the public was 5 per cent, more than the nominal
price.

'EcoaomicconBudto

*%

Elm David., ifJL, DJUt., Ffcttow

F.

01 jft imported Mlt ooe^ixth

king,

if

to be

made

am to

ff
tin?

and tibfe royal <rf imported *att i* alao to be **l the superintendent. In respect of it he is to realise by a tptf4fi of 5 per cent, both when measuring the sharo in other words, he is to take 5 per cent, more than one-sixth
and when selling the salt, the price realized for which shouU cover the vytfi, a premium (rupika) of 8 per cent., the toll (rfutta), and an amount calculated as covering the loss which
the long's revenue would otherwise sustain through the use of imported instead of home-made salt*

sbw

Working in gold and silver is under the supervision of Gold and * * the swarnddhyakfa, who holds his office in a building called nvcr the akfaidla. This word is explained by the commentator,
Bhat^asvftmin, as meaning
in gold, silver, &c., is suvarnddhyakfa shall establish a goldsmith (suvarnilca) of

the place where superior work carried on '. It is laid down that the

'

good family and honest character on the high road (0Mt~ khdmadhye). Apparently the intention is that the finer kinds of gold- and silversmiths' work should be carried out in royal factories, while ordinary goldsmiths' shops, where the business of making or converting common gold and silver ornaments would be carried on, should be established under royal sanction or licence in the streets of towns and in the villages. It was doubtless thought important that such licences should be given to men of good character only, on account of the opportunities for fraud which the business
affords.

The chapter on the work of the suvarnddhyakfa in the akfaftila contains instructions on the methods of testing and recognizing different qualities of gold, processes of manufacture of gold and silver articles and setting of jewels, and elaborate precautions against fraud and theft by workmen
in the factory.

The next
edrofr), is

chapter, which deals with the

work of the

goldsmith on the high road' (vitikhdydm wworptiapr^ not very dear. It lays down that the goldflmirti

shall

employ artisans to work up the gold and silver of town and country people. He is to return the same

66

TktEoriyHittoryvf Bengal

weight as what he receives, but there it a rule that the toss (kfaya) ML a suvarna is doe kOkapi, which apparently means that a of weight in manufacture of one kdkani (one* fourth of a mOfa) for every swarna of 16 f*4a* or one*

km

sixty-fourth

account work*

may be allowed* There is, finally, an elaborate of frauds, which may be committed in goldsmith's

The

The chapter on the superintendent of the storehouse (kopthdgdr&dhyakfa) makes him responsible for agricultural produce of Crown lands (*i&Z) and that which is received in
payment of taxes and government dues of
different kinds,

as well as for salt received through the lavanddhyakfa. It is laid down that, of the store received under these heads,
half shall be kept in reserve for public calamities, and .half used. From other passages it appears that the use conin allowances for the maintenance of the royal family, servants, and dependents, as well as in sale and barter*

templated

is

The chapter contains a

classified catalogue of agricultural

products, other than grains, which are dealt with in another chapter, under the head sitddhyaksa, and salt*
It is not possible to discuss this
list

in detail here,

but

an idea of its arrangement* Under the heading sneha (oil and grease) are included sarpis (clarified butter, ghee '), oil, animal fat, and marrow : under the heading kfdra, the following forms of sugar
will give
'

a few examples

phdnitd, guda, matsyandika, akhanda, iarkara. The * pungent' class (tiktavarga) includes long pepper
(pippali), black

seed {<y&ji)> tarfapa), coriander

indica),

pepper (marled), ginger (frngibcra), cumminkirdtatikta (chirayta), white mustard (gaura(kustumburu),

damanaka

(artemisia

mamvaka

(vangueria spinosa), sigru (hyperanlhera

moringa).
following descriptions of salt are enumerated : saindhava, rihnudra (sea-salt), bi$a, yavakffoa, sauvarcala udbhe-

The

There are calculations of the amounts of food obtainable from given quantities of grain of different kinds cooked or treated in various ways, of oil that can be pressed
dtfa.

from the different oil-seeds, and of thread that tto be spun from given quantities of cotton and ktaum* (flax or jute) fibre. Ratkms are laid down for different classes of men, women, and children, and animals other than bones and elephants (to be dealt with in the special chapters devoted to than)* The utensils and appliances to be kept in the
storehouse are enumerated*

The panyddhyakfa seems to have been chiefly concerned with the trade in various articles which the king himself carried on, 1 as explained above, and his business was to see
that this trade proved profitable to the government. How he was to do this is described in a few terse sentences, though

the precise meaning of some of the terms used Mr* Shainasastry translates :
4

is

uncertain.

The superintendent of commerce shall ascertain demand or absence of demand for, and rise or fall in the price of various kinds of merchandise, which may be the products of either land or water, and which may have been brought in by land or by water path. He shall also ascertain the time suitable for their distribution, centralization (vikfepasamksepa), purchase,

and sale. That merchandise which is widely distributed (pracuram) shall be centralized, and its price enhanced (ekikrtydrghamdropayet). When the enhanced rate becomes popular (prapierghe), another rate shall be declared. That merchandise of the king which is of local
manufacture shall be centralized (ekamukham vyavahfoam sthdpayet) ; imported merchandise shall be distributed in several markets (anekamukhamukham).'
Apparently the superintendent was to enhance the price of the king's merchandise by restricting sales, when this could be done profitably. At the same time, he was not to aim at an excessive profit. It is laid down that both local and imported merchandise should be sold at a rate favourable to the people (prajdndm anugrahena), and the
superintendent should avoid an oppressive (aupaghdtikam) The sale of articles, for which there is frequent profit.

demand, should not be hampered by and place*

*

restrictions of

time

by another

Private trade was supervised official, the wntotM-

dhpaftfo,

dfrouaied
of. p.

in

later

chapter,

.#'

-,

An
king's

alternative

method indicated for disposing of the merchandise i$ to have it sold at a fixed price by

private traders IB many markets (bahumukkam). In that case, the traders should pay. a compensation (va*dharQ*a).

Apparently a licence fee was charged to the traders under the name of compensation for the loss which the king sustained
vytiji

by not trading on commodities

direct.

It is next laid
is

down

that the

sold

by measure

one-sixteenth,
sold

on

those sold

by weight

one-twentieth,

and on those

by

This vy&jl was an exaction made or attempted in sales and purchases on behalf of the king, by the device of using measures and weights different from

number

one-eleventh.

by over- or undercounting goods sold by number, as the case might be. The superintendent should show favour to foreign merchants, and grant them such remissions as may enable them to make a profit* The commentator's note on this passage indicates that favour should be shown to the merchants by protecting them from oppression by frontier and provincial officials, and by exemption from vydjl. The chapter concludes with instructions for
use, or
Forest 06*

those in

common

pushing export of the king's merchandise to foreign countries. The chapter on the superintendent of forest produce
(kupyddhyaksa) prescribes that he shall collect timber and other products of forests, establish factories for working
the fines to be levied for damage to productive forests (dravyavana) except in case of calamity. In
fix

P*

them up, and

those days as now, it seems, forest regulations were relaxed in times of scarcity and famine. There follows an exhaustive

of forest products. It includes timbers and bamboos of different kinds, canes and other creepers, barks and fibres,
list

and fruits, hides and skins, bones, sinews, teeth, horns, hoofs, and tails of various animals, utensils of cane, bark, and clay, charcoal, ashes, firewood, and fodder, wild beasts and birds for menageries. Certain metals iron, tin, lead, copper, &c. already mentioned under the head of mines, are also, oddly, included
leaves
flowers, medicinal roots

and

here.

The

superintendent of the

in manufacturing, in accordance witfa

yr
jP^jjra^Pjl

i^ktiong M to tigfr
)>
,i

<WWHHk

%P^F|pB^Vl^

^>(W^^W, WWWJjW^^^wJ ^ppWw^l^W*

^P^^ft '^^KwWwfli

appliances for use in bottle (tdngr&nika), in <xmi*exion with forts (dawgamika), or in destroying an enemy's defences
(|Hirapur^AigA4<fca). There areinstructionfifbrtheanrangement and care of such military equipment, followed by a long

and interesting list of war engines and weapons, of which a few examples, with the commentator's explanations, must
suffice.

a cart with wheels capable of rapid revolution, which, when rotated, throws stones in all direcSarvatobkadra
:

tions.

Some call it bhumarikayantra. Bahumukha a tower situated on the top

:

of a fort, pro-

vided with a leather cover, and facing all directions. this place a number of archers direct their arrows.

From

VUvfoaghdti
of a fort
kill

a cross-beam above a ditch at the entrance and so placed as to be caused to fall down and
:

enemies when approaching.

are classed as fixed engines (rtfrtroymfra).

The above

Among movable engines (calayantra) we find the following : Paftcdlika : a big wooden board with sharp points on its
put in the midst of water outside the fort wall to arrest the onward march of an enemy. Devadanfa: a long pole with iron nails attached to it, placed on the top of a fort wall. Stikarika : a leather cover or bag filled with cotton or wool to protect the towers, roads, &c., against stones thrown by enemies. Some say that it is a bamboo mat covered with leather (Com.). Eleven descriptions of weapons, including sakti, a metallic weapon four hands long, like the leaf of a karavira, and provided with a handle ; prdsa, a weapon 24 angulas long with two handles ; varShakarna, a rod with edges shaped like a boar's ear, are comprised in a class called hulamukhdm*
surface.

This

is

Bows made of UOa palm, chapa (a kind of bamboo), ddmwood, and horn, are called JfaJrmuJfco, kodayfa dr000 and , respectively. NittriiMa, ma^KUj^a, ai^ f^a^ are

m,

.-I*-,

varieties of swoids.

Swordhilts are

made of

horn, ivory,

wood, and bamboo-root.

weapons (fcfSratalpa) includes various kinds of battle-axes, and also the disk (cakra). JOlika, a coat covering the whole body, pa#a, an armless ooat, 00000, a coat made of detached pieces, to cover the head, trunk, and arms, and rittroka, covering the hips and waist only, are varieties of armour (forma) made of chain* mail, or of hides, hoofs, and horns of porpoise, rhinoceros, bison, elephant, or cow. Other pieces of armour and shields
of different kinds are included in the class avardni.

Tte

class of razor-like

VI

THE KAVflLlYA AKTHASASTRA

DUTIES OF SUPERINTENDENTS
THE
(continued)

superintendent of weights and measures of capacity wifbt* (pautavddhyakfa) is charged with the preparation of standard

j^

weights and measures, of which tables are given, and the of capastamping of those used by private parties, for which a fee was charged* Weights, it is said, should be made of iron, of
stones from

Magadha and Mekala, and of substances not moisture or heat. There are also directions for affected by the making of balances and scales.
The m&nadhyaksa
is

required to have a knowledge of the

measurement of space and time (deJakdlamdna). Tables of linear and square measure and measures of time are given. It may be presumed that the mdnadhyakfa was responsible for standards of linear measure and for the calendar.
tolls

important part of the king's revenue is derived from sales of goods, called hdka, the collection of which is in charge of the tulkddhyakfa. From the fact that, in the classification of the duties of the collector-general (wm-

An

on

hartf),

faUca

is

inferred that it

was

placed under the head durga, it may be levied on goods sold in the cities, and it

from the context, be assumed to have applied It is an ad valorem duty levied in the city, and calculated on the price for which goods are sold there. To facilitate collection and prevent evasion, it is laid down that sales of goods shall be made at an

may

also,

to wholesale, not retail transactions.

4 appointed place, and that commodities shall never be aobt where they are grown or manufactured (jtitibkOmifu pgyy

Probably the latter rule referred to rural produce brought into the dty it can hardly have
arikrayab)
'.

AnOm

applied to all sales throughout the country.

Goods are

0$
classified as

The Early History of Bengal

Mkya, brought into the city from the country, oKhyantara, produced in the city, and Stithya, imported from
abroad.
Rate* of

The

A
to

rules as to rates of falka toll are not quite clear. general rule -niskramyam praoefyam ca iuUcam appears

mean that goods exported and imported

are liable to

toll,

or to indicate some difference between rates of duty on im-

ported and exported goods* Another rule appears to subject all imported (proved/a) goods to a uniform toll of one-fifth of
their value

however, whether prmeiya had the same meaning as Ottihya. Sidka is levied also on sales of
:

it is

not

clear,

immovable property, as will be

Besides the faUka
transit

seen. 1

toll, imported goods are liable to a due (variant) levied by the antapdla (frontier guard, or warden of the marshes), viz. 1 J pana for each cart-load

of merchandise, 1 pana for each single-hoofed animal (i. e. horses, mules, asses), \ pana for each head of cattle, pana

minor quadruped, and one mdpa for every headload of merchandise. The antapdla is required to examine the quality of all imported goods, and stamp them with his seal (mudra). The following ad valorem scale of fulka is laid
for every

down:
One-sixth flowers, fruit, vegetables, roots (mflZa, kanda) 9 seeds, dried fish, and meat.
dukitta (cotton ?),

One-tenth or one-fifteenth fabrics of kfauma (flax or jute ?) and silk, mail armour, arsenic (haritdla,

vermilion (hingulaka), metals, colouring ingredients, sandal-wood, agaru wood, pungent substances, ferments, pieces of armour (dvarana), raw ksauma, raw
At&fiJo, carpets, curtains,

raw

silk,

wool, and goat's hair.

One*twentieth or one-twenty-fifth bipeds and quadrupeds, cotton thread, perfumes, drugs, timber, bamboos,
bark, hides, pottery, grain,
liquor,
oil,

sugar, salt, intoxicating

cooked

rice,

precious stones,
experts*

and the like. Conch-shells, diamonds, pearls, and coral to be specially assessed by
(dvfoadeya) of one-fifth of the

A gate due or octroi

'Cf.p. 101.

The 'ArthaMra': Ifafto tfJS^::^uknt*

appears to have been levied on article* bfougbt into the city. Tim might be remitted in special ca*es* The robs OB the subject lay down that the todk&dyokfa shall erect the toll-house flag near the ehief gate of the city, and that when merchants arrive in caravans (8drthopaytito)> four or five toil*

Cattee*

down their names, whence what goods they have brought, and where the they come,
collectors (jtUkOddyin) thall write

goods have been stamped or sealed (abhijfianamudrakrta). This rule evidently refers to goods brought into the city by merchants from the country or from abroad* Goods imported by land from beyond the frontiers are to be stamped by the antapdla with his seal, as already mentioned* Where
or

by whom other goods brought into the city were stamped

does not appear.

rules prescribe that those whose merchandise has not been stamped shall pay twice the amount of toll : for using

The

counterfeit stamps the penalty is a fine of eight times the toll. If the stamp has been effaced, the merchant should

be required to stand in the ghatikdsthdna, which, the commentator explains, was a room where people were confined for walking in streets or roads at improper hours. He adds that, as an alternative penalty, they might be made to wait for a day in the toll-house. The goods having been placed near the toll-house flag, the merchants must offer them for sale by proclamation, thus : 4 Who will purchase this quantity of merchandise for this * If the price be enhanced owing to competition price ? among purchasers, the amount by which the price paid exceeds that at which the goods were offered must be paid to the king's treasury, together with the toll. On the other hand, if, to avoid this risk, the merchant should price his
goods too high, the amount of excess in the price is equally to be appropriated by the treasury. Again, if the quantity
or price of the goods be understated, in order to evade payment of toll (even though the price be not raised by competi-

the merchant concerned must pay to the king the difference between the price stated and the proper price, or, as an alternative penalty, eight times the toll. The same
tion),

The E^y History of Bengal

punishment to to beimpcwed when the price of goods padced (in bags* Ac.) is lowered by showing an inferior sample. By such provisions, practically involving a regulation of wholesale prices, was the tulka revenue protected. Tolls should be remitted on goods intended for use at weddings, and certain other social and religious ceremonies* Persons making false representations in order to obtain such remissions should be punished as thieves. Acts of smuggling are punishable by fine. For purchasing minerals from mines a fine of 600 panas is to be imposed. For purchasing flowers, or fruit, or vegetables from gardens, and grass or grain from fields, fines varying from 52 to 54 panas are prescribed, presumably, where the goods are brought into the city after purchase. There appears to have been, also, a fixed fine or tax (atyaya) on purchases of agricultural produce of one pana on the purchaser and a pana and a half on the seller. The royal factories, in which spinning, weaving, and Spinning manufacture of clothing, as well as of mail armour and ropes weaving, are carried on, are in charge of an officer called the s&trddhyakfa. In these factories, women of the lower classes, including widows, cripples, girls who have not been able to find husbands, religious mendicants (pravrajita), convicts, old 1 courtesans, and female slaves of the king (rdjdddsi) and temple-slaves (devad&si) who have completed their term of service should be employed, chiefly, it appears, in spinning. Spinning is also to be given out to women of a more respectable class, to be done at their own homes. A sutrOr dhyakfa who looks at the face of any such woman, or speaks to her about any subject except her work, is liable to fine.

Wages are paid by regulation, according to the quantity and quality of work, and the time occupied, and there are allusions to special rewards or prizes in addition to wages.

Thus; spinners may be given presents of oil, and an ointment made of myrabolains, which the commentator notes was
translated
mothers of is the literal meaning, but the term seems to have been applied to H elderly

women
claw,

by Shamaatry as prostitutes % which

of the ganikd or relegated to menial or manual work (cf. p. TO). For the meaning of rMM&ti, cf.

who were

p. 70.

^^

abalm to keep the head and eyes cool, SIK! an inducement to rthers to woric in earnest % Weavers, who make doth of
or jute ?), dSu&tiia (fine cotton ?), silk, r&nkaoa [the hair of a kind of antelope), are to be rewarded with There is also presents such as perfumes and garlands. nention of special remuneration (prativdpaddndmfina) for
bpmiftia (flax

working on holidays

(tithi).

The sUddhyaksa is concerned with the management and Cultivacultivation of Crown lands. Such lands may be cultivated Crown means of free hired labour or by slaves or convicts, or, jy
f this is not convenient, by persons paying one-half of the produce (ardhastiika). Independent cultivators (svaviryolajivin), it is said, should pay one-fourth or one-fifth,
>r

those

whatever amount they can without hardship. Apparently, who paid half the produce were provided with ploughor implements

Battle, seed,

by the

sltddhyaksa,

and tenants

3roviding their
rent.

own

plough-cattle, &c., were charged a lower

following shares of produce payable as water-rate or rrigation-tax (udakabhdga) are laid down :

The

hastapravartima when the water has to be raised nanual labour one-fifth ;

by

skandhaprdvartima
ifts

when the water

one-fourth
;

is

raised

by water-

worked by bullocks

srotoyantraprdvartima
rrigation-channels (kiUya

when the water

Com.)

is

supplied

by
by

one-third;

nctdisarastattikakupodghata ivers, lakes, ponds, or wells

It
is

when the water is

one-fourth.

supplied

not clear whether these shares were payable as water-

ate in addition to rent, but it seems more probable that hey represent the higher rent payable on land which en-

oyed a perennial water-supply, as distinguished from that rhich was wholly dependent on rainfall (devamdtfka).
nstructions are given as to the collection of seeds, treat* nent of seed before sowing, seasons for sowing, selection of

and for different crops, storage of crops after harvest,

md

rainfall.
it

The germination of seeds (t^wuWAi) may be forecasted,

8778

99
Is said,

The Early History of Bengal

IntoxW

from the appearance of the sun, the formation of grain (sfambakaritd) from the planet Jupiter (vrhatpati), and the rainfall from the movements of Venus (Sukra). The manufacture of intoxicating liquor, which was controlled by the sur&dhyaksa, seems to have been carried on by state agency in royal breweries or distilleries, and also by private persons under licence. There is a rule that those who deal in liquor other than that of the king shall pay a toll (hdka) of five per cent., and a verse which says that,
having ascertained the daily sale of different kinds of liquor, and the vydjl from the difference between royal and public measures, the surddhyaksa shall fix the proper amount of compensation (vaidharana). This word appears to have

been used generally in the sense of a tax realized from dealers in articles sold by the government, by way of compensation for the loss caused to the State trade by private competition* By other rules families may be allowed on certain occasions to manufacture white liquor (tvetasura), arista in case of

and other kinds of liquor. On the occasions of festivals, fairs, and pilgrimages, licences to make liquor for four days were given, on payment of a daily fine or fee
sickness,

(daivasikamatyayam).

Generally speaking, the rules on this subject seem to have been designed, as in a modern state, to, raise revenue, and at
the same time check intemperance and prevent disorders. Thus it is laid down that liquor shops shall not be close one
to another, not more than a certain quantity of liquor shall be sold to one customer at a time, and only persons of approved character shall be allowed to take liquor away from

the shop. Liquor shops shall have several rooms provided with couches and seats, and shall be provided with perfumes,
garlands of flowers, and other attractions appropriate to the reason. Spies are to be employed in them for the detection of criminals* Instructions are given for the preparation of
different kinds of liquor*
Slaoghter*

Slaughter-houses are under the supervision of an called the s&nOdhyakfa.

official

There

is

a general rale prohibiting, subject to penalty.

'Artha&tetra* : Duties of Superintendent the slaughter or capture of (1) any animal declared to be under State protection (pradiftSbhaya). (2) any animal

The

seem to have been the same as the forests for brahmans referred to in the chapter on Bk&micchidravidhfrna, which, it will be remembered, were
'pradiftdbhaya'.)
liable to fine,
1

living in * vana forests

'sanctuary-forest'

(abhayavana),

(Abhaya-

Householders (kufumbin) trespassing in an abhayavana are and there is a rule that one-sixth of all (presumably harmless ones) caught alive should be let loose in such forests. Another rule lays down that one-sixth of all beasts of prey, and one-tenth or more (but less than one-sixth ?) of other beasts, birds, and fish captured shall be made over to the sunddhyaksa as toll (hdkd). The animals referred to as pradistdbhaya were evidently animals protected by special decree, the slaying or capture of which was punishable with a fine of from 500 to 1,000 panas (the uttamasdhasadanda, or * highest amercement * of the penal code, to be noticed
later).
2

list

of animals
is

is

given, the molestation of

which in

* * any way prohibited, subject to the first amercement (p&rvas&iasadanda), or a fine of from 48 to 96 panas. The first items in the list are unintelligible, perhaps owing to corruption of the text. They appear to represent certain kinds of fish and other aquatic animals, and are followed by birds : kraunca (a kind of heron, ardea jaculator), utkroSaka

(osprey),

ddtyOha (gattinula madraspatana), namsa (wild or swan), cakrav&ka (ruddy goose or * brahmany duck goose *),

jlvanjlvaka (pheasant), bhrngardja (Lanius Malabaricu#)> cakora (red-legged partridge), mattakokila (a kind of cuckoo), peacock, parrot, maina (Gracula religiosa). The list concludes with the general description, * all auspicious (mangalya) .birds and beasts \ It is not known what they were. Then there is a rule that calves, bulls, and cows are not to

be killed, disobedience of which is punishable with a fine of 50 panas. There was evidently no general prohibition
*

Cf. p. 42.

cf. p. 98.

ea

The Early History of Bengal

against the slaughter of oxen or eating beet This is made more clear in the chapter on the superintendent of cattle, 1 and it is curious that the penalty for killing a cow is less

than the

maximum

penalty for killing several other

pro**

tected animals*

There is a rule making liable to a fine of 26| panas a person who traps, kills, or injures any bird or fish, and to a fine of
double the amount any person killing, trapping, or molesting any deer or other beast, which does not prey on living creatures (apraurUabadha). This evidently applied to wild
animals.
Courte-

The chapter on the ganikddhyaksa begins by laying down that he shall engage a girl endowed with beauty, youth, and
accomplishments, of ganikd origin (ganikdnvayd) or otherwise, as ganikd on a salary of 1,000 panas a year, or as pratiganikd (apparently a ganikd of lower rank) on half that

amount. Another rule lays down that the ganikds employed in holding the king's umbrella, golden pitcher, and fan, and in attendance on the royal litter, throne, and chariot, shall be graded as of lowest, middle, and highest rank, according to their quality, and shall have salaries and adornment corresponding to their grade. It is also laid down that the ganikddhyaksa shall provide masters to teach ganikds, female
slaves,

and

actresses,

music and singing, dancing, acting,

reading, writing, painting, thought-reading, the making of perfumes and garlands, massage, and the arts of fascination.

the death of a ganikd, her daughter or sister, or a girl adopted by her mother, may succeed to her salary and property ; in the absence of such a successor, her property

On

goes to the king. (The commentator notes that a ganiktf* son does not inherit her property.) Sons of ganikds are to

be brought up as actors. When a ganikd grows old, and loses her looks, she becomes a mQtrkd ( 4 mother '). Another rule says that a ganiM and a female slave, when incapable of
giving enjoyment (bhagnabhogd), shaU or kitchen.
1

work in the storehouse

Cf. p. 78.

to obtain liberty (nifkraj/a).

amfof living away from the king's court, under the protection of a private person, shall pay a pana and a
quarter per

mensem

to the king.

rupdjivd shall

pay each month twice the amount of

a day's earnings to the king* A ganikd who does not yield her person to a man according to the king's order shall receive 1,000 lashes with a whip or pay a fine of 5,000 panas.

alive or

ganikd who murders her paramour drowned.

is

to be burned

Cheating of her paramour by a ganikd, or vice versa, is punishable with fine. A ganikd is to supply information

about her fees and income and her paramour. From the above rules it would appear that the term
ganikd was applied to courtesans of the palace as well as those outside, and that all were under the control of the
ganikddhyakfa. It is not clear whether he was concerned with devadasls (female slaves attached to temples).

As regards the palace ganikds, it appears that some were educated and accomplished women, while others were
employed in various menial offices about the king's person, but all were alike slaves. On the other hand, it is not clear whether all the female slaves of the palace were classed as
ganikds. In a later chapter, which deals with the law relating to slaves, 1 there are rules which that the master of

Palace

imply a female slave had no sexual rights over her. It is laid down that violation of the chastity of a female slave by her master
entitles her to liberty,

and that if a female slave have a son by her master she must be set free with her child. It appears that the ganikd' $ person, on the other hand, was, in theory
Probably and female slaves different among ganikds degrees of status to which various social conventions and legal rules, of which we are ignorant, attached, but in some of its rules, as we have seen, the Arthajfctra groups together
there were
1

at

any

rate, absolutely at the king's disposal.

Bk. Ill, ch.

xiii.

TO
gapikfo and
all

actresses, dancers, musicians,

female slaves of the palace, including and other artists, and educated

women corresponding to the Greek heiairai, placing all under

Outside

*t ltt*f
*

the control of the Ganikddhyakfa. On the status of ganikfa outside the palace some light is thrown by a rule in a later chapter to the effect that
shall become the king's slave (rdjaddsyam gacchet). The theory that all courtesans were slaves of the State, was, perhaps, a convenient legal

woman

resorting to prostitution

The

which gave the government control over women of this class, and enabled it to use them for purposes of espionage and obtain a revenue from them. Whether the rupdjivfa were a particular class of ganikd, or the two terms are equivalent, is not clear. When a ganikd grew old, she was called a mdtfka^ mother )
fiction,
.

'

'

probably because then, as now, in India, superannuated

courtesans were supported by daughters, natural or adoptive, whom they brought up to follow the same calling. If an old

ganikd had no such means of support, she would be employed in a royal spinning and weaving factory, 8 or in the palace
kitchen, storehouse, &c.
Sueoeslonifefe'

The rule regarding succession to a ganikd' $ property on her

from that which applies to the property of In the chapter on slaves it is laid down that, on the death of a slave, his property passes to his kinsmen ;
is

death

different

property, other slaves.

in the absence of

any kinsmen to

his master.

On the

death

of a ganikd, only her daughter (natural or adoptive), or in either case, presister, or a girl adopted by her mother

sumably, a ganikd can succeed to her property ; in the absence of such a successor, the property passes to the C*own, This rule probably applied to ganikds outside the palace as
well as to those
in Bengal, property left

on the royal establishment. To this day, by prostitutes is often escheated for want of a claimant, because no respectable person wishes to
acknowledge relationship to a prostitute or succeed to her

earnings*
4 1

TWf seem to be the meaning of

Cf. p. 64.

71

A gapikA'* daughter would, oniinaray, follow her mother's

profession.

The

ganiktfs

son,

although,

according

to

BhattasvAmin, he could not succeed to his mother's property,

inherited, it appears, her servile status, and was a royal slave, Sons of ganikds his ransom being fixed at 12,000 panas.

were employed as actors (rangopajtvi), which term, we may assume, included dancers, musicians, &c. These rules are intelligible as applying to sons of palace ganikds. Outside the palace, possibly, sons of ganikds found salaried employ-

ment as actors, musicians,

dancers, &c., the fiction that they were royal slaves being maintained to give the government control over them. A later chapter refers to the wages of
hired musicians, buffoons, &c.

ganikd who had not a daughter of her own might Recruitadopt a minor girl, obtained from necessitous parents, and bring her up as a ganikd. Girls thus adopted would presumably be reckoned as ganikdnvayd. Outside the palace,

woman who was

not ganikdnvayd might become a ganikd

by prostituting herself. The ganikddhyakfa, it appears, recruited ganikds for the palace by voluntary engagement ;
perhaps also by acquisition, through purchase or gift, of girls from their relatives and of female slaves from private owners.

VII

THE KAVTILlYA AKTHAlSJSTRA

DUTIES OF SUPERDH^NDENTS
Sapping.
(continued}

THE naoadhyaksa appears to have been concerned with all

navigation
boats*

by sea, river, and lake,

including fishing

and

ferry

From the chapter describing his duties it appears that there were royal ships (rdjdnau) on which passengers were carried on payment of passage-money (ydtrdvftana), and
others which were hired to private adventurers for the col* lection of conch-shells and pearls. It is laid down that such
traders shall either
ships.

pay ship-hire (nauhataka) or use their own

Fishermen are to give a sixth of their catch as boatPerhaps this was exacted from those who Merchants are to pay a toll used government boats.
hire (naukahataka).

(iulkabhaga) as port-due (paftananuvrtta). The naoadhyaksa is required to maintain the customs of

commercial ports (panyapaftanacdritra) and the regulations of the port-superintendent (pa^anddhyak^anibandha). The functions of the last-named officer are not stated* The
enjoined to show fatherly consideration to vessels in distress, and to allow to pass on payment of half toll (4tUka), or exempt altogether, merchandise damaged
'

navadhyak$a

is

'

by water.
There are a number of ferry regulations. On large rivers not fordable even in the winter and hot seasons, large boats,
properly equipped, shall be maintained, and smaller boats rivers flowing in the rainy season only.

on

The ordinary
a

man

rates of ferry toll are for a small beast, or for a head-load, 1 a load ; carrying a load, one

mam

carried

on the shoulders, a cow, or a

fix

horse,

two mSfas

for

1 Another rote, however, seems to merchandise at

the

toll for

a heod*k>ad of

a camel or buffalo, foor mdfa* ;

five

mdfa*; mdfas j for a large cart

rivers

for

for a ttgfafc cart a medium-sized buffalo cart

(tikafa),

these

rates are doubled.

seven mdfa*. On large Persons crossing rivers

otherwise than at the appointed places and times are liable to fine, but several classes of people whose occupations require them to cross rivers without delay, such as fishermen,
carriers of firewood, grass, flowers, fruit,

and vegetables, and persons pursuing suspected criminals, are messengers, exempted from this rule. Brahmans, ascetics (pravrajita), children, aged and infirm persons, royal messengers, and
pregnant women should be given ferry passes free of toll. Various categories of suspicious persons using the ferries are to be arrested. The duties of the go'dhyak$a are elaborately set forth under
eight heads, which need not be repeated.

Cattle,

He seems to have been concerned with the king's cattle, and also with private herds, which were placed under his charge for protection from cattle-lifters in return for a share of their dairy produce.
Among
sell

the classes of cattle enumerated

is

that of suna

beasts fit for slaughter, and there is a rule that cow-herds may meat either fresh or dried. Rules are also laid down for

the grazing and stall-feeding of cattle, horses, mules, asses, and camels, and as to the milking of cows and the quantities
of clarified butter to be obtained from

a drona of milk of

cows, buffaloes,

goats, and ewes.

The a6vddhyak$a has charge of the royal stables, for Horse*, the construction of which elaborate directions are given.
Mention
is

made

of

officials

and servants of different

:

classes

connected with the stables

ativavdha (head

groom

?),

siUa

wtragrahaka (charioteer), aitvabandhaka (tetherer), y&oasika

(grass-supplier),

keiakara (groom), st&napala (watchman), vidhdpacaka (cook), dkitsaka (veterinary surgeon), jOflgoIwid (applier of remedies against poisons). There is a scale

of rations for horses of different ages and sizes. The breeds of the countries of Kftmbhoja, Sindhu, Arafta, and Van&yu are said to be the best, those of Bfthlika, Sauvira,

P&peya,

and Taitala of middle

quality,

and other breeds ordinary or

inferior*

Horses of these breeds

may be

trafawd for WAT, or

for ordinary riding or driving, according as they are spirited

(tikpna), quiet (bhadra),

or sluggish (manda).

Under the head of training of horses, a bewildering variety of movements is given, falling under the five heads of wig/ana
(circular movement), nicairgata (slow movement), langhana (jumping), dhorana (gallop), and n&rotfra (movement by sixsignal). Of circular movement six, and of slow movement

teen different kinds are mentioned*

of these

movements
circular

is

The explanation of each given by the commentator in some

not easily
intelligible.

eases, unfortunately, his explanation is

movements we have apavenuka, turning in a circle of a cubit diameter; dtidhapluta, running and jumping simultaneously vrithdfta, movement of only the front portion of the body twacdli, movement of only the

Among

hind portion of the body. Among slow movements

nisanna, a

movement

in

which

the hind portion of the body is kept steady ; parivdnwvrtta, movement sideways urmlmdrga, movement up and down like a wave. Jumping (langhana) includes jumping like a monkey (kapipluta), like a frog (bhekapluta), &c. Different kinds of gallops are likened to the movements of a vulture,
;

Elc-

a wild duck, a peacock, a mongoose, and a wild boar. Seven different kinds of trot (vikrama) are also mentioned.

The superintendent of elephants (hastyadhyaksa) is required to take proper steps for the protection of elephant-forests (this was also the duty of the ndgavan&dhyakfa, previously
mentioned in the chapter on bhumicchidravidhdna), 1 and to
supervise the elephant stables and the training of elephants. Among the establishments under his control we find mention

of elephant-doctors (cikitsaka), trainers of war-elephants (anikagiha), riders or mahouts (arohaka), cooks (vidhdpfaaka),
grass-suppliers (y&vasikd), tetherers (pddapdtika),
(kufirakfaka),
<fec.

watchmen

and times for

Rules are given for the construction of elephant stables, feeding, bathing, rest, and exercise, with a

scale of rations for elephants according to

Cf. p. 42.

sue and age.

m
Ifoe training of elephants, it is said, fclli under four heads

damya (breaking**** of wild

lor war),

elephants), t&mahya (training aup&vakya (training for ordinary riding), vyMa

{taming of rogue elephants). Breaking-in (damya) is of

five kinds skandhagata to a post), vOrigata (taken to (ridden), stambhagata (tied

water), avapdtagata (fallen into a pit), ytithagata (with the herd). These perhaps represent in reverse order the stages through which a newly caught elephant passes,
i. e. (1) with the wild herd, (2) caught in a pit, (ft) taken to water (between two tame elephants), (4) tethered to a post,

(5) ridden.

Four kinds of military training are specified, viz. upasthdna ('such as rising, bending, and crossing fences and 1 lines drawn Com.) ; samvartana (* lying down, sitting, and crossing pits and lines drawn Com.) samydna (* going ' straight and transverse, and making serpentine movements Com.); vadhdvadha ('trampling down the horses and 9 chariots, and killing the infantry Com.); hwtiyuddha, with elephants; ndgarayana, assailing forts and fighting
'
'

cities

sdngrdmika, general fighting.

Eight classes of riding-elephants are specified by names, which appear to indicate the extent of training, but the

meaning of which

is

doubtful.
king's chariots, of devaratha (chariots
Cbaxfarts,

The rathSdhyakfa has charge of the

which the following kinds are
of gods)
4 ;

specified

pu^yaratha

used on festive occasions, such as

coronation, Ac.'

Com.); sdngrdmika (war chariots); pdriydchariots);

nika (travelling

attacking forts, &c.) ; also to supervise the training of troops in fighting from
chariots.

parapurdbhiydnika (used in vainayika (training chariots). He has

The next official mentioned is the pattyadhyakfa, or super* lofcntry. intendent of infantry, who, it is said, should be acquainted with the strength and weakness of hereditary troops (mauto), faired or mercenary troops (Mfte), military corporations
*
.

butt

The sounds *butfc% 4 im1 by a mahout when

ud

directing

mmy be oonnec^^th thb

an efephmnt to

Tkt Early History of Bengal

as well as of the armies of friendly and unfriendly foreign powers, and of wild tribes ($o0f). He should also be familiar with the practices and exercises for fighting on low

The

and high ground, open fighting, stratagem, trench-fighting, and fighting from heights, by day and by night. The hereditary troops (maula) seem to have been levies of

men among whom the profession of fighting was hereditary, and who held land subject to military service, and the term dyudhiyd in the chapter on land revenue, to be discussed
presently, may have reference to such land. These levies were probably very numerous, but imperfectly trained and equipped, and a parallel to them may be found in the great

armies of paths raised under the Moghals. The bhrta soldiers, no doubt, were purely mercenaries, voluntarily engaging for pay fewer in number, but better trained and provided.

The nature of the military corporations, here referred to by

the description
trade-guilds,
A
*

ireni

',

commonly applied
*

in literature to

is

obscure.

In the chapter headed Safyhavfttam,

meaning

Conduct'

or

Management of corporations

9
,

occurs the passage Kdmbhqasurd&afaatriyafrenyadayo var-

t&wtropajwinab

LicchivikavrjikamaUakam^

rupancalfidayo rajafabdopajivinab, which Mr. Shamasastry 4 translates The corporations of warriors of Kambhoja and
live by agriculture, trade, and The corporations of Licchivika, Vrjika, wielding weapons. Mallaka, Madraka, Kurura, Kuru, Paficala, and others live by the title of a Rja.' The names Kambhoja, Surfcstra, Licchivika, &c., suggest

Sur&stra,

and other countries

that the passage has reference to populations or communities rather than guilds ; on the other hand, it is clear, from

many

other passages, that the words ireni and sangha in the Arthaddstra both mean corporation or guild. In the same
for the head of a corporation is while in the chapter on salaries the frcnimusanghamukhya, kkyat are grouped with the mukhyas of horses,

chapter, the

word used

elephants,

3,000 panas per Probably the military trenis were special troops, composed 4>f men of different fighting races who enlisted in
salary

and

chariots,

and allowed the same

annum.

M
the royal

77

army under

their

owa

chiefs.

They would be

called trenl from analogy to trade-guilds, and, no doubt, served for pay, perhaps under a contract made between the

king and the frenimukhya. Dr. Otto Stein likens them to the Italian condottieri, 1 and parallels for them may be found in Indian states at different periods. The meaning of the
8 expression, live by the title of a iftja ', is not dear. In a later chapter, comparison is drawn between the three descriptions of army, the conclusions arrived at being that
*

a mania force, from hereditary aptitude and loyalty, is better than a bhrta force, and the latter, from being readily available and well disciplined, superior to a freni force. In the same
chapter, the following passages occur
4 :

That army, which is numerous, composed of men of various castes (anekajdtlyasiha), which is eager to set out, bidden or unbidden, without subsistence or pay, in the hope of plunder, which can protect itself against unfavourable
weather
easily be disbanded (bhedya), but not the enemy (paresdmabhedya), which is easily dispersed by equal in excellence in respect of nationality, race, and training (tiUyadeJajdtitilpaprdya), is a great and compact
(?),

which can

teachers say that, of armies composed of brahmans, ksatriyas, vaiyas, and udras, the first is better than the second, the second than the third, and the third than the " ** No," says Kautilya, the fourth, in regard to bravery. enemy may win over the army of Brahmans by submission and prostration (pranipdtena). An army of ksatriyas is to be preferred for their training and skill in the use of arms, or an 9' ' army of vaiyas or udras for their great numbers.

army/ 4 Some

From

these extracts

it is

clear that fighting

was not the

is

business of the kfatriya caste only. On the other hand, the following passage another part of the Arthaiastra : 3
*

found in

Coining down from father and grandfather, constant, obedient, able to maintain their families in comfort, not discouraged by lengthy sojourns abroad, everywhere invincibl enduring hardships, experienced in many wars, and skill the use of all kinds of weapons, sharing loyally
1

Jfegatlfeite* Cf.

u*d JKoutya

p. 155t node

78

Tht Early History of Bengal

good and evil fortune, and composed solely of kfatriyas (kskOraprdyam) is the best army/
were collected for a campaign, and disbanded afterwards, and no doubt the mania troops ware called out for such temporary service only, while some of the bhrta and brcnl troops were permanently entertained. In the chapter on salaries, the pay of trained foot soldiers
It seems that armies
(filpavantafy pdddtdli) is set

down as 500 panas per annum.

Probably such pay was given only to the best trained of the bhrta and irenl troops. It seems high, as compared with the salary of 1,000 panas a year allowed to adhyaksas of civil departments, but the king is advised to recoup himself

by the
4

sale of provisions to the troops.

When starting on an expedition the king should mobilize

his army.

Then his agents, in the disguise of merchants, should supply food to the soldiers at double price. Thus will there be sale of the royal wares, and recovery of the pay disbursed/
It seems probable that the cavalry soldier received the

Army

same pay as the infantryman, with an additional allowance for the upkeep of his horse. The pay of the chariot-driver is fixed at 2,000 panas, and that of elephant-drivers at from 500 to 1,000 panas per annum, according to merit. The classes of military officers mentioned, and salaries
allotted to them, are as follows
:

Senapati
praJdstr
.

48,000 panas

nSydka

....
.
.

24,000
12,000

mukhya
of

8,000
cavalry,

adhyakfos infantry, 4,000 panas each.

elephants,

and

horses

Another passage lays down that every ten units of each anga should be under a padika, every ten padikas under a senapati, every ten senapatis under a n&yaka. It thus appears that the term senapati was applied to the commander-in-chief, and also to officers of lower grade subordinate to the n&yaka. In some inscriptions the commander-in-chief is called mahtecnapati.

The
In the ArthaAftttra, the cxHiunandeff4n-<^et belongs to the
highest group of ftmctionaries, drawing the chief ecclesiastics, ftott, dcdrya, and purohtia,

and Hie

chief

minister, namely, 48,000 panas a year, the same amount being allowed to the heir-apparent (tfuvarfija), the king's mother, and the chief queen (rdjamahitf). The senapati is frequently

mentioned in conjunction with the heir-apparent, and it is laid down that a prince endowed with good qualities should be installed as heir-apparent l or appointed as commander-inchief. As Dr. Otto Stein has pointed out, 8 according to the
Arihaidstra, the adhyaksas of infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots would be administrative officers charged with

the recruitment and training of troops, the provision and training of horses and elephants, and the construction and

duty of leading the troops on the other officers mentioned. It is laid down that infantry, cavalry, chariots, and elephants shall be exercised daily at sunrise, except on holidays, in the
chariots, while the

upkeep of war

in the field devolved

king's presence.

the following passage, in a description of the order Ambuin which an army should be drawn up for battle, it appears
that the military organization included medical and ambulance departments :

From

Physicians with surgical instruments and appliances and healing ointments and bandages (scistrayantrdgadasiichavcLStrohastdk), and women with food and drink should stand behind encouraging the fighting men. 9

Every person entering or leaving the country is required to have a passport (mudrd), the issue of which is entrusted to the mudrddhyakfa. The vivUddhyakm (superintendent of pastures), has charge of all desert or uncultivated common lands, other than

Pasture*.

He is required to preserve the boundaries of timber* and elephant-forests, to keep roads in repair, to arrest thieves and secure the safety of caravans of
those reserved as forests.

merchants, and to protect cattle.

*

Bk.

I,

dt. xvii.

L*nd
*********

tracts, wells and tanks, as weH as shelters for and flower- and fruit-gardens should be provided. A chapter on the duties of the revenue-collector (tamdhartrpracdrd) gives some idea of the land-revenue system. A

In waterless

travellers,

country (janapada) should be divided into four parts or districts, and the villages classified as of first, second, and third class. They should also be distinguished according
as they are parihdraka (wholly or partly exempt from taxation) ; or ayudhiya (villages which supply contingents of
soldiers), or

pay

their revenue in

money, or in

grain, cattle,

or other raw material, or in the form of labour on public works.

Village
11 "

tSrtJJ

For every five or ten villages there is a village-accountant (gopa) whose duty it is to keep the cadastre, numbering plots as cultivated and uncultivated, dry (sthala) and wet (kcd&rd)
9

gardens, woods, homesteads, shrines (caitya), temples (devagrha), irrigation works, cremation grounds, charitable institutions (sattraprapd, i. e. places where food and drink was
fields,

supplied free to travellers), places of pilgrimage, grazing grounds, and roads, and maintaining a record of boundaries

of villages, fields, forests, and roads, of areas, of gifts and sales, and of tax-remissions. He is also to keep a record of the

number of tax-paying and tax-free houses, of inhabitants of each village belonging to each of the four castes, of cultivators,
cow-herds, traders, artisans, labourers, slaves, and domestic animals, and to assess money-taxes, labour in lieu of taxes, as well as tolls and fines. He is also to keep a record of
families,

of their history and occupations, income and

expenditure.
Super**'

The work of these village-accountants appears to have been supervised by officers with the title of sthdnika. It is said that a sthanika should look after (cintayet) one-fourth of thejanapada. This word is commonly applied to the whole country or kingdom, but it seems to be used also in the sense of a province or district. The office of sthdnika may have been connected with the sthdniya fort, which, as suggested 1 above, may have been the origin of the thdna. The Ariha-

lays

down

that there should be

tiktmty*

every 800 villager

able terms.

As we have

had allotments of land, 1

remuneration.

and perhaps revenue-free, or on favourseen, gopo*

It does not appear that they received any other Over the gopas and sthdnikas are com*

missioners (pradesfr), who, besides their duties of supervision, appear to have been entrusted specially with the
collection of the religious tax

known

as ball.

The pay of &

pradesfr

is

8,000 panas.
rates of taxation levied

The amount and

on the land are

not clearly stated, but with regard to them some indications

found in different passages. The traditional royal share of the produce of cultivated lands was, as is well known, one-sixth, and this is alluded to in a passage already quoted.* From the chapter on the sltddhyak?a 3 it would appear that on irrigated lands a share, varying from one-fifth to one-

may be

third of the produce (udakabhdga), was levied as water-rate, whether in addition to, or in lieu of, the general one-sixth share is not clear, but most probably the latter. On the other hand, it is laid down in another chapter that on the construction of new irrigation works, such as tanks, tax shall be remitted for five years for repairing ruined or neglected works of the kind, four years9 remission shall be allowed, for

improvements in them three years' remission. There is a chapter, entitled * Replenishments of the Treasury ', which sets forth additional taxes which may be imposed on land when the king is in special need of money. It illustrates what, no doubt, were from time immemorial Addithe two main features of the Indian land-revenue system,
namely, the fixed share of produce due to the king, and the varying additional demands, which were, ostensibly, intended to meet special and occasional necessities, but proextent.

bably came to be exacted habitually to a greater or less These two divisions of the land revenue came to be known under Muhammadan rule as the o&ol and the obwb> respectively, and, as is well known in those parts of India

where successors to the land-revenue collectors of the

p. 40.

'dp. 40.

*Cf.p*6*.

sa

The Early History of Bengal

Moghul goveimnent have rome to

various cesses bearing the name of abwtib, though expressly prohibited by law, are still exacted from the cultivators

such
rent.
4

is

the force of ancient custom

it is laid
( down, who

in addition to the legal

The King *

is

in straits for money,

In a country which on rain (devarnStfka) and is rich in grain, he depends solely may demand a one-third or a one-fourth share of the crop ; but he should not make this demand from land of middle or low quality, not from people who render help in the conthe following collections.
struction of forts or other public buildings, or of gardens or roads, in reclaiming waste lands, or in the exploitation of mines or of timber or elephant forests, nor from frontier tracts/

may make

This passage apparently means that, in case of necessity, the king may assess the revenue of land dependent on rainfall at one-third or one-fourth of the crop the rate prescribed for irrigated land instead of the traditional onesixth ; but this extra demand is to be made only where the

harvest has been good, and certain tracts and classes of people are exempt from it. There follows a somewhat obscure passage which apparently refers to extra crops sown by the
cultivators in the summer-time, at the instance of the land-

revenue collectors.

The chapter continues

"They (the revenue officials) may collect from the cultivators one-fourth of their grain and one-sixth of forest
produce (vanyd), silk-cotton, lac, kfauma (flax or jute), bark, cotton, wool, silk, drugs, perfumes, flowers, fruit and vegetables, firewood, bamboos, and meat fresh or dried; and one-half of ivory and hides. . . Fowls and pigs should pay half, small (kfudra) beasts one-sixth, and cows, buffaloes, horses, mules, asses, and camels one-tenth. ... In other cases, the collector-general may beg (bhikfcta) money from people of town and country, representing that some work has to be carried out (kOryamapaditya)'
.

To this day, zemindars in Bengal 'sometimes levy oZwft* from their tenants under the names of cdndd, subscription, and mdngani or bhikfa, begging. In the chapter on the superintendent of the Storehouse,

The'Artha&Mra*:
already referred td,* there is * list of the taxes in kind, and a brief, and unfortunately, not very lucid,

explanation of each tax named has been given by the Commentator, Bha#a*vftmin. They ace : 9 pindakara 'taxes levied on whole villages (Com.) apparently a name given to assessment in a lump sum on the
village;

?adbhdga one-sixth share ; * such as oil, rice, salt, &c., which are to be stndbhakta supplied while the army is marching or preparing for expeditions
*

(Com.)

bali

religious

tax

'

such as taxes of ten papas, twenty

panas, Ac.' (Com.) ; ' such taxes as are collected every year during the kara ' months of Bhadrapada and Vasanta (Com.) ;
uteanga
prince;
4 Margin-tax perhaps, what the tax-payer can pdriva afford over and above what has been collected ; pdrihtnaka tax on crops that are grown on uncultivated

taxes collected on the occasion of the birth of a

'

ground.

In addition to the collection of land revenue, the

Collector-general and his subordinates are responsible for police duties in rural areas, as appears from the chapters
relating to police. Spies, under the guise of cultivators, are to be employed in checking the accounts and returns of the

village-accountants,
It will

and

their

work

generally.

be convenient to notice here, before leaving the Device*

subject of land revenue, certain other devices for raising money in times of financial stringency, which are recom-

mended in the Arihaidstra.

advantage may be taken of the weaknesses of ostentation and ambition ; thus :
It is suggested that

Persons acting in collusion shall publicly pay handsome donations, and, with this example, the king may make demands on his subjects. Spies passing as citizens shall revile those who pay less. Wealthy persons may be requested to give as much of their gold as they can. Those who for
their

own

advantage, or spontaneously otter their weato* to

84

The Early History of Bengal

(fth&na),

be honoured with precedence a turban* or some ornaments* 9 umbrella,

their king, shall

an

sometimes alleged, money obtained by the sale of honours does not find its way into the public treasury. Covert or open spoliation of religious establishments seems to be inculcated
state,
it
is
:

In the modern

Spies, under the guise of overseers, shall abstract the property of a religious corporation (pfoandasangha), or institution other than property assigned for the maintenance of brahmans (farotriydbhogyam), alleging that it is property of a dead man or of one whose house has been burnt, entrusted

The superintendent of religious institutions (devatddhyaksa), having collected the property of the local deities of towns and rural areas (durgardtfradevatdndm), shall
to their care.

carry

it off

to the treasury.

Various devices are suggested for taking fraudulent advantage of religious or superstitious impulse :

Having on some night set up an idol or a shrine (caityd) or holy place, money may be collected by holding religious processions or gatherings. Or the arrival of a god may be augured from flowers or fruit being produced out of season on a tree in a caitya grove. Spies under the guise of ascetics may obtain money by means of a man hidden in a tree who similates an evil spirit (by making noises), and causes terror to the people.'

Money may be collected by exhibiting a serpent with many heads in a well, or a cobra in a hole made in the image of a
snake, or in a shrine, or in an ant-hill. Incredulous persons may be sprinkled with, or given to drink, water which is

drugged, and told that the effects are due to a divine curse. Or, having caused an outlaw (abhityakta) to be bitten by it snake, money may be collected to avert the omen. Otter

formsJof fraud,^too, are shamelessly advocated. * A secret agent, disguised as a merchant, may become partner in business of a rich man. When a sufficient sum has been collected as sale-proceeds of goods, deposits, and loans, the former may cause himself to be robbed. A secret agent in the guise of a merchant may borrow gold and silver from individuals or from corporations for investment in his 9 business, and allow himself to be robbed at night.

employed to entrap seditious men, wto women's houses, and all their property confiscated. On a quarrel being brought about among members of disloyal families, poisoners may be engaged td give poison to members of one party, and the other party, being acciised of the offence, may be deprived of their property.' * A man of straw, under a guise which inspires confidence, may make a claim on a disloyal person for recovery of a deposit, or a debt, or a share of an inheritance, or he may pretend to be his slave ; or claim the disloyal man's wife,
daughter, or daughter-in-law as his female slave, or as his Then an assassin may be employed to murder the wife. claimant at night, when he is lying at the king's enemy's door, or on some other occasion, and the enemies of the long may be accused of the crime of murdering a man who was only claiming what belonged to him, and deprived of their
property.'

The *Artkate*tra>: Dutits of Superintendents s Women assuming a respectable appearance may be

*

Other ingenious schemes for procuring the condemnation and ruin of the king's enemies to the advantage of the

and the chapter concludes with the injunction that such measures are to be adopted only against seditious and wicked persons, and not against
king's treasury are indicated,
others*

The City superintendent (Ndgaraka)

affairs

is

to look after the The dtyv

of the capital, as the samdharta does for areas outside. In the City a gopa should supervise ten, twenty, or forty households. He should know the names, castes, and getras

of both

men and women of these households,

as well as their

occupations, income, and expenditure. Four sthdnikas should be in charge, each of a fourth part of the town area. Managers of charitable institutions for the accommodation

of wayfarers (dkarmdvasatkin) shall report the arrival of

pdfa^M
^hokrs

(buddhist mendicants

Com.) and

travellers,

and

shall be responsible for the character of professed ascetics and

(rfrofriya)

whcmi they lodge.

Similarly, artisans and

tradera are responsible for persons of theirit^^

whom

they allow to stay in the quarters assigned to ttam* Merchants are bound to report wes of inr^ilar or didwoest

trading which come to their notice. Sellers of liquor and cooked food and courtesans shall put up only people whom they know, and shall report any extravagance or evil

conduct on the part of their hosts.

Generally, householders are made responsible for reporting crimes, and travellers for detaining persons of suspicious eon*

Police

duct or appearance. There are a number of police regulations for in the interests of public safety and convenience.

cities

made

Several of these relate to the prevention of fires. Apparently, during the hot season, between certain hours in the

middle of the day, the kindling of fire indoors was prohibited, and persons were required to do their cooking out of doors. Every householder is required to have in his possession
appliances for putting out
9
'

fires

certain

water vessels,

a leather water-bag (dfti) a ladder, an axe, a winnowing Com.), hooks and grapplers for tray (' to blow off smoke
pulling

down burning

thatch, &c.

Persons using

fire

in their

trade (agnijwin, e.g. smiths) must live in a separate quarter of the town.

Thousands of water- vessels are to be kept arranged in

rows, in good order, along the main-streets, at street-crossings, and in front of public buildings. Any owner-occupier of

a house
liable to

failing to help

promptly in extinguishing a

fire is

fine of twelve pana&>

and the

fine for similar

failure

on the part of a tenant is sixpanas. The punishment

for setting fire to a house through negligence is a fine of 54 pana#, for wilful arson, death by burning. Fines are also
set

down for throwing dirt or causing mud or water to collect

in streets, for committing nuisances in places of pilgrimage,

temples, and public buildings, throwing out of ftftf^^s and disposing of human remains other* carcases wise than in the prescribed burial-places and cremation
reservoirs,

grounds*

There is a mild curfew regulation, prohibiting movements in the city during the time between six nOKkai (SWI hours),1
According t* the ^ft*oM*ra, ^d part of the day or
night, virfying according to ti* ftaaon.

#T
alter sunset,

and the wine

this persons holding passes,

reasons, such as doctors,

dawn, bat from and those going out for urgent midwives, and persons going to put
interval before

out a

fire,

or t6 visit the city-superintendent (nigaraka^

are exempt.

The City-superintendent is required to inspect reservoirs, roads, and the secret approaches and fortifications of the city. He is also to take charge of lost and unclaimed property* On the king's birthday, and on days of full moon, prisoners who are young, old, sickly, or helpless, and those who are
ransomed by charitable persons, should be released from jail. There should also be gaol-deliveries once a day or every five days, of prisoners who have gained their freedom by their* work, who have paid their fines, or on whom corporal punishment has been inflicted.

Jail

VIII

THE KAVTILlYA ARTUA&ISTRA

CIVIL

LAW

book of the Arthaiastra has the title Dhar* which may be translated Civil Law ', although, masthlyam, Civil and as will be seen, the book covers matters which would now be regarded as falling within the province of criminal law. In the Maurya state the line of distinction between these two departments of law was not drawn as in modern Europe. As to where exactly it was drawn, some doubt arises, chiefly
third

THE

because of the different meanings attaching to the word danda. It meant punishment of any kind, and included

punishments inflicted by the State, e.g. death, corporal punishment, and fines payable to the king, as well as sums of money decreed by the courts to be paid as damages, &c., to private parties. It seems that imprisonment was not

and independent punishment for offences. A person on whom a sentence of fine was imposed, if he failed to pay the fine, was imprisoned and made to work as a slave until he had worked it off. Similarly, a person against whom a decree was given in a civil action, if he failed to satisfy the decree, was handed over to the judgement creditor as his slave, in which condition he remained until he worked off or paid the amount* From
employed as a
specific

the general arrangement of the Arthadstra> however, it would appear that the third book is intended to deal mainly

with

civil

law and

civil actions,

visions are introduced in it

although certain penal pro* as in other parts of the work

not mainly concerned with the criminal law. In many cases where a rule which defines a right or obligation is stated, the penalty for breach of the rale is given, ahd sometimes it is not certain whether by

paysWe to the State or damages due to the meant. The fourth book desk with crinunal law party as wdl as police, imt there also in some instances doubt arises as to the meaning of the word dem^ *od certain
fine
is

<$ases

of civil damage or compensation are mentioned* Some apparent discrepancies, redundances, and incon-

sistencies in

the Arthaidstra

may

explained in its Introduction, a compilation of works others to corruption of the text

passages,

be due to its being, as from a number

and the

loss of

which might have given a clue to its arrangement. The jbhird book begins with a chapter headed Vytwa- The

and determination of disputes

hdrasthdpand vivddapadanibandhah ('Forms of agreement The fifst sentence runs : ')

Dharmasikdstrayastrayom&tyd janapadasandhisanpahadrona-

mukhasthdniyesu vyavahdrikdnarthdn Kuryufr, which Mr*

Shamsastry translates : ' In the cities of sangrahana^ dronamukha, and sthamya, and at places whore districts meet, three members acquainted with sacred law, and three ministers of the king, shall carry

on the administration of justice/

the meanings of the word vyavahdra are * con* 1 or tract', 'trade and business", and 'legal procedure * 9 administration of justice , but the first part of this chapter

Among

remembered that sangrahanoi dronamukha, and sthdniya were the names of different classes of forts, and it has been laid down in a previous chapter l that there should be a tfh&rtiya fort in the centre of every 800 villages, a dronamukha for every 400, and a sangrahana for every ten villages. We have also seen that among the posts which might be held by a mantrin or amdtya was that of dharmastha or judge.* It is obvious that a court composed of three ministers, who were members of the King's Executive Council, could not have been held at every place where there was a fort of any kind. Possibly, only one or two such courts may have been and the sentence may be taken to indicate the which should be chosen as the site of such a
discusses licit
illicit

and

contracts.

It will be

'

Cf. p. tt

'",&;,.

Tkt Early History of Bengal a mote probable conjecture seems to be that the word omJtya may have had a second extended sense, covering a large class of subordinate officials, and that courts of different

grades for adjudicating cases relating to trade or business, or arising out of contracts, were established in large and
small towns, each such court being composed of three Arika may amtifyas holding the office of dharmastha.

mean a legal
IHkat

suit or action.

Certain kinds of agreements are prohibited, namely, those which are (1) tirohita, made in seclusion; (2) antaragdra,
in private houses ?) ; (8) notoo, made at night ; (4) dranya, made in a forest ; (5) upadhya, fraudulent ; and (6) upahvara, secret. Parties, and also witnesses,

made

indoors

(i.

e.

to such contracts are liable to fine.

Under each of the above

exceptions.

classes,

however, there are

Agreements made in a remote place (tirohtia) seem to have been valid if made in the presence of witnesses, and not otherwise open to objection* Agreements made in a private house are valid if they relate to inheritance, or to marriage, or deposits, or concern women who are in bad health, or do not leave their houses* Agreements made at
night by persons who transact business in the first part of the night axe valid, and so are those made in forests by traders, cowherds, hermits, and hunters who live in forests* We seem to have here an example of an old legal rule which,
in course of time,

was found inconvenient and so modified and dispensations that very little was left of by exceptions
There
is

the remarkable rule that fraudulent agreements entered into by spies or secret agents (g&jhfijivi) are valid.
it.

So are secret agreements made by members of an

(samav&ya)

association

among

themselves.

Thpee agreements are void which are made by unauthorized persons, such as a member of a joint family (as for instance, a father having a son or sons, a son having his father alive, or a brother) not authorized to act for the family, a woman who has a husband or a son, a servant, a person too young or too old or physically incapacitated for carrying on business. So also is one made by a person

the inftuenoe of aoM?* or pahi; or urtoMcatak^,

* possessed.

The chapter then passes to l^al procedutc. The trial of a civil action should begin by registration of the names of the parties, the datfr, and the mutter in suit* and interrogatories of the parties are then taken down*
Examples are thai given of certain breaches of rules of procedure falling under the head parokta. The meaning is not very clear, but among the examples
given are
shifting or changing the question at issue (deta), inconsistent averments, introducing irrelevant statements of

third parties, irregular communication with witnesses, The penalty for parokta is said to be paficabandha, which

Mr. Shamasastry translates as "five tunes the amount , A fine of five times the amount in suit would seem an
it was perhaps a words appear to indicate rules for the payment of expenses of witnesses, but they are not clear. The defeated party in the case is to bear the costs on this account* The cases in which alone a counterclaim is admitted are They are cases arising out of kalaha, riot or specified* and sahasa a word translated by Mr. Shamasastry affray, 4 as robbery ', but which, as explained in another chapter, 1 covers all cases of open and violent, as opposed to fraudulent

excessive penalty, but

A few

taking possession of property or person arising among companies and guilds of traders
(*teya) 9

and cases

When the defendant in

plaintiff

must make

his rejoinder

a suit has answered the claim, the on the same day. This is

considered reasonable, because the plaintiff is acquainted beforehand with the subject-matter of the suit. The defen-

dant who has not such previous knowledge

is

allowed from

three to seven nights to make his defence* If he takes longer than that he is liable to a fine of from three to twelve

paqa*. If he does not reply within six weeks he is liable to thtr penally for and the amount of the plaintiffs
parokta,
is
*

(where the suit

not one for

specific

performance)

p.

Marriage.

shaU be recovered from his property. The result ia the same the defendant, having made his reply in good time, afterwards fails in his case. A plaintiff failing in his case is liable to the penalty for parokta. In certain circinnstances, it seems, the defeated plaintiff was required to pay the defendant's funeral expenses, but the passage is obscure. The book then proceeds to deal with the subject of marriage. Eight kinds of marriage are enumerated, of which
if

four are said to be in accordance with morality and The giving in marriage of a maiden religion (dharmya). with ornaments (1) is called Brfihma. Marriage provided

the

first

ceremony (sahadharmafor a couple of cows (gomithuna) (8) is called drsa, after a sacrifice, to the officiating priest, (4) daiva. The voluntary union of a girl with her lover (5) is called gdndharva, the giving of a maiden for a price (iuLka) (6) asura, the abduction of a maiden (7) rdkfasa, the abduction of a maiden when asleep
can/a) (2) is prajdpatya.

by

joint performance of a religious

The giving of a maiden

(8) patiSca. Marriages of the first four kinds require the consent of the bride's father : those of the last four kinds

must be made with the consent of both the

bride's parents

receive her price (4iUka). On the death of both her parents, the woman herself becomes entitled to the rfwWco,

who

is

the payment of which, it appears, might be deferred. There a general rule that any form of marriage is permissible

which is pleasing to all (i.e. presumably approved by custom in the class to which the parties belong). Married women's property (stridhana) may consist of
property,

means of
(vftti)

subsistence,

i.

or jewellery.

property producing an income wife may make use of her stridkana

e.

maintenance, and that of her son and daughter* in-law, in the absence of her husband, if he has made no provision for their maintenance. Her husband may spend
for her
it

own

in case of disease, famine, or other calamity, or

on a pious
four kinds,

object.

In

dkwmi$a

marriages, i.e. those of the

first

when husband and

wife, by mutual agreement, have been using the sbrldkana property for three years, no complaint

The 'ArthaM&a*:

Civil

Law

fta

shaU be made if tterc have been tw^ In g&ndkarva and Aura marriage, if the wife's property is used by the husband, even with the wife's consent, it mwt be restored with interest (presumably to the wife's parents), la rdkfasa and pati&ca marriages the use of the wife's property by the husband is treated as theft (from bar parents). On the death of her husband, a woman intending to lead a pious life (dharmakdmd, i.e. not intending to remarry) is entitled to at once receive her property and also any balance of dulka due to her* If not vowed to a religious life she is entitled, on remarriage to a relative of her deceased husband, with her iather-in-law's consent, to receive whatever has been given to her by her father-in-law or her first husband. If she remarries without her father-in-law's consent, she forfeits what has been given to her by them. A widow is not entitled to the property of her deceased husband. She has the usufruct of it if vowed to a religious life (i.e. not to remarry). A widow who has a son has not an absolute right even to her own property. It must pass to her son or sons. If she hold it for the maintenance of her sons, she must preserve it for them. A widow without a son, who
is faithful

her property for her

to the bed of her deceased husband, may enjoy life, under the protection of bar spiritual

guide

Afterwards, it passes to her heirs. The sons and daughters of a wife who predeceases her husband should divide her property. If she has left no sons her daughters
(guffi).

take

it.

If she has left

no

children, her

husband succeeds

to her property, except what has been given to her relations, which returns to them.

by her

down

As regards the remarriage of males, the principle is laid Bethat a man may marry any number of women in
he gives adequate compensation to the wife

succession, if

or wives previously married and provides

sistence.

them with sub-

Without paying compensation, a man may reif his wife has had no children, after marry, waiting eight years ; if she has brought forth a dead child only, after ten; and if she has had daughters only, after twelve yearn. Remarriage of a woman to a brother or other relative f

$4
her husband
general
is also

allowed in certain circumstances.

tuk

lays

down

that a woman, whose husband

has died, has gone to. live abroad permanently (dlrghapravfain), or has become a homeless ascetic (praoriyita) may, alter seven months, if she be childless, and after a year if she have a child, marry a brother of her husband* If there are a number of brothers, she should marry the next in age to her former husband, or one who is virtuous and capable of supporting her, or a younger unmarried brother. If there is no brother of the deceased husband she should marry his
nearest surviving male relative. Hie wife of a man who is living abroad temporarily (krasvapraodsiri) should wait for him a year before re-

marrying if she has not given birth to a child, but more than a year if she has had a child. She should wait twice as long if she has been provided with maintenance (by her husband ?). If she has not been so provided, and has relatives (jnati) who are well-to-do, they should maintain her for four or eight years, and then leave her free to remarry, taking (from her new husband?) what they have given. (The passage is obscure.) If the husband is a Brahman
studying abroad, his wife should wait for him ten years if die has no issue, and twelve years if she has a child, before
remarrying. The wife of a ksatriya temporarily absent should not remarry, but if she marry and bear children to

of the same gotra as her husband she shall not be disgraced. Other rules lay down that the wife of an absent husband, who is without means of subsistence and abandoned

man

by her who is
first

well-to-do relatives,

may marry

man

of her choice

able to support her. In a marriage of any of the four kinds (dharmavivdha) a bride (kumdri) whose

husband has gone abroad, but is heard of, shall wait for him months without remarrying if she has not published his name, but for a year if she has published it. If the husband has not been heard of she shall wait five months ; if he has been heard of, ten months* If the Mka has not been fuHy paid, should the husband not be heard If of, she shall wait three months, if he is heard of, seven.
for seven

it
the wtWte Adfca has been paid and the husband of, she ahaU wait five months, if heard of, ten.
is

not heard

the permission of the judged, she may These rules, in which htlka is mentioned, evidently refer to marriages of the last four classes g&ndharva, fowa,rtikf08a,

Then, with marry whom she Kkes.

and patidca. Divorce (moksa) is not allowed

is

of either of the

first

four kinds.

if the marriage In other marriages it is

allowed

by mutual
*

consent.
4

A man may

reprove a disobedient 'wife

4

such names as naked one ', cripple ', * motherless \ or he may inflict on her corporal punishment to the extent of three strokes with a bamboo rod, a cord,
or the palm of the hand. Should he exceed these limits he is liable to punishment for cruelty. Women are to be

calling her fatherless \ or wives.

by

punished similarly for cruelty to their husbands. Various punishments are prescribed for indecorous con* duct of different kinds on the part of women, including whipping by a canddla in the middle of the village, which

may, however, be remitted on payment of

of one

fine at

the rate

pana

for each stroke.

Twelve years is laid down as the age of majority (vyavahSra) for a woman, and sixteen for a man.

We

then pass to the subject of division of Inheritance

principle
is laid

Inheri-

(Ddyavibhdga). The

down

that sons, whose

parents or higher ascendants are alive, cannot be independent owners of property (antivardh). Where there is no

parent or higher ascendant the division of inheritance

is

pitrtab (* by per stirpes). Self-acquired property is not to be divided, except that which has been earned by means of the paternal property.
', i.

made

fathers

e.

The interpretation of the detailed rules as to shares in inherited property must, in the absence of a commentary,
be uncertain, and in any case the subject is one for discussion in a treatise, on Hindu Law. There is a rule that

a father dividing his property in his lifetime shall not favour any son nor deprive any son of his share without
reason*

chapter

is

devoted to the different kinds of soni.

Besides the natural legitimate ion

<***)

there

we

the

adopted son given by Mi parents (dotta), and the adopted son who offers himself (upagata).* There are also the tyttrcya or son begotten on a man's wife by another man appointed for the purpose by the husband, and the g&jkqja, or son
begotten on a man's wife by another man secretly in the houseof relatives, and recognized by her husband. natural

legitimate son is heir to his father and his father's family (i.e. may claim to succeed to a share of the family property

of his father).
father

An

adopted or recognized son

is

heir to his

by adoption or recognition only (i. e. may claim to succeed to the self-acquired property only of the father by
adoption or recognition).
Mixed

With regard to mixed castes (aniardla) it is said that the begetting of sons by men of lower on women of higher caste
(pratiloma) has resulted from kings transgressing religion

Sons begotten by a Sudra on women of higher caste are Ayogava, Ksatta, and Canddla ; by a Vaitya, Mdgadha and Vaidehika ; and by a Kpatriya, Stita. Sons begotten by men of higher on women of lower castes are called anuloma. The son of a Brdhmana by a Vaifya woman is called Ambafta, by a Sudra woman, Nisdda or Pdraiava ; of a Kfatriya by a Sudra woman, Ugra ; of a Vaifya by a Sudra woman, Sudra. The son of an Ugra by a Nifdda

and morality.

woman is called Kukkufa of a Nifdda by an Ugra woman, Pulkasa ; of an Ambafta by a Vaidehaka woman, Vaina ; of a Vaidehaka by an Ambafta woman, KuiUava ; of an Ugra by a Ksatta woman, jSvapOka. A Vainya (Palpa, offspring of an Ambaffa by a Vaidehaka woman ?) becomes a rathakdra or chariot-maker by profession.
;

Hie
4

rules of succession conclude with

a verse which says

that the partition of inheritance shall be made in accordance with the custom of the country, caste, corporation, or guild (sangha), and the village ',
Slaves.
*

The chapter on

slaves (dd&akolpah) throws light

on the

institution of slavery in ancient India, interest in connexion with statements

and

by

is of special certain Greek

writers that slavery did not exist

among the

Indians,

The
become a slave

'Artha&Uttra': Civil

Law

9T

According to the ArthatMra it appears a person might (a) by being bora a slave (vdaradAta), () by

being sold, (c) by being mortgaged (dMtaka), {d) by sentence or decree of a court (danfapratik&in danfapraQUa), (e) by being taken a prisoner of war (dhvajdJ&ta). Under heads
(b)

and
his

by

a minor might be sold or mortgaged into slavery or her relations, or a person might sell or mortgage
(c)

himself or herself (Umavikrayin dtmddh&r). It also appears that the owner of a slave might sell or mortgage him or

From the master's point of view a slave might be born in his house (grhejdta), inherited (ddydgata), purchased (krltd), or obtained (labdha) by mortgage, decree of a court
her.

of a debt), or capture in war. rule is laid down that no drya should be general a slave na toevaryasya ddsabhdvafy but this is subject to
(e.g. in satisfaction

The term art/a, in different passages of the exceptions. Ariha&dstra, is opposed to mleccha, but the exact meaning of the latter term is not clear. From a maxim in Book IX,
chapter
of
ii,

that
is

'

the

an drya

better than the

army of the enemy under the leadership army of wild tribes (atavibala) *,

we may

infer that the wild or forest tribes (atavika),

who

are frequently mentioned in the ArthaJdstra, were regarded as mleccha. Non-Indian races would also be mlcccha. In

the Periplus Marts Erythraet, already quoted, among the 4 imports received at the port of Barygaza (Broach), goodThese would looking girls, irpoc vaXXaKiav \ are mentioned.

be

slave-girls.

In the Arthat&stra there

is

no mention of

European or other non-Indian slaves. It would appear that all free titikrajs were regarded as drya, and that an Srya of

any caste might in certain circumstances be reduced to slavery, and in that case lost his drya-hood, but regained it on again becoming free.
It is laid

by
but

his

down that the selling or mortgaging into slavery kinsmen of a minor rftWra who is not a born slave,

is an drya, is punishable with a fine of twrfve jxquzt; in the case of a the fhie is double, in tliat of a fc^o^ya

ro%a

treble,
f

and in that of a brahman quadruple* In the case or mortgage into slavery of a minor drya by anyone

98
but his

The Early History of Bengal

relatives, sellers

mortgagees, as well are alike liable to much heavier punishment the pfirva, 1 madhyama, and tt&amatdka&adanda in the cases of a Udra>
*a brahman, death.

and purchasers, or mortgagors and as any abettors of such transactions,

Slave's

property.

a vaifya, and a ksatriya respectively, and in the case of For mlecchas to sdl or mortgage their is no offence. But, it is added, if to meet some offspring family necessity an drya should be mortgaged by his relatives, they should redeem him as soon as possible. A slave is entitled to keep any property that he acquires w|thout prejudice to his master's work, or that he inherits. On his death his kinsmen inherit his property; in the

absence of kin, his master.

Redemption *

drya sold into slavery is entitled to recover art/a-hood on payment of his price, and this applies also to a born or mortgaged slave. A person enslaved by decree of a court shall work off the amount of his price or of the decree

An

An drya taken prisoner in war, it seems, against him. claim release on payment of half his value, or after might
doing an equivalent amount of work. From these rules it would appear that a brahman, vaiiya, kfatriya, or 6udra would be born a slave if his father was a slave at the time

The relatives of a minor arya might mortgage him or her as a slave in case of family necessity, but in that case they should redeem him as soon as possible. If they sold or mortgaged him without sufficient cause they were liable to fine, but the purchaser or mortgagee was not liable to punishment, the sale or mortgage held good, and the slave, if not redeemed, remained a slave. An arya of any
of his birth.
caste might

enslaved
war.

or mortgage himself into slavery, or be order of a court, or when taken prisoner in by There is a rule which says that the offspring of a man
sell

who sells himself into slavery shall be regarded as drya. This apparently means that the children born in freedom of an drya, who afterwards sells himself into slavery, do not
thereby become slaves. A slave of drya origin

may

claim his freedom on payment

cp.

107.

Civil

Law

9*

of his price, if lie has been sold as a slave ; of his value if a born slave ; if mortgaged as a slave, on payment of the

amount of the mortgage ; if a prisoner of war, on payment of half his value or by equivalent work. The position of mleccha slaves was, perhaps, different. Mlecchas might freely sell their offspring into slavery, and it does not appear that mleccha slaves enjoyed the same
rights of redemption as those of drya blood. It is not clear whether the provision that a person enslaved by decree of a court (danfapranita) must work off the

amount of the fine or decree means that this kind of slave has not the right to claim release on payment of the fine or decree, as the case may be, but must, if required to do If this be the meaning, it would so, work it off as a slave.
explain provisions of the penal code
fine only,

since punishable by servitude for a long term. penal There are various provisions for the protection of slaves. ProtecA master is liable to fine apparently half the fine for

making serious offences a fine might really mean

improperly selling or mortgaging an drya into slavery if he misappropriates the belongings of a slave of drya descent
or deprives him of his status as an drya (dryabhdva). This rule seems to imply that such a slave was entitled to certain
privileges (e.g. not to

be employed on degrading work,

required to eat improper food, &c.).

According to another rule, the employment of a slave in carrying a dead body, filth, or leavings of food, keeping him
naked, beating, or reviling him, and violation of a female slave entail forfeiture of value (mulyandita), entitling the slave apparently to liberty. The next rule distinctly says
that the violation (atikramana) of female slaves gives them master failing to set a slave at liberty (mokfakara).

liberty

receipt of the legal ransom is liable to a fine of twelve panas. So is a master who keeps a slave in confinement without sufficient cause. This serais to imply that a master might punish his slave by confinement for certain
offences.

on

If a master have a child by a female slave, tjoth and the child are entitled to freedom. If, for the sake

loo

The Early History of Bengal

of subsistence, she prefers to remain a slave, her toother of her sister may be set free. The position of female slaves has
Hired
>crvMltg *

been discussed above in dealing with the ganik&dhyakfa. 1 As regards hired servants, the general rale is that wages be paid as previously agreed upon. In the absence shouk| of previous agreement, a ploughman should receive onetenth of the crop, a herdsman one-tenth of the clarified butter (sarpis), a person employed in selling goods, one-tenth
physicians, buffoons, cooks, &c., should be paid according to current rates, or such wages as may be determined by experts. Failure to pay the proper wages is punishable with a fine

of the

sale

proceeds.

Artisans,

musicians,

fraud the fine

of five times the amount due, or of six panas 2 is doubled.

in case of

person

who

fails

to do

work

for

which he has received

to a fine of twelve panas, and to be compelled wages to complete the work. An employer failing to give work as agreed upon is liable to a similar fine. Some authorities
is liable

held that work which the

workmen were

willing to do,

but

Workcorporations.

were prevented from doing by the employer, should be paid for as work done. But Kautilya would not lay down this as an absolute rule, as circumstances may have changed : for instance, the work done may not be satisfactory. There is a special rule for corporations or associations of workmen (sanghabhria). Apparently they took contracts for work with a time limit. If they exceeded the time agreed 9 upon they were allowed seven days grace, after which the employer might have the work carried out by other agency. Such corporations, or any other associations doing work in
co-operation (sambhuya xamttitktitdrah), should divide their earnings, either equally or in such manner as they may agree upon among themselves*
Special rules are given for dividing the remuneration for

performance of a religious ceremony or sacrifice a body of priests (ydjaka) carrying it out jointly.
1 Cf. p. 68.
'

among

The wowk

'five*

and 'tea*

appear to have been erroneously

interchanged in the text.

IX
THE KAUflLlYA ARTHASA8TRA
CIVIL

LAW

(continued)

chapters are devoted to the law of immovable Imraovproperty (vastu), which is defined as including houses, fields, gardens, irrigation works of all kinds (sctubandha), tanks,

THREE

and ponds. At the outset the rule is laid down that disputes about vdstu are to be decided by or on the evidence of the
neighbours (sdmantapratyaya). The alienation of immovable property is regulated by ' a provision that wealthy kinsmen and neighbours shall, in
succession, be allowed to purchase land
9 .

Safe,

and other immovable

property Apparently the meaning is that an owner of immovable property wishing to sell it must give the option
of purchase

There

is

to his kinsmen and next to the neighbours. * 9 another rule that taxpayers (karada) shall sell
first

or mortgage lands to taxpayers only, and brahmans the lands bestowed on them (brahviadaya) to brahmans only.

A sale of immovable property

must be made

publicly, in

the presence of forty respectable persons of the neighbour* hood, besides the purchasers. The price at which the pro-

perty

is

offered for sale should be fixed beforehand (perhaps

by the neighbours), and an ad valorem duty (Mka) on the sale paid to the State. An exact description of the boundaries of fields and gardens, and of the buildings,
tanks, &c., included in the property, having been proclaimed, * it is offered for sale by crying : will purchase this ' at such and such a ? As in the case of public sales price of other goods, if the price is* enhanced by bidding, the excess over the published price goes to the State, as well as the on the sale.

as estimated

Who

duty

There is a curious series of building regulations, for most part not very dear. Some relate to foundation

102
stability,

The Early History of Bengal

and some are
sanitary.

Every house must be

provided with a proper water-supply and privy, as well as drainage. There are regulations regarding intervals between the construction of windows, but these matters houses
aijd

may

be settled by agreement between neighbouring

house**

holders, provided that no injury is caused* Persons causing nuisance through faulty construction of their houses, tenants

remaining in occupation of houses, and landlords evicting

their tenants wrongfully are liable to penalties.

Boon*
dSJJrte^

dispute about the boundary between two villages is to be decided by people of five or ten adjacent villages, in

accordance with the natural or

artificial

boundary marks.

Disputes about fields are to be decided by the neighbours and the village elders. If they do not agree, the opinion of a number of respectable (pure) people should be sought, or
the parties

methods
land.

agree to divide the disputed land. If these the king should take possession of the disputed fail, The king may also take possession of any immovable

may

property for which there

advantage, he

may

distribute
is

immovable property

the public Wrongful occupation of to be punished as theft. A person

is

no claimant,
it.

or, for

occupying the property of another justifiably shall pay such amount as may be proper, allowing for his labour and
subsistence.

Penalties are provided for encroachment on boundaries and damage to boundary marks. There are a few rules relating to damage to immovable Damage. property. One of them seems to fix the relative importance of acts interfering with the use of pasture, dry and wet cultivation, gardens, threshing floors, dwellings, and stables Persons using respectively, but the meaning is doubtful.

paths through dry

fields for

the purpose of access to tanks,

rivers, and wet fields must compensate the owners for damage done to crops. Owners of wet fields, gardens, and

buildings causing damage to similar property belonging to others must pay twice the value of the damage as com*

Imga-

pensation.

tank must not be made below one already

existing in such

a way as to submerge any

irrigated field.

The'Artfu&lstra': Civil Law 108 The flow of water from a higher tank to a lower one shall
not be stopped, unless the latter has been out of use for three consecutive years. The emptying of a tank is punishable with fine. The ownership of any private irrigation

work which has been neglected

for five years shall lapse,

except in the case of public calamity* Persons making use of irrigation works belonging to others on payment of a lump sum, an annual rent, or a share of the produce shall keep
the works in repair or pay twice the cost of putting them The penalty for letting water out of a tank in repair.
otherwise than

by the proper

sluice (apdre) or obstructing

is six

a sluice (pdra) through negligence

paQO* ; for

wilfully

1 obstructing irrigation, the purvasdhasadanda.

else

person establishing on a site belonging to some one a place of pilgrimage, shrine, or temple, or alienating by sale or mortgage a building devoted to religious use, is liable to the

Any

scale of fines is laid

down

for obstructions to roads

according to their importance.

series of regulations deal

with cattle-trespass* Any person allowing cattle to stray is liable to penalty, but this does not apply to bulls let out
in the

name

cows.

If crops

of the village deity, or those used in crossing be damaged by stray cattle, the owners are

liable to

pay as compensation twice the value of the damage

done.

Cattle found trespassing should be driven out without

injuring them.

of

In the same place are introduced some rules on the subject Co* work undertaken by village communities* A labourer

engaged from outside for such work, if he fails to perform it, shall forfeit to the village twice the amount of wages paid
to

him and twice the value of food and drink that he has

villager who does not perform his share in the of any public spectacle shall, with his family, preparation forfeit their right to enjoy the show* Should he be present at it he is liable to pay twice the value of his share of the work. The same nile applies to all cases of refusal to help in work beneficial to the village, and also to all co-operative

received.

Cfc p. 107.

104

Tk* Early History of Bengal

districts, castes, families,

undertakings of
(**ngha).

and corporations

Bewray

On

Intmsk down

the subject of recovery of debts (Rn&ddna), it is laid that interest at the rate of*l per cent per month

Five per cent, per month is commercial interest (vyavah&riki), 10 per cent, cent, prevails among forest-dwellers (kantardka), and 20 per Interest on grain shall not among seafarers (samudra).
(15 per cent, per

annum)

is

just (dharmyd).

exceed half the value of the loan in money* This presumably

refers to loans of grain at sowing-time repayable after the

harvest. Interest on trading stocks shall be half the profit, and be payable annually. If interest is allowed to accumulate, the amount recoverable shall not exceed the principal.

(This

is

the rule

now known by

the
is

name

of dandupat.)

punishable with fine. A person claiming interest which is not due, or representing as principal the amount of the principal debt with interest
Transgression of these laws

added (a common device to evade usury laws), is liable to be fined four times the amount in dispute. Another rule
says that in such cases the creditor shall pay three-fourths This probably of the fine and the debtor one-fourth.
applied to cases where the debtor abetted a breach of the law by acknowledging receipt of a fictitious amount of
principal.

Interest should not accumulate

on a debt due from a

ceremony or studying

person long engaged in any

person. creditor refusing

sacrificial

in the house of his teacher (guru), or from a minor or a poor

payment of a debt without reasonable

is liable to a penalty of twelve panas. If he have a reasonable ground for refusal the amount may be deposited with a third party, and interest does not accrue on it

cause

subsequently.
*-tatta-

debt neglected for ten years becomes irrecoverable, except where the creditor is a minor, an aged or sick person, or has gone abroad, or in times of civil commotion. The
debts of a deceased person may be recovered from his bars, or from a partner or surety. There is a curious rule that.

The *ArthaMstra\except in the case of

Civil

Law

105

a debtor going abroad, a person shall not be sued at the same time by two or more creditors. In all cases a debtor should satisfy his different creditors in the order in which the debts were incurred, but debts <Jue
to the king or to brahmans should take precedence of others. Debts incurred to one another by husband and wife, father

and
for

son, or brothers of undivided interests are irrecoverable*

Cultivators

and government servants

debt while at work*

not be arrested wife shall not be arrested for

shall
is

her husband's debt, but the husband his wife's debt.

liable to arrest for

rules as to evidence are introduced here. A debt Rules of eviltaloc* not be proved by the evidence of 'one witness only. may Ordinarily, the evidence of three respectable witnesses is required, but that of two may be accepted with the consent of parties. Various categories of persons are mentioned as excluded from giving evidence wives' brothers, co-partners, creditors, debtors, enemies and dependants of parties, and * ahamvddins ', which perhaps means those having a personal interest in the case, for presumed partiality ; minors and other persons incompetent to do business; the blind, the

Some

and persons engaged in degraded occupations; prisoners and convicts, for presumed untrustworthiness ; lepers and persons with loathsome diseases, on sanitary grounds; brahmans learned in the Vedas (frotriya), on account of their dignity women, in deference to social conventions ; village servants and government officials, perhaps to avoid inter* ruption of their duties. The rule is qualified by the words anyatra wavargcbhyab ', which Mr. Shamasastry translates excepting in the case of transactions in one's own comdeaf,

and the dumb,

for incapacity

outcasts, candfilas

munity'. In cases arising out of assault, theft, or abduction, persons other than wives* brothers, enemies, and co-partners

and in those relating to secret transactions, a single male or female witness may give evidence. Witnesses are to be adjured before a brahman, a vessel of water, and fire, A brahman witness should be told Airily to tell the truth. Others should be threatened with the

of parties,

The Early History of Bengal

to

consequences of false evidence. The imprecation addressed a kfatriya or vaifya is, ( May thou not attain the fruit
but,,

of thy good deeds,

strength, go begging, skull in hand *; toarfflrfra: death, may the fruit of thy merits go to the king,

having broken thine enemy's 4 On thy and the

thou speak falsely, punishment will surely befall thee, that which is now unseen and unheard will, one day, surely be revealed/ It does not appear that witnesses were required to take any form of
consequences of his sins
fall

on

thee.

If

oath*
(ddhi),

The rules regarding open deposits (upanidhi), pledges and sealed deposits (nikfepa) do not call for special

remark*
P**scrip-

laid

Regarding prescriptive titles to property, two rules are down* A person who for ten years neglects his movable
it is

property (dravya) while

loses his title to
it,

in the

unless he be a minor,

enjoyment of others an aged person,

country in con-

a person living abroad, or one who

left his

sequence of civil disturbance. Title to immovable property (vdsiu) is acquired in similar 9 circumstances by twenty years possession. A passage men-

In certain tioning exceptions to these rules is obscure. circumstances occupation of immovable property by relatives,

brahmans, and religious men of different denominations (pafanfa) does not give title; and title cannot be
grotriya

Stthasa.

prescription to deposits or pledges or movable property belonging to the king or to frotriyas. then come to a chapter on sdhasa, which, as defined

acquired

by

We

at the beginning of the chapter, means 4 open and violent * action (anvayavatpra^abhakarma). From the context, how*
ever, it appears that the term sahasa was applied to forcible seizure of property or persons. As sdhasa is contrasted with steya or theft, it would seem that the former term as applied to property, covered wrongful, but not fraudulent, taking of

possession*

For sdhaM of small articles, such as flowers, vegetables, fruit, cooked rice, onions, bamboos, and earthen pots, the penalty ranges from 12 to 24 panas ; in the ease of articles
of greater value, such as iron, wood, small ropes, flocks of

Tkt'ArthaMstra*: Civil
animals, from 24 to 48 panas
;

Law

107

in the ease of articles of

copper, brass,

t>ell-iuetal, glass, ivory,

from 48 to

W pa$a*.

The penalty last mentioned is called ptorDarihatadawla* The

men, fields, houses, gold, fine fabrics, renders penalty ranging from 200 to 000 JHWUW, called madhyama#dha*adanda. For keeping by force in confine* ment, or releasing from prison men or women, the penalty is the uttamasdhasadatida, or from 500 to 1,000 patio*. These three degrees of fine or damages frQrva-, madhyama-, and vttafna^Shas{idanda^ or first, middle, and highest punishments
liable to

seizure of cattle,

are frequently referred to in the Arihaidstra as scales of penalty for offences and torts of different kinds.
for s&hasa

The next subject dealt with is v&kpdrufya, which is defined

as including apavdda (defamation), kuisana (contemptuous talk or insult), and abhibharisana (abuse and threatening).
All abusive expressions, whether true or false, are actionable. If addressed to a person of superior rank the penalty should

Defema-

be double, if to an inferior, half of what it would be in the case of equals. Addressing a person with an expression which refers to a physical defect, as * blind one ', * lame

one

a penalty of 3 panas if the description be true, and of 6 panas if it be false. For the use of an ironical offensive expression, such as * fine eyed * addressed to a blind man, the penalty is IZpanas. Threatening with an injury renders liable to half the penalty for
',

&c., renders liable to

Threats.

inflicting the same injury. If the person uttering the threat be an enemy of the person threatened and in a position to do him harm the former is required to give security for the safety of the latter for his lifetime.

touching, striking, Assault. or hurting '. the body of another person below Touching the navel with the hand, or with mud, dust, or ashes, renders liable to a of 8 panas ; with the leg or spittle, penalty

Danfap&rOxya

(assault) is defined as

6?ana*; with excrement, 12 poaas. For touching the body above the navel the penalty is doubled, for touching on the head, quadrupled. The above are the penalties for wilfully touching a man of equal rank ; for touching one of superior or a woman the penalty is doubled; for touching

108

The Early History of Bengal

inferior rank, halved.

a man of

If the act be

lessness or intoxication, the penalty is halved.

*

due to care* For seising

a person by Ms legs, clothing, hand, or hair the penalty is ' 6 pa$as or more (perhaps 6 to 12 panas) ; for squeezing, throwing the arms round, pushing, pulling, or sitting on a person's body, the ptirvasdhasadanda. For causing a person to
It
is
fall,

the penalty seems, curiously, to have been half

as much.
laid

down that
shall

the limb with which a

off.

6Mra

strikes

Further rules provide that for striking with a stick, a clod, a stone, iron or a rope, without drawing blood, the penalty should be 24 panas ; for drawing

a brahman

be cut

Mood, except bad blood

that amount; cutting the ear or nose, or any organ, except in surgery, the ptirvasahasadanda. For causing injury to the thigh or neck, or any injury resulting in impediment to speech,

treatment by bleeding), double for breaking an arm, leg, or tooth, and

(i.e.

movement, or eating, the penalty is the madhyamasdhasadanda and payment of compensation equal to what is required to effect a cure. For seizing property in an affray a penalty of 10 panas is Riot and alfcay. jay down This perhaps refers to the taking of property to which the offender has some claim, as distinguished from
.

affray is punish* of compensation. payment Penalties are also provided for different degrees of mischief Mischief. by damaging walls, throwing harmful or dangerous things

robbery. able with

The destruction of property in an

addition to

fine, in

into houses,

and injury to domestic animals,

trees,

and

Gambling plants.

Notice of offences connected with gambling and

is

betting preceded by regulations for gambling, which is controlled by a superintendent (dytitddhyaksa), and allowed only at places licensed for the purpose. The superintendent

to collect from winners 5 per cent, on their winnings, also rent and licence fees for the gambling premises. At the
is

same time he

allowed to carry on sale and mortgage transactions, i. e. presumably to buy and sell gamblers' pro* perty and lend money to them on mortgage. Any player
is

using dice other than those supplied

by the superintendent

The 'Artha^tra':
incurs a
fine*

Civil

Law

109

to the p&roar player sdhasadapfa, as well as the penalty for theft or fraud, and to restore the amount of his winnings. The same penalties
cheats
is liable

who

for cheating

apply to

all

bets

Penalties are laid down here for

offences,

and wagers. a variety of miscellaneous

property borrowed, hired,

MisodU

such as

foiling to restore

or received

trust at the appointed place and time, failing to deliver property to a third person in accordance with

on

a trust, evading payment of tolls by pretending to be a brahman, violating the chastity of a widow who lives
independently, touching an drya woman by a canddio, failing to hasten to the help of a person in danger, entertaining at a ceremony in honour of devas or ancestors, tSkyas
(buddhists), ajlvikas, low caste (vrsala) persons, or pravrajitas,

examination of any one on oath by an unauthorized person, doing of official acts (yuktaJcarma) by one who is not an
official (ayukta).

At the end

of this chapter the following

general principles are laid down.

Punishments should vary according to the persons concerned and the nature of the offence. Consideration should
be shown to pilgrims, ascetics, sick persons, those suffering from hunger, thirst, or the fatigue of a journey, people from

remote

districts,

those who have suffered punishment, and the

destitute.

Judges should take up, without a complaint being lodged, cases affecting devas, brahmans, ascetics, women, minors, and aged, sick, and helpless persons. In such cases technical
pleas

and pleas of limitation shall not be admitted. Honour should be shown to persons distinguished

for

learning, intelligence, valour, high birth, or great actions*

X
THE KAVflLlYA ARTHA&ASTRA
POLICE
THE

AND CRIMINAL LAW

fourth book, entitled Kantakaiodhanam (Removal of Thorns), mixes up in a confusing manner regulations for
police and public safety, criminal procedure, and punishments for petty as well as serious offences* It does not contain the whole of the criminal code, penalties for various

offences being provided, as already mentioned, in other books. Some of the provisions in this book appear to be
in conflict with others,

and

it

seems that certain of them

Policp

000110

may have been obsolete at the date when the Arthaifctra was compiled* The book begins by laying down that the removal of thorns should be the duty of three commissioners (pra*
It is not clear whether these dtffarab) or three amdtyas. commissioners were the same as those entrusted with the

supervision of village accountants, under the general control of the collector-general, but probably this was the case,
since it appears that the collector-general was responsible for certain branches of police work in addition to his revenue 9 duties* As in regard to the appointment of judges, a doubt
arises as to

the interpretation of

am&ya

here.

Then

follow

Guilds,

and which begin with a somewhat obscure professional men, reference to guilds (irt^l). Apparently the guilds' funds were kept in deposit with trustworthy persons, and were

regulations applicable to different classes of artisans

among their members in times of calamity. Artisans generally are subject to fine and forfeiture if they fail to carry out agreements as to time, place, and quality of work, and also for loss of or damage to materials*
'Cf. pp. 48,44, 00.

available for relief of distress

'Cf.pp.85ff,

The

'Artkatdstra' : Police

and Criminal Law

ill

For weavers rules are laid down as to the proportions of doth to thread for different materials cotton, silk, wool,
jute, &c.

Washermen are required to beat clothes on wooden boards Washer* men * or smooth stones. For selling, mortgaging, or Idling for
hire clothes entrusted to

12 panas, for value of the clothes taken, besides making restitution. Apparently to prevent their wearing customers' clothes,

them they are liable to a fine of substituting clothes, to a fine of twice the

washermen are required to have

with a certain

their

own

clothes

marked

mark

marked they are to be

for wearing fined 8 panas.

the time for returning clothes fixed at one night, or five, six, or seven nights, according to the value and amount of washing to be done* goldsmith

any clothing not so With the same object, sent to them to be washed is

from a person of privately doubtful character is liable to a fine of 12 panas \ if he should melt the article down the fine is 24 panas ; if he should buy an article at a low price and melt it down secretly, or commit any fraud in the manufacture of articles,
silver article

buying a gold or

he

to the punishment for theft. Charges for manufacture of gold and silver articles are Goldsmitlls * fixed in proportion to the weight of the metal. For silver,
is liable

siwarna.

one m&fa per dharana, for gold, one-eighth of a suvarna per Similarly, the fees for manufacture of articles of

and other metals, and the loss of metal in manufacture to be allowed are laid down. An examiner of coins (r&padariaka) 1 who passes bad or rejects good coin is to be fined 12 panas. Any one causing
brass, copper, iron, lead, tin,

Coin,

or passed is to be fined 1,000 panas. For causing counterfeit coin to be received in the treasury the punishment is death. Scavengers who find valuable things other than precious
counterfeit coin to be

made

stones in the course of their

third of their value

work are allowed to keep one* and required to give up two-thirds to the State. If find precious stones, they must surrender they the whole to the State on pain of the u^nastikat
*

Cf. p. 54.

112

The Early History of Bengal

finder of treasure, if

he proves it to be his ancestral the whole of it. Otherwise, on reporting property, may keep the find, he may keep one-sixth if the total value is less
than 100,000 panas. If the value the whole goes to the king.
Phyiiis

100,000 panas or above,

dans*

Apparently a physician who treated a patient for any dangerous disease was bound to report to some authority. If he failed to do so and the patient died, or if a patient grew worse owing to careless treatment, the physician was
liable to fine.

MusiIUW '

The object of a

rule requiring musicians to remain at

one

place during the rainy season is not apparent. They are prohibited from making exorbitant charges on pain of a fine of 12 panas. Similar rules apply to dancers and
beggars, but the latter, in lieu of fine, are to be punished with whipping at the rate of one lash for each pana.

Prirote

The superintendent of trade (samsthddhyakfd) is charged with the prevention of fraud in private trade. 1 It appears that he was required to control specially the trade in old
2 examining the proofs of ownership. He is also to have an eye on weights and measures. 8 A difference of half a pola in the measures parimdni and drona may be disregarded : the use of such measures differing by a pala from the standard is punishable with a fine of

or second-hand

articles,

12 panas. Similarly, no offence is involved in the use of a tidd balance with an error of a karsa : if the error should

amount to two karoos, the trader concerned is liable to a fine of 6 panas. In an ddhaka measure a difference of half a kar?a may be overlooked an excess or a defect of a kar?a makes the trader liable to a fine of 8 panas. For greater errors in weights, measures, and balances proportionately
:

larger fines are inflicted.

description and adulteration of goods combinations of traders to lower the quality sold, and of artisans* work or to hinder the purchase or sale or lower
all
1

The offences of false

The royal trade wa

in charge

aT p. m.

cpmtydda^oA^cf.p^T.

weights and measure* was the duty of the pautowfcfty*^ cf.

p. ei.

The maintenance of standard

Police

the quality or raise the price There is a somewhat obscure passage which appears fine. refer to middlemen, and to lay down that the difference to

and Criminal Lmo 118 of goods, we punishable with

between their buying and selling prices should be merely a brokerage enough for their subsistence and not a
profit.

permit or licence to buy up grain for the market from If any one should do so without the stock of grain collected by him should be permission, confiscated to the king by the superintendent of Royal
cultivators is required.

Trade (panyddhydksa). We have seen that wholesale prices were fixed for the purpose of calculating the 4uUea toll.1 Traders are allowed to make a profit of 5 per cent, of the fixed price on goods produced in the country, and 10 per
cent,

on foreign goods. If they make more profit they are liable to a fine of 5 per cent, (whether calculated on the profit or on the gross price is not stated). In the case of goods long in stock or brought from a distance, the price should be fixed on consideration of the quantity and the outlay, interest on outlay, and other
expenditure. Public There follow certain regulations for public safety. y" Divine or providential dangers (daivdni mahabhaydni) are

be eight in number, namely : fire, famine, rats, tigers, serpents, and demons.
said to

flood, pestilence,

The precautions against fire prescribed in the chapter on Fire, the City superintendent 3 are repeated, and it is enjoined that fire should be worshipped at the moon's changes. As precautions against floods, villagers living on the banks Flood. of rivers should remove to higher ground on rainy nights.

They should provide themselves with planks of wood, bain* boos, and boats, and rescue, by means of gourds, inflated
leather bags, trunks of trees, or bamboos, thoee who are being carried away by a flood. Failure to rescue a ?

man by a person having the means to do so j with a fine of 12 panas. Incantations agafcrffcgrtUate to be made by persons versed in mdyd, yoga, jfatf fat Vedaa.

V^J^J*^

p. 61.

114

The Early History of Bengal

Pestilence.

During droughts, Sodndtha (Indra), the Ganges, the mountains, and Mah&kaccha should be worshipped. Epidemics are to be combated by physicians with drugs and by holy ascetics with purificatory rites. A variety of religious or magical practices are also recommended. Against
cattle disease the only remedies suggested are the ceremony of waving lights in cowsheds and worship of household
deities.

Famine,

with seeds and food*

for help,

In times of famine the king should provide the people He may have recourse to allied states

may

start relief works, or force the miserly rich

to give up their hoards. Migration from the famine-stricken area to a district where the harvest has been good, or to

the sea-coast or the shores of lakes, is also recommended. Catch-crops of grain or vegetables, roots or fruit may be

grown on
organized.

irrigated land, or hunting expeditions

may be

of cats and mongooses, the ministrations of holy ascetics. Rats also by should be worshipped at the changes of the moon. Similar

Rats

may be kept down by means

as well as

locusts
Snakes.
Tiger*.

means may be employed to prevent damage by and other insects.

Snakes
Tigers

birds,

and

may be exorcized by incantations or destroyed. may be killed by means of carcases poisoned with

the juice of the madana plant, caught in nets, or attacked with weapons by men protected with armour. A reward of
Demons*

12 panas should be given for killing a tiger. Demons should be exorcized by persons learned in the Aiharoa Veda and in the mdyd and yoga. At changes of the moon caitya worship should be celebrated by placing on

a terrace
Preven-

(vitardi) offerings

such as an umbrella, the picture

tion and detection is of crime.

of an arm, a flag, and the flesh of a goat. For the prevention and detection of crime extensive use

made of spies, who in some cases act as agents provocateurs. The collector-general (samdhartr), it is said, should employ throughout the country spies disguised as holy men (siddka),
(t&pasa)>
friars

ascetics

(praorajtia),

vagabonds,

bards,

jugglers (kuhaka), mystics (pracchandaka), astrologers

The "ArwoMsira

rowce ami vnmmm juaw

dumb, the

HA

fortune-tellers (naimittika), soothsayers (wu**Wr-

physicians, lunatics, the

confectioners,

deaf, idiots, the

blind, traders, artists, artisans, musicians, dancers, vintners,

and

sellers

of cooked food.

These

men should

make
(i. e.

inquiry as to the character of villagers and adhyatya private persons and officials of different departments). a person is suspected of evil conduct, a suitable spy If

should be told off to shadow him. If the person suspected be a judge or commissioner (pradeffr), the spy should say
to

him

'
:

My

friend, so-and-so, has

brought against him. 9 accepjt a sum of money.

had a charge or claim Please get him out of trouble, and

If the other agrees to the proposal,

he may be denounced for corruption and banished. Or a spy may say to a grdmaktifa (village head ?) or adhyatya :
This wealthy man of bad character has got into trouble* 9 Let us take advantage of it to deprive him of his wealth.
*

If the official so

approached agrees to the proposal, he be denounced for extortion and banished.

may

spy, pretending to be implicated in a case, may tempt people with money to give fake evidence. If they yield to

the temptation they

may

be banished as

false witnesses.

person suspected of enamouring

women by means

of

charms and

spells may be offered money by a secret agent to gain the affections of some woman with whom the agent professes to be in love ; if the former agrees, he may be denounced as a sorcerer and banished. Similarly, a man suspected of poisoning may be offered money by a spy to poison some one, and, on his accepting, be banished as a poisoner. Where a man is suspected of making false coin by reason of his purchases of metals and alkalis, and implements such as bellows, pincers, and stamps, and of his clothes and hands being soiled with ashes and smoke, a spy may enter his service as an apprentice and then denounce him, and he

way
to

purpose of entrapping young men inclined commit robbery and adultery, spies are to be employed who profess to be able, by means of a spell, to escape capture,

be expelled. For the special

i*

116

The Early History of Bengal

to disappear from view, to open dosed doors, or to enamour women. They will entice the young men to a village and

open doors of houses and cause the guards to fall asleep by means of incantations, introduce the young men to women personating other men's wives.
there, after pretending to

Then the youths may be instructed in the art of incantation, and encouraged to test their power by plundering houses
of articles previously marked. They may be arrested, either in the act of plundering, or afterwards while selling or mort-

gaging the marked property, or when they have been intoxicated with drugged liquor. When they have been information may be obtained from them about their arrested,
posing as experienced thieves, shall associate with thieves and cause them to be arrested, and the samdharir shall exhibit them to the public,
past lives and their associates. By similar devices detectives,

announcing : The king has studied the science of arresting thieves. In accordance with his instructions I have arrested

and will arrest others/ Another device is for spies masquerading as thieves to associate with criminal forest tribes, and arrange with them to attack caravans or villages stocked beforehand for the
these thieves,

purpose with spurious gold and other goods. On the attack taking place, the assailants may be slain by armed forces lying in wait for them, or they may be arrested while asleep or intoxicated with drugged food or drink provided for them.
of crime
Instructions with a view to the prevention and detection by means other than the employment of spies are

also given.

may

There is a long list of classes of persons who be arrested on suspicion based on their manner of life
It includes

and conduct.

dence, caste, or

name ;

persons who change their resithose addicted to the luxuries of

:

eating meat, drinking liquor, using perfumes, wearing gar* lands, expensive dress, and ornaments ; the extravagant ; those who associate with profligate women, gamblers, and
places alone in forests, hold secret meetings, have fresh wounds treated with secrecy and

vintners

those

or on business not

who are known

often

away from home at

who travel

The 'ArthaM^tra': Police and Criminal Law

haste* hide themselves in their houses*

117

are attached to

or unduly inquisitive about the wives or property of other men, keep bad company, or loiter in the dark, behind walls, or in the shade of trees ; those who sell goods

women

under suspicious circumstances, are of low occupation and caste, whose conduct is notorious ; a town superintendent who, on seeing a mahdmdtra, hides himself or absconds, a man who shows fear by irregular breathing, whose face is pale and dry and utterance halting ; one who goes accompanied by armed men and has a threatening aspect* All these, it is said, may be suspected of being murderers,
thieves,

guilty of misappropriation of treasure-trove or deposits, or otherwise men of evil life. For the detection of thefts it is enjoined that notice of Stolen
articles lost or stolen

men

articles*

dealer

who

should be given to dealers in similar conceals any article of the loss of

which he has received notice shall be considered guilty as an abettor of theft* A dealer who comes into possession of a lost or stolen article without knowing that it has been lost or stolen shall be acquitted on giving it up. No one shall sell or mortgage an old article without giving
notice to the superintendent of trade

On receipt of such information, the superintendent shall ask the person in possession of the article how he came by it. If his explanation is found on inquiry to be correct and
satisfactory,

he shall be released; otherwise he shall be required to restore the property, and may, according to circumstances, be fined or punished as a thief. An honest
person who has been in possession of an article lost another for a long time may retain possession of it.
is said, it

by

In cases of housebreaking and theft from a building, it Houseshould be ascertained from appearances such as

appearances of entry or exit otherwise than by doors, breaking of doors and windows, ascent or descent of stairs,

and tunnelling of walls, and methods of removing propertywhether the crime has been committed by internal
piercing

(abhyantara) or external (bOkya) agency, or

*

by

both*

It

Cf. p. lit.

118

The Early History of Bengal

in appears that this maxim refers to crimes committed to thieves who cities, the description abkyantara applying belong to the town, and bdhya to those from outside, for
the chapter in which it occurs concludes with a verse which says that the commissioner (pradctfr), with his staff of gopas and sth&nikas, shall take steps to find out external (b&hya)
thieves,

and the city superintendent (ndgaraka) those within the town (aniardurge).

given of persons who may be suspected such as : a neighbour in miserable circumin such cases, stances, a woman of poor condition or engaged in some intrigue, a servant of bad character, a person who is very
further
list is

want of sleep or fatigue, whose face and speech broken, whose appearance shows is pale and dry that he has been climbing (walk or other obstacles), whose body is scratched or clothing torn, hair and nails dirty, or nails broken ; one who has just bathed and anointed himone whose footself, or just washed his hands and feet prints resemble those which have been found of a person
sleepy or shows signs of
;

HomiCldc "

entering or leaving the building. Next follow instructions for the investigation of cases of suspected homicide.

sudden death, the corpse shall be smeared with oil and examined. Detailed lists are given of the symptoms of death by suffocation, hanging, drowning, beating with sticks or ropes, throwing down, poisoning, and snakebite. In the case of poisoning, the remains of a meal should be examined in milk, or the undigested food found in the stomach may be thrown on 9 * a fire* If it makes a chitchit sound and turns the colour of the rainbow, poison may be inferred. When in the burning of a corpse the belly remains unburnt, servants should be examined as to ill-treatment (they may have received from the deceased). Inquiry should
that, in all cases of

They lay down

be made as to any other person in the dead man's family or household who may have had cause for enmity against hkn, such as a person in distress, a woman engaged in an intrigue, the adviser of a woman who has been deprived
also

The
by

'Arthaitetra

'

Police

and Criminal Law

to injury caused

of her inheritance.

Generally, in cages of apparent suicide

hanging, inquiry should be the deceased to any one.

made as

by

Homicide,
arise

it is said, results

from

erne

from anger, and anger may or other of the following causes : women,
professional competition,
affairs

succession to property,

hatred

between rivals, disputes about trade or the and lawsuits.

relatives of the deceased

of guilds,

made from and persons who happened to be near the scene of the occurrence where a man has been
Instructions are given as to inquiries to be

killed

by

his

own hirelings, by thieves for the sake of money,

resembles.
Suicide,

or

by enemies of another man whom he

If

a person under the influence of love or anger commits suicide by rope, weapon, or poison, his or her corpse shall be dragged along the public road by a candala, with a rope,

and deprived of funeral rites. The next chapter has for

its title

F&kyakarmanuyogob,

Torture,

meaning 'the questioning of an accused person by word and by act ', i. e. without or with torture. As in ancient Europe, torture appears to have been applied to elicit a confession from an accused person whose guilt had been established by other evidence a practice based on the view that, as the best and most conclusive evidence of guilt, a con* fession should be obtained, where this is possible, to clinch and confirm other proof. To this day, as is well known,
Indian police
officers investigating cases are

prone to attach
confession,

undue importance to the object of procuring a

and, with this object, sometimes resort to questionable expedients. It is prescribed that if the defendant's answers to the questions addressed to him are corroborated by reliable
witnesses,

he shall be acquitted:

otherwise he shall be

subjected to torture.

There is an obscure rule which seems to mean that after au interval of three days from the commission of an offence no one shall be arrested except on strong proof of his guilt :
the idea being, perhaps, that the fact of suspicion falling at once on a man is, in itself, evidence ag*inst him* Other

Proteo-

120

The Early History of Bengal

provisions are that any one who charges an innocent man with theft shall fomreetf be liable to the punishment for
theft.
is

An

actuated

accused person who proves that the complainant by hatred or enmity towards him should be

acquitted.

Any one who

keeps an innocent

man in

confine*

ment should be punished with the ptirvasdharadanfa. The the guilt of a suspected person should be established by
production of such evidence as the instruments used in committing the crime, accomplices and abettors, the stolen
article,

and persons concerned

in its sale or purchase.

In

the absence of such evidence the accused should be acquitted. For sometimes an innocent person has been arrested as
thief in consequence of his accidental presence near the scene of the theft, or resemblance to the thief in appearance or dress, possession of arms similar to those carried by the

criminal, or possession of articles similar to those stolen ; as in the case of one Mancjavya, 1 who, though innocent,

confessed to a theft through fear of torture. Having clearly laid down that only those whose guilt has been proved shall

Persons
froni torture,

Kindt of

be subjected to torture, and then only if they persist in denying their guilt, the chapter proceeds to enumerate certain categories of persons on whom torture is not to be inflicted. They are children, the aged and infirm, persons of weak intellect, lunatics and intoxicated persons, the weakly, and those suffering from hunger, thirst, or fatigue, women who are pregnant or have been delivered within the preceding month, and brahmans. The different kinds of torture are next enumerated. There
:

were,

it

namely:

appears, four ordinary (vyavahdrika) (1) the 'six punishments' (paddandah

tortures,

meaning

uncertain) ; (2) seven kinds of whipping ; (8) two kinds of tying or hanging up; (4) the water-tube torture

perhaps by allowing water to drop slowly on the victim's

head.

For serious offences the tortures are, nine kinds of caning, two kinds of suspension, burning a finger-joint after the accused has drunk rice-gruel, heating for a day the body
1
4 ApparenUy a kading

The 'Arthattetra' : Police and Criminal Law

who has drunk oil, making the accused fca oat on grass on a winter's night. Different kinds of torture, it A brahman, is said, may be employed on successive days. instead of being tortured, should be branded with a symbol indicating his offence and banished. There follow rules providing punishments for various forms and degrees of theft.
of a person

These rules may be taken as applying to theft as distinguished from sdhasa, a term which, as suggested above,

may

cover cases of wrongful taking possession of property amounting to civil tort, not crime. It is not certain, however,

whether this interpretation is correct, as discrepancies and redundances in existing texts of the Arthaidstra might
be accounted for in various ways
(cf. supra, p. 28). theft of royal property, it is provided that Regarding those who steal precious stones or other articles of value

opcrty.

from mines or important manufactories shall be beheaded.

Theft of articles of
punishable with the ptiroas&hasadanda. Theft from the royal storeyards (panyabhumi) of things valued at from 1 mafa (& pana)
to 1
less

value from factories

is

is punishable with fines ranging from 12 to 48 of things from 1 to 2 panas in value with the p&vOj panas, from 2 to 4 panas with the madhyama, from 4 to 8 panas

pana

with the uUamasdhasadanda, from 8 to 10 panas with death. For theft of goods from royal warehouses and armouries the
fine in

proportion to value is doubled, for thefts from the 1 treasury and aksaJdla (royal goldsmith's office ) multiplied
eightfold.

For thefts of private property from fields, threshing-floors, Theft of dwellings, or shops the scale of punishment according to property,
values
is

as follows

Pa ** 8 panas fine or the culprit to have his body smeared with cow-dung and be proclaimed (as a thief). Another alternative punishment rfarJram^JkAaW (lit. dishis mentioned, the skirt) meaning of which is uncertain. to i pana, 6 panas fine or the i culprit to have his head shaved and be banished. i to | potto, 9 panas fine or to be smeared with cow-dung
IB to i
Cf. p. 55.

122

The Early History of Bengal

or ashes and proclaimed, or the iardva (earthen dish)

ppHJshmcnt. | to 1 pana, 12 panas fine or the culprit to have his head shaved and be banished. 1 to 2 panas, 24 panas fine or the culprit to have his head shaved with a piece of brick and be banished.

2 to 4 panas, 86 panas fine. 4 to 5 panas, 48 panas fine. 5 to 10 panas, the pfavas&hasadanda. 10 to 20 panas, 200 paruw fine. 20 to 80 panasy 500 panas fine* 80 to 40 jwmow, 1,000 panas fine. 40 to 50 panas, death.

For theft accompanied by

Quadrupled*
Forgery.

force, the
;

in proportion to value are doubled

above rates of fines for robbery under arms

For forging a deed or using a counterfeit seal, a head of a family (kufumbddhyakfa) or chief owner of joint property
(mukhyasvdmin) is liable to either of the three s&hasadanda* or to the death penalty, according to the gravity of the
offence,

Misoon-

Then come

clauses dealing with

a number of

offences

judges

*roe

connected with the administration of justice* A judge is punishable with the purvasdhasadanda for threatening, browbeating, sending out of court, or unjustly
silencing,

and with double of that punishment

for defaming

or abusing, a party to a case in his court. For not asking a question which ought to be asked (prcc&ya), asking one

which ought not to be asked (apfcchya), rejecting the answer to one which he has asked, tutoring, prompting, or reminding a witness, a judge is liable to the madhyamasdhasadanfa Offences by judges which are punishable with the vitamatdkasadanfa
corruptly giving advice to parties, settling wrong issues* delay in the settlement of issues, wrong devices to postpone cases, wasting time so as to tire
are,

parties out

and

force

than

to leave the court*

and taking
bccn
******

up

again cases disposed of. court derk* for not **te**8

down what

1***

The

'Ariha&dstra': Police

and Criming Lmo

writing down wbat has not been said, or altering the sense or effect of depositions, is liable to the pOroaOhatatotfa

or to punishment in proportion to his guilt* judge or commissioner (pradtftr) who imposes an Improper -^-' ^' improper fine is liable to a fine of twice the amount or of

eight times the

exceeds or

falls

the fine imposed by him short of the proper sum. judge or com-

sum by which

missioner unjustly inflicting corporal punishment Is liable to the same punishment or to pay twice the amount of fine
ordinarily exacted in lieu thereof.

that the pradtffy exercised judicial

police functions.

These provisions show as well as revenue and

Offence*

number of clauses dealing with offences by persons in charge of prisons (bandhanOgdra) and dhrakas, which, from the context, would appear to have been some
have, then, a

We

kind of places of detention.

Mr. Shamasastry translates the * f word by lock-up . The first of these clauses appears to relate to improper releases from a lock-up attached to a court (dharmatfMya cdraka), but the meaning is doubtful, and the text perhaps

corrupt. It is laid

down that one who

releases

from a cfaaka *

man

against

whom an
to

be

made

action has been brought the amount of the claim against him and pay

(abhiyukta) shall

also the
releases

madhyama sdhasadanfa He who (improperly) a prisoner from a jail (bandhanOgOra) shall be

condemned to death and forfeit all his property. Other offences by a superintendent of a jail (bandkan&gfrdpunishable with fines as follows : con1 fining in a lock-up without stating the reason, S4po*o*; ill-treating a prisoner, 48 pona* ; depriving a prisoner of
dhyatya) are

made

food and water, 96 pofww; causing excessive hardships to, or extorting a bribe from, a prisoner, the fflodAyomatfl

kuadanja; putting a prisoner to death, 1,000 pa*as; outraging a female prisoner of servile condition, the jrftattoutraging the wife of * criminal, ti&madkya
*

Translation doubtful.

124

The Early History of Bengal

fa
;

outraging an foya female prisoner, the

uttanuudhasadanga.
is

Punish-

These punishments are strangely graduated, and the text perhaps incomplete or corrupt, in the chapter on Mutilation, or fine in lieu thereof

SSo
tion.

(ckdngabadhanifkraya), it is difficult to discern any principle on hich punishments have been apportioned, and the text

is,

in

some

places, obscure

and probably corrupt*

It

may

be that, at the date of compilation of the Arthaidstra, the

punishment of mutilation had fallen practically into desuetude, and we have here specified a number of offences for which that punishment was prescribed by an older and less humane code, with the fines which came later to be substituted for it. It is laid down that a person who steals or injures fowls, mongooses, cats, dogs, or pigs of less than
54 panas in value shall have the end of his nose cut off or pay a fine of 54 panas. One who steals a cart, boat, or ' ' small animal shall have one foot cut off or pay a fine of

800 panas. A person using false dice or other instruments 1 for gambling shall lose a hand or pay a fine of 400 panas. An adultress shall have her nose and one ear cut off or pay a fine of 500 panas. The adulterer is punishable with a fine of 1,000 panas. Whoever steals a large domestic animal, abducts a slave, or misappropriates and sells the property of a deceased person is liable to have both feet cut off and pay a fine of 000 panas. For assaulting persons of the highest castes or a spiritual guide (guru), or mounting the
king's carriage, horse, or elephant the punishment is tion of the foot and one hand or a fine of 700 paruw.

amputa-

Aadra

pretends to be a brahman, a person who eats the pro* perty of a deva, one who conspires against the king, or who
blinds both eyes of another is liable to have both eyes Minded by application of a poisonous ointment or pay a fine of 800 panas. A parson who enables a thief or adulterer to escape, falsifies a royal decree, abducts a girl or a female slave, at the same time carrying off money, commits a fraud
1

who

Different

punishment*
isstttg

for
tin*

cheating at play and

authorised dice are et forth in the chapter on gambling, v. p. 108*

The

'Arthatitetra

Police

and Criminal Law

125

in business (kOtavyavaMrin), or sells bad meat is liable to lose both feet and one hand or pay a fine of 900 jxmo*.

stealing images of devas or animals, abducting men, or taking wrongful possession of fidds* houses, gold bullion

For

or coins, precious stones, or crops the punishment uttamasdhasadanda or, in the alternative, death*
Selling of

is

the

human flesh

is

punishable with death*

is headed toMhactoatea dattdakalpah, Death 'death penalty with or without torture*. The meaning chapter does not include all the cases for which the death penalty is prescribed by the Arihaifatra : at the same time
it

The next chapter

mentions a number of offences punishable otherwise* The meaning of some of the forms of death which it mentions
follows

is

The sloka, with which it concludes, runs as Such painful punishments are in accordance with the tatfras of great sages, but it is deemed just (dhannya)
uncertain*
(

to put to death without torture criminals who are not cruel*' This verse seems to indicate that, at the date of the Artha3dstrd*8

compilation, the more cruel forms of the death penalty were falling into desuetude* curious instance of progressive attenuation of the Homicide

found in the case of homicide in the course of a riot or an affray, with which the chapter opens. It is laid down that he who kills a man in a riot or an affray shall be tortured to death* But where a person
severity of
*

punishment

is

in aflray*

wounded

in

fight dies within seven nights, the

*

man who

caused his death shall be put to death simply ' (i* e* without torture) ; where death ensues within a fortnight the punish-

ment

is

the uUamasdhasadan(fa

if

within a month, a fine

of 500 panas and payment of compensation. It would seem that, according to some ancient rule, the punishment for killing a man in an affray was death accom-

panied by torture. This rule was later construed to mean that the death penalty with torture should be inflicted only
in

where death had followed instantaneously from a blow given a fight. In most cases, probably, it could be made out that the death had not been instantaneous*

The next clause provides

for

wounding with a weapon the Wounding,

198

Pke Early History of Bengal

*ttama*dka*ada$$6, for wounding by a person intoxicated, amputation of a hand, for murder, the death penalty.
Abortion Causing abortion

Offences

by violence is punishable with the uttama, the madhyama, by general ill-treatment or by drugr^with annoyance (port&fefeg with the p&rvcudha&adanda. A list of offences punishable with impalement (itika)

2tf2*i,
impale-

mcBt*

"Maudes murder with violence, infliction of undeserved punishment, spreading of false reports, highway robbery, and theft of or wilful injury to the king's horse, elephant,
or chariot.

Abet*

A person supplying a murderer or thief with food, clothing,

fire,

or other necessaries, or information or advice, is punishable with the uttamasdhMadanfa. If he does so in ignorance Treason, he is to be censured. A person who aims at subverting the royal authority, forces his way into the private apartments
-

mcnt

of the palace, or incites forest tribes or other enemies against

the kingdom, or creates disaffection in city or country is liable to death by the torture called iirohastaprddipika.

Parricide.

The meaning of this word is not known, but it was apparently a form of torture in which fire was applied to the head and hands. For the same offences a brahman is to be drowned. For slaying mother or father, or teacher (ac&rya), or an
death by tvakchirabrddipika, meaning, apparently, application of fire to the head and skin ; for insulting a parent, teacher, or ascetic, cutting out the tongue; for biting or scratching any of their limbs,
ascetic,

the punishment

is

other

amputation of the corresponding limb. For stealing a herd of cattle, death without torture ; for making a breach in a reservoir containing water, drowning in the same ; for damaging a dry reservoir, the uttamasdhasadarfa; for damage to a neglected reservoir, already breached, the madkyarMudhatadanda.

For causing death by poison the punishment is drowning ; a woman who murders a man other than her husband is to be drowned. Any woman who murders her husband,
or offspring, or is guilty of arson or poisoning, should be put to death by means of bulls (by being gored by bulls?). Any person who sets Bre to pastures,
spiritual guide (gwrfl),

:
-uuivro,

Police

and Criminal Late

1ST

be burnt in the same fire. Any one who insults the king, betrays the secrets of the king's council, plots against the
king, or defiles a brahman's kitchen should have his tongue cut out. Any person other than a soldier stealing arms or

armour should be put to death by being shot with arrows* A man having sexual intercourse with an immature girl is liable to have his hand cut off or pay a fine of 400 pana* ;
if

Sexual crimc *

the girl dies in consequence, the punishment is death* According to one rule, a man having sexual intercourse
girl is liable

with a mature unmarried

finger cut off or

to have his middle

pay a fine of 200 ponas, and to pay com* to her father. But another rule says that a man pensation having such intercourse with a maiden with her consent

shall

pay a
shall

fine

a case

of 54 panas only, and the maiden in such pay a fine of half that amount. Another rule,

a man having connexion with a woman who remains unmarried for three years after attaining maturity (with her consent) commits no offence and is not liable to pay compensation to her father, if she has no jewellery on
again, says that

her person, because her father,

loses authority

over her.

But

if

by keeping her unmarried, she have jewellery, and the

seducer takes possession of it, it shall be regarded as theft A number of offences connected with marriage are sped- Offences
fied
:

one

man

impersonating another

who has

paid the

bride-price (hdka) for a girl ; obtaining a bride for one man marriage, after undertaking to get her for another ; refusing to give a girl in marriage as agreed upon ; substituting a different
girl for

^^

ccted

the one
first

whom it has been agreed to give in marriage.

For the
of the

hand or a
is

of these offences the punishment is amputation fine of 400 panas, and making good the
the others are punishable with fine only. of a peculiar custom by which a man who

bride-price;

Mention

made

rescued a

woman from

the hands of thieves, or saved her

time of famine, or when lost in a forest, or abandoned, acquired a right to have sexual intercourse
flood, or in

from a

with her.

But

this

custom had perhaps

fallen into desue-

tude, for it is said that it should not apply to

any woman

128

The Early History of Bengal

is

who
Mi***-

of high caste, or

who

does not desire sexual inter-

course, or has children.

In the final chapter of the book it is laid down that whoever causes a brahman to partake of forbidden food or drink shall be punished with the ttftomasdhasadanfa. For a similar offence against a kfatriya the punishment is the

madhyama, against a Vatiya the pfirvasdfuisadantfa, and against a tudra a fine of 54 panas. House-trespass by day is punishable with the purva, and by night with the madhyamasdhMadanda; trespassing with arms in another's house, by day or night, with the uttamasdhasadanda. But beggars, pedlars, lunatics, and intoxicated persons entering a house, and neighbours entering a house, even by force, in case of danger, are not to be punished, unless they have been specially prohibited from entering. For mounting the roof of his own house after midnight a man was liable to the

pwva;
Proteci f

for

mounting another's

roof, to

the madhyamasd-

hasadanda.
that merchants travelling in caravans caravans, (sdrthikds) should camp in a part of the village allotted to them, and should make known the value of their goods to
It is laid

down

any of the goods should be stolen or lost, the village head-man (grdmasvamin) must make good the loss. If the theft or loss occur in a place lying between the boundaries of two villages, the local superintendent of pastures, if any (vivttddhyaksa), 1 must make it good. Where there is no superintendent of pastures, the responsibility falls on a functionary called the corarajjuka, whose duties are not otherwise specified, but were evidently connected with the arresting of thieves. Apparently, where there was no local head-man or responsible official, the cost of recouping the trader's loss was to be distributed over the inhabitants of a neighbouring area, which might extend to
local official.

a responsible

If

Injury

or ten villages. Personal injury caused through defective construction of a house or cart, or by causing to fall into a pit or well, by
five

cutting

down a tree,

letting loose
1

a domestic animal, keeping

p. 70.

Polite

and Criminal La&

clods, or stones, or discharging arrows at

a wild or unbroken (adOnta) animal, or throwing sticks, a carriage or is to be treated as an assault (dandaparfoya). elephant,
Apparently injury caused by the collision (*ahgha#ana) of a vehicle was regarded in the same light, but if the driver 4 ' ' gave warning by calling out apehi ( get out of the way '), he was not liable to punishment. There is a remarkable provision that * a man slain by an angry elephant shall give a kumbha of liquor less by a drona, and also garlands and unguent, and a doth to dean the tusks ', Presumably these offerings were to be made by his * heirs* The reason given is that death caused by an elephant is as meritorious as the bath taken at the end of a horsesacrifice (atvamedka) '. This maxim is followed by rules to the effect that when a person, through no fault of his own, is killed by an elephant, the driver shall be punished with

the tUtama^dhasadanda, and that if injury is caused by a horned or tusked animal, through the owner's fault, he
shall

be

liable to the

purvasdhasadanda-

We

have here,

perhaps, an example of an ancient superstition corrected

later

by

common

sense.

As regards

who

witchcraft, the general rule is that any person Witch****** attempts to injure another thereby shall suffer the
himself.
is

same injury
craft the

For attempting incest through witchdeath after amputation of a limb. punishment For committing adultery with a brahman woman a kfotriya was liable to the tUtamasdhasadanda, a vaifya to confiscation of all his property, and a itidra to be wrapped in mats and burnt alive* A brahman, k$atriya, or vaiiya committing adultery with a woman of degraded (ivapaka) caste should be branded and banished, or degraded to the same caste* A iudra or frvap&ka committing adultery (apparently, with a woman of higher rank) should be put to death, and the woman with whom he commits the offence should have her

Adultery.

and nose cut off. a man have illicit intercourse with a female ascetic ipravrqjita), he and she are each liable to a fine of 24 papa*. The concluding verses of the penal code set forth that
ears
If
177$
r

132

may

kill

The Marly History of Bengal one of them, and the other may be arrested and

punished for the crime. Various methods of poisoning are also recommended. * * Next come the chapters on Replenishment of the Treasury 4 Remuneration of government (koSdbhisamharana) and
(bhrtyabharaniya) to which reference has already been made, 1 and these are followed by three chapters on the conduct of courtiers, containing a series of shrewd maxims

servants

'

for the behaviour

by which an

astute time-server

may

obtain and preserve the royal favour, and, having thus attained the position of chief minister, may consolidate and

maintain his power. The remainder of the ArthaJastra, that

two-fifths of its total contents,
is

is

to say, about

mainly concerned with

Foreign Policy and War. This part of the work

is

certain philosophic sovereignty and what may be called the balance of power, * Element* The * elements of sovereignty (prakrtayah) are said to be

theories

prefaced by an exposition of relating to the nature of

seven in number, namely : the ruler (svSmin), the minister (amdiya), the country (janapada), the fort (durga), the treasury (koJa), the army (danda), and the ally (mitra). Or

reckoned as

the elements of sovereignty found in a single state six, excluding the ally*

may

be

Two policies are contrasted

effort to achieve

6ama, which

is

defined as the

enjoyment in security of the results of work, and vydydma, or a result. Of these words, ksema and yoga
is

Sixfold

respectively are almost equivalents. The source (yoni) of iama and vydydma

said to lie in the

(proper) application of the sixfold policy, or six policies (s&dgunya) : (1) sandhi, equivalent to panabandha, or agree-

ment between
vigraha,

states,

with pledges or guarantees;

(2)

war;

(8) asana, equivalent to upekfana, indiffer-

; (4) ydna> invasion or attack ; (5) samto pardrpana, seeking the protection of fraya, Equivalent another ; (6) dvaidhlbhdva, making peace with one and war

ence or neutrality

.with another.

Deterioration (ksaya), remaining stationary

*

Cf.pp. 84, 30, 87, 81.

The 'Arthatdttra': Policy 199 and increase or piogrese (tfcfcflM) tie the three (tthtow), possible phases of conditions of a state* Of these the human causes are policy (naya) and impolicy (oparuiya), the divine, fortune (a#a) and misfortune (anaya). Hie spirit of the maxims on foreign policy is frankly
aggressive.
4

The king \
is

it is said,

well

endowed by nature, and in

respect of the elements of sovereignty,

who

is

the abode of

the conqueror (vijigi$u)S policy The ruler of territory adjacent to that of the conqueror is the enemy* The ruler of territory adjacent to that of the

from the conqueror's territory, is the conqueror's friend or ally. Other powers taken into consideration are the enemy's ally, and the allies of the the madhyama king, conqueror's and the enemy's allies whose territory is close to those of the conqueror and his enemy and who is capable of helping either of them ; and
enemy, and separated by
it
;

the

tttfcteina,

or neutral, king.
his ally,

The conqueror,

and

his ally's ally are said to The circle

constitute a circle of states, and, as each state has six elements

of sovereignty, each circle of states comprises eighteen elements of sovereignty. Again, as the conqueror, his enemy, and the madhyama and uddsitia kings form each the centre

of a circle of states, in
it is

all

said, are taken into consideration.

it is laid

seventy-two elements of sovereignty, As to the application

of the six kinds of policy,

inferior in strength to another should

he

who
:

is
*

superior in strength

down that he who is make peace with him ; should make war ; whoever

nor can I hurt my enemy,' should observe neutrality ; whoever is amply provided with means of aggression should attack his enemy ; the weak
thinks

No enemy can hurt me,

should seek protection ; to accomplish an object, for which he requires help, a ruler should adopt the double policy oi

making peace with one

state

course of diplomatic intrigue, gradually increase his power at the expense of ijmnQyi^ states, is described with almost wearisome miXlwSc^ and

and war with another.!^ by which an ableJf$l&Sfi$

with

a candour which verges on cynicisn^/ ^B^re agiy$

184
Force,

The Early History of Bengal

spies

and secret agents figure largely. Diplomacy, however, must be backed by force, and this part of the Arthajfatra contains the maxims for recruiting professional armies, to which reference has been made above, 1 and also hints on strategy and tactics of all arms. The object set before the model king, or vijigtfu, is that of building up an empire by a combination of diplomacy and
warlike prowess.
it is said,
'

Having thus

seized the territory of his

the conqueror should aim at acquiring enemy,' that of the madyama, and next that of the udft&na king.

'

This
Policy for

is

the

way to conquer the world/

Unbroken success is not postulated. A weak king attacked by a powerful enemy should seek the protection of one who is stronger than his enemy. In the absence of such a protector, he should combine with a number of his equals or
inferiors.

Failing such a combination, he should seek protection in a fort. Failing this, he should make peace with his enemy by placing his kingdom at the latter's disposal,

and,

having obtained

his

protection,

should

serve

his

In making peace, he may give one of But when, by following a wise policy as a vassal king, he has succeeded in increasing his power, he may break through his agreement, after arranging by some
interests in every way. his sons as a hostage.

Three
of ooo*
querors.

it is

device for the escape of the hostage. In another passage said that conquerors are of three kinds the just or virtuous conqueror (dharmavijayin), who is satisfied with

submission and fealty ; the grasping conqueror, who aims at acquiring land and money, and is himself in fear of his enemies ; and the ruthless or demon-like conqueror (asuravijayin),

who would

sons,

wives, and life

itself.

deprive the conquered of land, treasure, A weak king attacked by the first
;

may make submission to him, and obtain his protection the second may be bought off with money the third may be
;

Or, appeased by surrender of territory and treasure. failing to make peace with a powerful enemy, the weak king

may

resort to intrigue, and, by means of secret agents, bring about disaffection among the subjects of his enemy or
his assassination.
*

Cl

p. 20.

Policy For dealing with conquered country, a wise

conciliation is enjoined.
*

The'Arthavdstra'

185
policy of Treatof coo-

* Having acquired a new territory,* it is said, the conqueror should, by the good qualities of his administration, overshadow the defects and surpass twofold the good qualities of the enemy whom he has expelled. By justice and virtue, industry and kindness, by remission of taxes and bestowal of gifts and honours, he should please and benefit the people of the country. He must faithfully keep his promises to those who have taken his side ; otherwise he would forfeit the confidence of his own subjects as well as that of foreigners. He should study the character and adopt the dress, language, and customs of his new subjects. He should observe the religious festivals and ceremonies of the country. His secret agents should contrive to impress on the leading men of districts, villages, castes, and corporations the vices and defects of the late government, and the high esteem and favour with which they are regarded by the conqueror, and his devotion to their interests. He should be liberal in gifts and in remission of taxes, and attentive to the public security. On religious institutions, as well as on the learned, the eloquent, the virtuous, and the brave, he should bestow liberally lands and other property and remissions of taxation. He should release prisoners, and show favour to the poor, to orphans, and to the sick* He should prohibit the slaughter of animals for half a month during the caturmdsya (the four months of the rainy season), for four days at the full moon, and on the days of his own star and that of the country also all slaughter of female and young animals, as well as castration. He should do away with abuses which are injurious to the army or the treasury, and establish righteous
;

S^L
********?

customs.'

There

is

a chapter headed, 'The knowledge of power, Alhwkm

place, time, strength, and weakness' (faktidesdkdlabaldbala- Northern ( The place jn&nam), in which the following passage occurs :
is

There the northern region, the earth (dejabpfthivl). extending from the Himalayas to the ocean, is the dominion of no mean ruler (atiryakcakravartitydram).' This may be

read as an allusion to Candragupta's empire, for, as we have seen, 1 it covered the whole of Northern India, ex* trading westward to the coast of the Arabian Sea, and
*

Cf. pp. 38-7.

186
there is no record of

an empire so extensive having

It is possible, too,

existed

in India before his time.

* * quent description extending from the Himalayas to the Sea applied to the conquests or dominions of various kings, which is found in many later inscriptions, may be derived from the tradition of the Maurya empire, and, perhaps, from this

On the whole, passage of the Kautiliya ArtkafdMra. in this treatise is evidently however, the polity contemplated that of a small state, ruled by an ordinary raja, and this is consistent with the probability that the empire comprised
a number of vassal kingdoms. Reference has been made above 1 to another passage, which supports the traditional rule of policy that a conqueror should maintain a kingdom which submitted to him, if possible, under a member of its
Pitscripr

pSSJ^
*c.

ancient royal family. The Arthatdstra concludes with a series of prescriptions for poisons and poisonous fumes and concoctions, by which the complexion or the colour of the hair may be changed,
blindness, dumbness, leprosy,

and other

diseases caused, or

supernatural powers acquired, such as the power of fasting, of performing long journeys without fatigue, of touching or

without being burnt, seeing in the dark, or becoming invisible, and mantras or spells, by the repetition of which whole villages may be thrown into deep sleep and
holding
fire

The following are a few examples. The powder prepared from the roots of dhdmdrgava (luffa foetida) mixed with the powder of the flower of bhattdtaka (semecarpus anacardium) causes, when administered, death in the course of a month/ The smoke caused by burning the powder of iatakardama (?) uccidinga (?) karavira (nerium odorum), katutumbi (a kind of bitter gourd), and fish, together with the straw of madana (?) kodrava (paspalum scrobfoulatum), hastikarna, or palasa* destroys animal life as far as it is carried by the wind/ * Whoever has anointed his legs with the oil extracted from paste prepared from the roots of paribhadraka (erythrina
doors caused to open.
( &

indica), pratibala, vanjula (a kind of rattan), vajra (euphorbia), and banana, mixed with the serum of the flesh of a frog, can

walk over

fire.

Having fasted

for three nights,

on the day

Cf. p. si.

Thc'ArtkaMstra': Policy
of the star Pu$ya, place in the skull of a man who has been slain with a weapon, or impaled, soil and barley-seed, and irrigate them with milk of goats and sheep* Wearing a garland made of the sprouts of the barley, one may walk 9 invisible to others. * The slough of a snake filled with powdered bones and marrow of a cow sacrificed during the funeral rites of a

brahman
4

will

make

cattle invisible.

Procure three white spines of a porcupine and, after fasting for seven nights, make libations of honey and clarified butter on a fire kindled from 108 pieces of khadira (mimosa catechu) wood, while repeating a mantra (given in the text). Then bury one of the spines at the entrance of a village or house while chanting the same mantra, and every being
therein will fall asleep.
9

Kautilya's Arthaidstra reveals a mentality combining cold Sum* and calculating sagacity with almost childlike credulity. The picture which the work presents is that of a paternal government, tempered by respect for religion and custom, and, probably, limited also by the power and privileges of guilds and corporations. Though the government was not democratic, it is likely that the life of the guilds and various other associations may have afforded occasion for such democratic processes as elections, debates, and decisions by majority vote. The State employed a very large number of officials and aimed at a close control over its subjects in many of their activities, regulating trade, commerce, and industry, levying taxes on sales, imports, and exports, as well as internal transit dues, fixing prices, maintaining communications by land and water, as well as irrigation works, registering births and deaths, and movements of travellers, and enforcing numerous regulations in the interests of public safety and convenience in town and country. In villages the care of the sick and infirm by government is enjoined, and among the buildings prescribed to be erected in
fortified
cities
is

the hospital (bhaifajyagrha).

Collecting

a large proportion of its revenue in kind, the State itself engaged in manufactures and commerce* We find no mention of schools. Probably the State did not concern itself with education, although the Asoka edicts

IBS
It

The Early History of Bengal

diffused.

show that the knowledge of reading was widely

may have been imparted in monastic schools. 1 On the whole, it may be claimed for the Artha4d$tra that its general spirit is enlightened and humane, and though in some places it advocates methods and expedients flagrantly repugnant to
our ideas of public morality, the general objects held in view are the maintenance of law and order, the punishment of the
wicked, and the protection of the peaceable citizen. On these grounds the extensive employment of spies and secret agents

be defended, although the system must have been liable to abuse. Trade must have been severely hampered by the regulations and duties imposed on it, and by the attempts to fix prices. The system of land revenue assessment a moderate fixed share of the produce, with additional

may

temporary cesses to meet emergent requirements of the State seems to have been elastic, and should not have been
oppressive if the injunction to levy the additional cesses only where the harvest had been good were observed ; but here,
also, there

was probably room for abuse. About the penal code, as already observed, there

is

a good

deal of obscurity, but it seems likely that the cruel punishin the Ariha^dstra, such as mutilation and death with torture, were becoming obsolete at the date of

ments mentioned

Provisions making serious offences punishable fines of the Brehon Law. As already noticed, persons condemned to pay fines might be required to work off the amounts as slaves, and the system may have

this work.

with fine recall the eric

been economical.

The

society for which these laws

and

institutions

were

designed evidently comprised, like the population of India at the present day, widely different scales of civilization, and this is clearly recognized, for example, in the sections relating to marriage, where eight customary kinds or classes
of marriage are mentioned, of which four are regarded as superior, but the general rule is laid down that any form of

marriage is permissible which is approved by custom in the class to which the parties belong. Similarly, as regards
*

Vincent Smith, A*oka> the Buddhist Emperor of India, pp. 188-9.

The 'ArthaMstra* : P<$cy

succession to property, it is provided that the division of n inheritance shall be made in accordance with the custom of

the district, caste, sangha, or village. There is dear evidence of the existence of a multitude of castes and the traditional theory of four original castes, and others derived from unions

between members of

different castes,

which had actually

find also the occurred, though prohibited in principle. broad racial distinction between drya and mUccha. tidras,

We

evidently, were drya

by race, and there is nothing to indicate that they were regarded as a conquered race reduced to servitude. The duties of a Sudra are said to be not only attendance on the twice-born, but also vdrtd, which is
explained as including agriculture, cattle-keeping, and trade, and kdriiktijUavakarma, or the occupations of artisan, musician, &c. The occupations included under the head of
vdrtd were prescribed for Vatiyas also, along with study, the performance of sacrifices, and the giving of gifts.

While it is clear that slavery existed, and must have been attended with some of the abuses inseparable from the
institution,
slaves,

and
it is

While

law designed to protect female slaves, from ill-treatment. especially clear, too, that persons of any caste might, in
find provisions of

we

certain circumstances, be reduced to slavery,

(

we may suppose
'

that the general precept that no drya should be a slave reflected public sentiment, and it is, perhaps, safe to infer that people other than mUcchas were not often found in the
condition of permanent slavery.

XII

MAURYA INSTITUTIONS
GREEK EVIDENCE
Greek
HIM] I .A&ifi

WHEN
and

proceeding to consider the evidence contained in works of Greek and Latin authors which bears on social
political conditions in India

during the Maurya period, It is it is important to have a dear idea of its limitations. known that accounts of India were written by a number of

Greeks or Macedonians
period
:

who

visited the country during that

Megasthenes, already mentioned, who was sent as ambassador from Seleukos to the court of Candragupta Maurya ; Patrokles, admiral of Seleuko's fleet ; Deimachos,

ambassador from Seleukos to Candragupta's successor, called by the Greeks Amitrochades or Amitrochates, and by Indian authorities Bindusara ; Dionysios, ambassador from Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt to Bindusara or ASoka it is not certain which; Timosthenes, Ptolemy's admiral.

None

of these accounts has survived in

its original

form.

What we have are descriptions of India by Greek and Latin authors who wrote centuries later, and who never visited
themselves, but probably derived most of their information, directly or indirectly, from the earlier accounts

India

of the Greek writers just mentioned and those of Alexander's companions, and, in some instances, have quoted one or

other of them as authority for statements which they make. It seems that, towards the dose of Aoka's reign, intercourse

by land between the

Hellenic world and India

became

interrupted, perhaps owing to the rise of the Parthian power, and even wheat in later times, direct maritime trade became

and the Roman Empire, Greek and Latin writers on India continued to rely on the traditional
established between India

authority of the distinguished

men who

visited the

country

Maurya Institution*: Greek Evidence

in Alexander's train
invasion.
It has

141

and during the century following his

*

been remarked by E. R. Sevan 1 that

for

many

centuries the India known to the West was India as portrayed

historians of Alexander's expedition, sthenes'.

by the

and of Mega-

Thus, in dealing with Greek and Latin sources of information about the Maurya period, we have to allow for probable inaccuracies, both in the original authorities
later

and in the

works based on them, which have come down to us, and in this connexion it is well to bear in mind another observa4 tion of Mr. Bevan In the case of the ancient Greeks,
:

scientific curiosity was constantly being interfered with and thwarted by another interest, which was strong in them

the love of literary form, the delight in logical expression. 9 The chief original authority quoted by name in extant Mega8ttlclies * documents whose evidence it is necessary to consider is

Megasthenes, and of him we know that he was the representative of Seleukos at the court of Sibyrtios, satrap of Arachosia (Kandahar), and that he was sent on several
occasions as ambassador to Sandrokottos at Palimbothra, to which place he travelled by a royal road. How long he

stayed in India is uncertain, but, according to his own account, the only parts of the country actually visited by him were P&taliputra and the regions through which he passed on
his journeys to and from that city, and what he knew of the lower part of the country traversed by the Ganges was by

be convenient, first, to quote corresponding Indian CMtm passages from the works of Diodorus, Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian respectively, based on Megasthenes, which deal with
divisions of the Indian population. Diodorus says, in his epitome of Megasthenes
4
:

hearsay. It will

Dtodont*.

The whole population of India is divided into seven castes The (AI), of which the first is formed by the collective body of the ), which, in point of number,
*

Gwck and

Cambridge Hirfory of India, vol. Latin Literature '.

!,

chap, xvi,

India In Emriy

142

The Early History of Bengal

is inferior to the other classes, but in point of dignity preeminent over all. For the philosophers, being exempted from all public duties, are neither the masters nor the servants of others. They are, however, engaged by private persons to offer the sacrifices due in lifetime, and to celebrate the obsequies of the dead for they are believed to be most dear to the gods, and to be most conversant with matters pertaining to Hades. In requital of such services they receive valuable gifts and privileges. To the people of India at large they also render great benefits, when, gathered together at the beginning of the year, they forewarn the assembled multitudes about droughts and wet weather, and alsp about propitious winds and diseases, and other topics capable of profiting the hearers. Thus the people and the sovereign learning beforehand what is to happen, always make adequate provision against a coming deficiency, and never fail to prepare beforehand what will help in time of need. The philosopher who errs in his predictions incurs no other penalty than obloquy, and he then observes silence for
:

the rest of his life. ' The second caste (p*po$) consists of the husbandmen, who husbandappear to be far more numerous than the others. Being, men. moreover, exempted from fighl ing and other public services, they devote the whole of their time to tillage ; nor would an enemy coming upon a husbandman at work on his land do him any harm, for men of this class, being regarded as
public benefactors, are protected from
all injury.

The

land,

thus remaining unravaged, and producing heavy crops, supplies the inhabitants with all that is requisite to make life very enjoyable. The husbandmen themselves, with their wives and children, live in the country and entirely avoid going into town. They pay a land-tribute to the king, because all India is the property of the crown, and no private person is permitted to own land. Besides the land-tribute, they pay into the royal treasury a fourth part of the produce

"The third caste (<j>i>\ov) consists of the neat-herds and Herdsmen and shepherds (/JoiwcoXwv KCU TOI/ACW?) and in general of all herdshunters. men {vo^an,^ who neither settle in towns nor in villages, but live in tents. By hunting and trapping they clear the country of various birds and wild beasts. As they apply themselves eagerly and assiduously to this pursuit, they free India from the pests with which it abounds all sorts of wild beasts and birds, which devour the seeds sown by the husbandmen.

Maurya
4

Institutions

Greek Evidence

148

The fourth caste (/^/w) consists of the artisans (rxvw). Hie Of these some are armourers, while others make the im* plements which husbandmen and others find useful in their different callings* This class is not only exempted from paying taxes, but even receives maintenance from the royal
exchequer.
4

The fifth caste is the military (W/uwnw TO orpaTwrtKov). The It is well organized and equipped for war, holds the second *oldtav place in point of numbers, and gives itself up to idleness and amusement in the times of peace. The entire force men-atarms, war-horses, war-elephants, and the king's expense.
4

&

all

are maintained at

The sixth caste (ficrov) consists of the overseers (Ijxipwv). The overIt is their province to inquire into and superintend all that 8eera * goes on in India, and make report to the king, or, where the state is without a king (AjSocrtXcvros), to the magistrates. The seventh caste (/*/*>*) consists of the councillors and The assessors of those who deliberate on public affairs. *It is counthe smallest class, looking to number, but the most respected, ciMors '
on account of the high character and the wisdom of its members ; for from their ranks the advisers of the king are taken, and the treasurers of the state, and the arbiters, who settle disputes. The generals of the army also, and the
chief magistrates, usually belong to this class. Such, then, are about the parts into which the body politic in India is divided. No one is allowed to marry out of his own caste * aXAov yeVovs), or to exercise any calling (ofa <e<m 8i ya/xtv
4

or art except his own : for instance, a soldier cannot become 9 a husbandman or an artisan a philosopher. 1
Indian Strabo says, in his description of India : 4 According to him (Megasthenes) the population of India strabo. is divided into seven parts (p*p*i). The philosophers are The first in rank, but form the smallest class in point of number. 80Phcw * Their services are employed privately by persons who wish to offer sacrifices or perform other sacred rites, and also publicly by the kings, at what is called the Great Synod, wherein, at the beginning of the new year, all the philosophers are gathered together before the king at the gates,

&*

where any philosopher who

may have committed any

useful suggestion to writing, or observed any means for improving the crops or the cattle, or for promoting the public interests, declares it publicly. If any one is detected giving
false information therein, the
* ii.

law condemns him to be

silent

40, 41.

Tike

for the rest of his

Early History of Bengal life, hut he who gives sound

advice

is

The

exempted from paying any taxes or contribution. 'The second caste (fcwppy Si /Wpo?) consists of the husbandmen, who form the bulk of the population and are in disposition most mild and gentle. They are exempted from military service, and cultivate the lands undisturbed by fear. They never go to town, either to take part in its tumults or for any other purpose. It therefore not in* frequently happens that, at the same time, and in the same part of the country, men may be seen drawn up in array of battle, and fighting at the risk of their lives, while other men close at hand are ploughing and digging in perfect security,
having their soldiers to protect them. The whole of the land the property of the king, and the husbandmen till it on condition of receiving one-fourth of the produce.
is
*

The third

caste (rpirov) consists of herdsmen

and hunters,

who alone are allowed to hunt, and to keep cattle, and to sell
draught animals, and let them out to hire. In return for clearing the land of wild beasts and fowls, who devour the seeds sown in the fields, they receive an allowance of grain from the king. They lead a wandering life and live under
tents.
Traders.
*

l
. .

The fourth class (reraprov /M/XX), after herdsmen and hunters, consists of those who work as traders, of those who vend wares, and of those who are employed in bodily labour. Some of them pay tribute and render to the state certain
prescribed services. But the armour-makers and shipbuilders receive wages and their victuals from the king, for whom alone they work. The general in command of the army
fleet
'

supplies the soldiers with weapons, and the admiral of the (muopx *) lets out ships on hire for the transport both of

passengers and merchandise.

Fighting

mcn

The fifth class (W/xtrroi/) consists of fighting men, who, when not engaged in active service, pass their time in idleness and drinking. They are maintained at the king's expense, and hence they are always ready, when occasion calls, to take the field ; for they carry nothing of their own with them
but their own bodies.
sixth class (&TOV) consists of the overseers (fyo/xw), whom is consigned the duty of watching all that goes on and making reports secretly to the king. Some are entrusted
to
*

Over-

The

with the inspection of the city, and others with that of the army. The former employ as their coadjutors the courtesans of the city, and the latter the courtesans of the camp. The
rv.
i.

89-41,

ablest
4

145 Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence and most trustworthy men are appointed to fill these

offices*

The seventh class (J/JSo/Aov) consists of the councillors and Coon* assessors of the king. To them belong the highest posts of clltol * government, the tribunals of justice, and the general
administration of public affairs* No one is allowed to many OUt of his Own caste (ov* |<m 8* avrc ya/mv if aAAov yevovs), or to exchange one profession or trade for another, or to follow more than one business. An exception is made in favour of the philosopher, who, for his virtue, is allowed this
privilege.
'
.
. ,

Speaking of the philosophers, he (Megasthenes) says that Strata's such of them as live on the mountains are worshippers of ^5$Efat Dionysos, showing as proofs that he had come among them, the pfaitathe wild vine, which grows in their country only, and the ivy sophers. and the laurel and the myrtle and the box-tree, and other evergreens, none of which are found beyond the Euphrates, except a few in parks, which it requires great care to preserve. They observe also certain customs, which are bacchanalian. Thus, they dress in muslin, wear the turban, use perfumes, array themselves in garments dyed of bright colours, and their kings, when they appear in public, are preceded by the music of drums and gongs. But the philosophers who live on the plains worship Herakles. , . . Megasthenes makes a different division of the philosophers, saying that they are of two kinds ; one of which he calls the Brachmanes, and the other the Sarmanes. 2 The Brachmanes are most esteemed, for they are more consistent in their opinions. From the time of their conception in the womb, they are under the guardian care of learned men, who go to the mother, and, under the pretence of using some incantations for the welfare of herself and her unborn babe, in reality give her

prudent hints and counsels. The women, who listen most willingly, are thought to be the most fortunate in their children. After their birth, the children are under the care of one person after another, and, as they advance in age, each
succeeding master is more accomplished than his predecessor. The philosophers have their abode in a grove in front of the city, within a moderate-sized enclosure. They live in simple style, and lie on beds of rushes or skins. They abstain from

animal food and sexual pleasures, and spend their time in listening to serious discourse, and in imparting their knowledge
'

xv.

1,

40-9.
is

The word Garmanes, which

gener-

ally held to be for Sarmanes.

a copyist's error

appears in existing texts,

iWB

146

The Early History of Bengal

to such as will listen to them* The hearer is not allowed to speak, or even to cough, and much less to spit, and, if he offends in any of these ways, he is cast out from their society that very day, as being a man who is wanting in self-restraint. After living in this manner for seven-and-thirty years, each individual retires to his own property, where he lives for the rest of his days in ease and security. They then array themselves in fine muslin and wear a few trinkets of gold on their fingers and in their ears. They eat flesh, but not of animals employed in labour. They abstain from hot and highlyseasoned food. They marry as many wives as they please

with a view to have numerous children, for, by having many wives, greater advantages are enjoyed, and since they have no slaves, they have more need to have children around them to attend to their wants. The Brachmanes do not communicate a knowle4ge of philosophy to their wives, lest they should divulge any of the forbidden mysteries to the profane, if they became depraved, or lest they should desert them if they became good philosophers for no one who despises pleasure and pain as well as life and death wishes to be in subjection to another, but this is characteristic of a good man, and of a good woman. Death is with them a very frequent subject of discourse. They regard this life as, so to speak, a time when the child within the womb becomes mature ; and death as a birth into a real and happy life for the votaries of philosophy. On this account, they undergo much discipline as a preparation for death. They consider nothing that befalls man to be either good or bad, to suppose otherwise being a dreamlike illusion else how could some be affected with sorrow and others with pleasure by the very same things, and how could the same things affect the same individuals at different times with the opposite emotions ? 4 Their ideas about physical phenomena, the same author tells us, are very crude, for they are better in their actions than in their reasonings, inasmuch as their belief is, in great measure, based upon fables, yet, on many points, their opinions coincide with those of the Greeks, for, like them, they say that the world had a beginning, and is liable to destruction, and is in shape spherical, and that the deity who made it, and who governs it, is diffused through all its parts. They hold that various first principles operate in the universe, and that water was the principle employed in the making of the world. In addition to the four elements, there is a fifth agency, from which the heaven and the stars were
:

Mawrya Institutions : Greek Evidence

produced. The earth is placed

147

in the centre of the universe.

Concerning generation, and the nature of the soul, and many other subjects, they express views like those maintained, by the Greeks, They wrap up their doctrines about immortality and future judgement, and kindred topics in allegories after the manner of Plato. Such are bis statements regarding the Brachmanes. Of the Saramanes he tells us that those who are held in most honour are called the Hylobioi. They live in the woods, where they subsist on leaves of trees and wild fruits, and wear garments made from the bark of trees. They abstain from sexual intercourse and from wine. They communicate with the kings, who consult them by messengers regarding the causes of things, and who, through them, worship and supplicate the deity. Next in honour to the Hylobioi are the physicians, since they are engaged in the study of the nature of man. They are simple in their habits, but do not live in the fields. Their food consists of rice and barley meal, which they can always get for the mere asking or receive from those who entertain them as guests in their houses. By their knowledge of pharmacy they can make marriages fruitful, and determine the sex of the offspring. They effect cures rather by regulating diet than by the use of medicine. The remedies most esteemed are ointments and plasters. All others they consider to be, in a great measure, pernicious in their nature. This class and the other class practise fortitude, both by undergoing active toil, and by the endurance of pain, so that they remain for a whole day motionless in one fixed attitude. Besides these, there are diviners and sorcerers, and adepts in the rites and customs relating to the dead, who go about begging, both in villages and towns. Even such of them as are of superior culture and refinement, inculcate such superstitions regarding Hades as they consider favourable to piety and holiness of life. Women pursue philosophy with some of them, but abstain from sexual intercourse. . . .' x *The Indians worship Zeus Ombrios (i.e. the Rainy), the river Ganges, and the indigenous deities of the country.* 2 4 The Pramnai are philosophers opposed to the Brachmanes, and are contentious and proud of argument. They ridicule the Brachmanes, who study physiology and astronomy, as fools and impostors. Some of them are called the Pramnai of the mountains, others the Gymnetai, and others again the Pramnai of the city or the Pramnai of the country. Those of the mountains wear deer-skins and carry wallets
*

xv.

1.

58-60.

xv.

i.

69.

1*2

148

The Early History of Bengal

mentioned, for seven-and-thirty years. Women live in their society without sexual commerce. The Pramnai of the city live in towns, and wear muslin robes, while those of the l country clothe themselves with skins of fawns or antelopes.'
Pliny.

filled with roots and drags, professing to cure diseases by means of incantations, charms, and amulets. The Gymnetai, in accordance with their name, are naked, and live generally in tile open air practising endurance, as I have already

Pliny refers to the classes of the Indian population as

follows
4
:

For among the more civilized Indian communities life spent in a great variety of separate occupations. Some till the soil, some are soldiers, some traders ; the noblest and
is

richest take part in the direction of state affairs, adminisfifth class tering justice, and sit in council with the kings. devotes itself to the philosophy prevalent in the (genus)

country, which almost assumes the form of a religion, and the members always put an end to their life by a voluntary death on a burning funeral pile. In addition to these classes there is one (unum super haec est), half-wild, which is constantly engaged in a task of immense labour, beyond the power of words to describe that of hunting and taming

elephants/
Indian
custes Arrian.

Arrian, professing to base his account

on Megasthenes,

**y*
*

The
Sophists,

But further in India the whole people is divided into about

(yeVca).

seven castes

Among these are the Sophists (<ro^i<rrcu),

who are not so numerous as the others, but hold the supreme
place of dignity and honour ; for they are under no necessity of doing any bodily labour at all or of contributing from the produce of their labour anything to the common stock, nor indeed is any duty absolutely binding on them, except to perform the sacrifice offered to the gods on behalf of the State. If any one, again, has a private sacrifice to offer, one of the sophists shows him the proper mode, as if he could not otherwise make an acceptable offering to the gods. To them also the knowledge of divination among the Ti^fon^ is
exclusively restricted, and none but a sophist is allowed to practise that art. They predict about such matters as the seasons of the year, and any calamity which may befall the State, These sages go naked, living during winter in the open
*

xv.

i.

70-1.

vi. 22.

Maurya Institutions : Greek Evidence

149

air, to enjoy the sunshine, and, during the summer, when the heat is too powerful, in meadows and low grounds under l large trees, the shadow whereof, Nearchus says, extends to five plethra in circuit, adding that even ten thousand men could be covered by the shadow of a single tree. They live upon the fruits which each season produces, and on the bark of trees the bark being no less sweet and nutritious than the fruit of the date-palm. But the private fortunes of individuals they do not care to predict, either because divination does not concern itself with trifling matters, or because to take any trouble about such is deemed unbecoming. But if any one of them fails to predict truly, he incurs, it is said, no further penalty than being obliged to be silent for the future, and there is no power on earth to compel that man to speak, who has once been condemned to silence. 4 After them, the second caste (Sewpot) consists of the tillers of the soil, who form the most numerous class of the population. They are neither furnished with arms, nor have any military duties to perform, but they cultivate the soil, and pay tribute to the king and the independent (avrovo/xot) 2 In time of civil war the soldiers are not allowed to cities. molest the husbandmen or ravage their lands : hence, while the former are fighting and killing each other as they can, the latter may be seen close at hand, tranquilly pursuing their work perhaps ploughing or gathering in their crop, pruning the trees, or reaping the harvest. 4 The third caste (rpcrov) among the Indians consist of the herdsmen, both shepherds and neat-herds, and they neither live in cities nor in villages, but they are nomadic, and live on the hills. They, too, are subject to tribute, and this they pay in cattle. They scour the country in pursuit of fowl and wild beasts. 4 The fourth caste (rmprcv) consists of handicraftsmen and retail dealers. They have to perform gratuitously certain services, and to pay tribute from the products of their public labour. An exception, however, is made in favour of those who fabricate the weapons of war, and, not only so, but they even draw pay from the State. In this class are included shipbuilders, and the sailors employed in the navigation of

The
husbandraen '

The
herds-

meil *

Handi-

the rivers.
4

The

fifth class

(wfymv

ycvos)

among the Indians

consists Warriors.

Admiral
fleet.

of

Alexander

the

Great's
1

governed
afterii*

later passages (cf. p. ISO) as *self The latter seems the '.

pot

here as

MoCrindte translates afr^o* independent \ but in

better rendering

und

(cf. Stein, Megaattftiya, p. 226),

150

The Early History of Bengal

who arc second, in point of numbers, to the husbandmen, but lead a life of supreme freedom and enjoyment. They have only military duties to perform. Others make their arms, and others supply them with horses, and they have others to attend on them in the camp, who take
of the warriors,
care of their horses, clean their arms, drive their elephants, prepare their chariots, and act as their charioteers. As long as they are required to fight, they fight, and, when peace returns, they abandon themselves to enjoyment the pay* which they receive from the State being so liberal that they can with ease maintain themselves, and others besides. 4 The sixth class (?*T<H) consists of those called superSuperintendent*. intendents (cVtWwroi). They spy out what goes on in country and town, and report everything to the king, when the people have a king, and to the magistrate, when the people are self-governed (avrdvo/aoi), 1 and it is against use and wont for them to give in a false report ; but indeed no Indian is accused of lying. * The seventh caste (l/JSo/ioi) consists of the councillors of Councillors. state, who advise the king, or the magistrate of self-governed 1 In point of cities, in the management of public affairs. numbers this is a small class, but it is distinguished by superior wisdom and justice, and hence enjoys the prerogative of choosing governors, chiefs of provinces, deputygovernors, superintendents of the treasury, generals of the army, admirals of the navy, controllers, and commissioners,

who superintend

agriculture.
6c t( frcpov

prohibits intermarriage ycwo? ov 0c/u?). For instance, the husbandmen cannot take a wife from the artisan caste, nor the artisan a wife from the husbandman caste. Custom also prohibits any one from exercising two trades, or from changing from one caste to another. One cannot, for instance, become a husbandman if he is a herds-

'The custom of the country

between the castes (ya/icW

man, or become a herdsman if he is an artisan. It is permitted that the sophist only be from any caste, for the life of a sophist is not an easy one, but the hardest of all. 1 8
While the above passages are, no doubt, based, mainly at any rate, on Megasthenes, it is evident that they do not reproduce his account exactly, and we do not know what liberties may have been taken with his text. It seems that he had gained a superficial acquaintance with the Indian
1

know

^g**
probably

Cf. p. 149, note 2.

Indika, xi,

xii.

Maurya Institutions:

caste system in its functional and family, and may properly be yet**, <vXov connote race * translated caste ', but /AC/**, OWT^/A* do not connote any idea

Greek Evidence 151 and racial aspects. The words

of race.

We

do not know what terms .may have been used

by Megasthenes in this connexion. But Diodorus, Strabo, and Arrian all three refer to the general rule against intermarriage between castes, using the word ycvw*
general knowledge of the functional character of caste, Megasthenes would naturally be led to include in one caste all persons in India following one avocation, or

From a

Brahman and nonand ascetics of different denominapriests, monks, tions as forming one class of philosophers or sophists In this view he may, probably, have been supported by what appeared to him to be the popular estimation, and by current l language. In several of Aoka's edicts we find the expression brdhrnanaframana and sranianabrdhrnana, in their prdkrit equivalents, written as a compound word referring to a class ' brahmans and ascetics ', and respect for the of persons, class enjoined. Megasthenes, however, as appears from the versions of Strabo and Arrian, noticed that certain kinds of ascetics, such as the Buddhist sranianas, were drawn from various classes of the population, and from this concluded that 4 ' the philosophers or sophists formed an exception to the
similar avocations, and, thus, to treat

Brahman

'

'

'

'

'

general rule that a person might not exchange one profession or caste for another. At the same time, as the second

passage quoted above from Strabo shows, Megasthenes was aware of a distinction between Brahmanas and &ramaQas,

Brachmanes and Sarmanes and regarded as subdivisions of the class of philosophers, and of the hereditary prestige enjoyed by the former. He does not seem to have been aware of the theory of four castes, which, probably,

by him

called

corresponded as
present.

little

with actuality in his time as

it

does at

Megasthenes, we may be sure, made no close or detailed His view study of the multitudinaus Indian philosophies and religions, which we now, on later literary evidence, classify as BrahCf.* Major

Rock Edicts Mil, IV, IX, XI;

Pillar

Edict \ yjQU

religions.

152

The Early History of Bengal

manical Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, but which, of course, bore no such names at that time. Probably he had opportunities of conversation with Indian philosophers,
priests,

and ascetics, and his attention was arrested by certain

outstanding features, such as the pantheistic tendency of Indian beliefs, and the practice of wrapping up philosophical doctrine in allegories a point which has escaped some modern European observers. Megasthenes 9 statement that the Indian philosophers held the earth to be spherical in shape does not find support in Indian literature, which however, shows that, in ancient times, the Indians were aware of the convexity of the inhabited world, which they likened to the back of a tortoise rising from the boundless ocean.1 The fifth element of the Indians, to which Mega* sthenes refers, is the ak&a or ' ether of Sanskrit books. Naturally, he was led to identify Indian deities with those of Greece, as Siva (probably) with Dionysos, Vipu with Herakles, and Indra with Zeus. His interest was aroused also by certain ascetic precepts and practices. The period of thirty-seven years, which he assigns for the education of a Brachmane, corresponds to the maximum allowed by Manu a for the Brahmacarya stage of life, and his category of Hylobioi recalls the vanaprastha stage. Whether Strabo's description of the Pramnai is based on Megasthenes or another authority is not quite clear. The name, perhaps, corresponds to the Sanskrit pramdnika, an appellation given
'

to philosophers who ridiculed Brahmans putting their trust in vedic ceremonies. 3 Pliny's statement that the philosophers always put an end to their life is, obviously, a generalization based on one or

two instances of suicide by Indian ascetics, which came to the notice of the Greeks. It is contradicted by the following
passage of Strabo
*

Megasthenes, however, says that self-destruction is not a dogma of the philosophers, but that those who commit this
Cf. Kern, Translation of Brhat Samhita, J. R. A. &, njsu, vol. v,
Cf. Bevan, Cambridge History of India, vol. i, ch. xvi ; Rapoon, Ancient India, pp. 58-61.
8

p. SI, note. * Chap. Hi, sec. 1.

Maurya Institutions : Greek Evidence

158

act are regarded as foolhardy ; that some are naturally of a severe temper and inflict wounds upon their bodies or cast themselves down a precipice, that those who are impatient of pain drown themselves, while those that are capable of enduring pain strangle themselves, and those of ardent 1 tempers throw themselves into the fire* Kalftnos was a 2 man of this stamp.'
Strabo's description of the cultivators as a mild and Compart gentle class of people, the most numerous in the population,

who
with

never go to town, or take part in its tumults, applies, little qualification, at the present day.
various references in the Arthaddfttra to plundering

From

in time of war, Dr. Otto Stein has argued 3 the incorrectness of Megasthenes' assertion that the cultivators were immune

from such devastation.

It is not dear, however, that the

passages of the Arthaidstra in question refer to the plundering of cultivators, and there seems to be no good reason why

Megasthenes general statement on the point should not be accepted, though, no doubt, there were exceptions to the rule. Strabo says that all land in India was the property of the
king,

and the husbandmen who

tilled it received

fourth of the produce as their remuneration. supports Strabo's statement as to the king's sole ownership of land, but says that the cultivators paid the king a rent,

only oneDiodorus

and one-fourth of the produce, in addition. Arrian says nothing about the ownership of land, but records that the cultivators paid tribute to the king and to the independent
cities.

It is likely that,

on these

points,
9

none of the three has

From the Megasthenes account. crown lands, some of Arthatfotra we gather that there were which were let out to cultivators, who paid one-half, onereproduced
exactly
fourth, or other share's of the produce, according to circumstances, while those

who

held land other than crown land

paid different shares as tax, and other taxes besides.

1 The Indian ascetic, who was interviewed at Taxila by Onesikritot, pilot of Alexander's fleet, afterwards accompanied Alexander, and eventually committed

We

suicide
'

by burning, xv. 68. Megasthenes und

JKouftyo,

pp. 126, 127, 151*

154

The Early History 0f Bengal

be safe in assuming that Megasthenes did not a full record of all the various forms .of Indian landcompile tenures and land-taxation, or that the later authors con*
shall, perhaps,

densed, and, in doing so, distorted his account* His description of the fifth class, soldiers, corresponds with

the indications of the Artha&astra, and other evidence of immemorial Indian custom, in so far as it represents the
soldiers as

a professional class distinct from the general population. Here, again, Megasthenes probably failed to observe subdivisions in the class. Diodorus and Arrian

represent him as saying that it was a very large class second, in point of numbers, to the husbandmen and the

numbers of the army, if all the maula men, liable to be called out for occasional military service, were included, may well have been very great. On the other hand, the description of the warriors as receiving high pay, and leading a life of ease

Herdshunters.

and enjoyment in time of peace, would apply to the standing army of bhrta and srenl soldiers. What class or classes of people may have been covered by herdsmen and hunters is Megasthenes' third caste of doubtful. It may have included the forest tribes (atavika) of the Arthaddstra, or the herdsmen employed under the
* '

Handi*
crafts-

1 superintendents of cattle (go'dhyakpa). The descriptions of the fourth caste may be compared wj^ t^e chapters of the Artherfastra relating to the super*
'

intendents of the armoury (ayudhdgdra)^ and shipping (nau)? According to Strabo's version, the admiral of the

out royal ships for hire for the transport of passengers and merchandise, and this is one of the duties of the ndvadhyakpa as prescribed by the
ileet (vavapx*)

used to

let

Arihaddstra.
castes 'would seem, from the sixth of Megasthenes description of their duties, to refer to the numerous spies,

The

'

whose employment is recommended in various passages of the The .members of this class are called by Arthafdstra. Diodorus and Strabo fyopot, and by Arrian fato-jcoirot. Both of these terms may be translated overseer \ The name
'

Ct

p. 78.

Cf. p. 58.

Cf. p. 72.

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

(ephori)

155

was given

specially to

class of magistrates

found in

many Dorian Greek states, who, at times, exercised extensive powers and functions, including scrutiny of very the conduct of other magistrates, and censorship of the morals of private citizens. At Athens, the inspectors who
were sometimes sent to report on the administration of subject states were called ITTIO-KOTTOL (episcopi). It is possible that Megasthenes may have confounded the class of spies with
the numerous adhyakfos petty superintendents in different departments, whose employment is prescribed in the

Arthat&tra.
It is

more

difficult

to reconcile with the Arihaastra his Coun4

'

He of councillors '. caste description of the seventh of it as a small class, but the king's council of ministers speaks (mantrin or amStya) contemplated by Kautilya is a body of
4

clBore *

from twelve to twenty members only. 1 As mentioned above,2 it would appear that the title amatya, equivalent to mantrin, and meaning, properly, councillor or minister ', was given, not only to the members of the king's council, but also to
*
' '

a class of subordinate
It will

officials.
Self|jes.

be noticed that, in the passage quoted from Arrian but not in the corresponding extract from Strabo, above, there is mention of self-governed cities (afaovo/uu iroXcts), meaning, apparently, independent towns or states with a republican form of government, and Diodorus refers to states * without a king \ The evidence as to the existence of such towns or states in Ancient India has been exhaustively dis4

cussed by Dr. Otto Stein, 3 Here it may suffice to say that the Ariliamsira contains no clear reference to any such political
units.

At the close of an early chapter 4 on Protection of Princes ',

'

which deals, among other subjects, with the question of succession to the throne, occurs the verse :
kulasya va bhavedrajyam kulasaftgho hi durjayah ar&ja* vyasanabftdhah 6avad&vasati ksitim

which Mr. Shamasastry translates

1

Sovereignty may (some*

Cf. p. 85.
*

Cf. p. 84.

MegasthentB und KaufUya, pp. 224-82.

Bk.

I,

eh. xvii.

156

The Early History of Bengal

times) be the property of a elan ; for the corporation of dans is invincible in its nature, and, being free from the
calamities of anarchy, can have a permanent existence on f earth and regards as 4 a clear proof of the existence of republican or oligarchical forms of government in ancient

India

Possibly, the obscure epithet, rdjajabdopajivin, applied elsewhere l to certain communities Licchivis, Vrjis, Mallas, &c., may have reference to such forms of government, but

few

will agree that the proof of their existence in

is

Ancient

India
point

dear.

At the same
1

time, the Greek evidence

on the

is

not to be lightly discarded.

Cf. p. 76.

XIII

MAURYA INSTITUTIONS GREEK EVIDENCE (continued]

THE GOVERNMENT AND LAWS
THE
following
is

Strabo's account, purporting to be based

on Megasthenes, of the government at P&taliputra. ' Of the great officers of state (dpx^<^) some have charge The

of the market, others of the city (ol p*v &riv Ayopavo/wi ol 8* &<m>~ as01*mim Some superintend the rivers, VO/MH), others of the soldiers. measure the land, as is done in Egypt, and inspect the sluices, by which water is let out from the main channels into their branches, so that every one may have an equal supply of it. The same persons have charge also of the huntsmen, and are entrusted with the power of rewarding or punishing them according to their deserts. They collect the taxes and superintend the occupations connected with land, as those of the wood-cutters, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, and the miners. They construct roads, and, at every ten stadia, set up a pillar to show the by-roads and distances. Those who have charge of the city (aorwo/xot) are divided into six bodies of The astyflve each. The members of the first look after everything nomi * relating to the industrial arts. Those of the second attend to the entertainment of foreigners. To these they assign * lodgings, and they keep watch over their mode of life by means of those persons whom they give to them for assistants. They escort them on the way when they leave the country, or, in the event of their dying, forward their property to their relations. They take care of them when they are sick, and, if they die, bury them. The third body consists of those who inquire, when and how births and deaths occur, with a view, not only of levying a tax, but also in order that births and deaths among both high and low may not escape the cognizance of the government. The fourth class superintend trade and commerce. Its members have charge of weights and measures and see that the products in their seasons are sold by public notice. No one is allowed to deal in more than one kind of commodity, unless he pays a double

158
tax.

The Early History of Bengal

sell

The fifth class supervises manufactured articles, which by public notice. What is new is sold separately from what is old, and there is a fine for mixing the two together. The sixth and last class consists 'of those who
they
collect the tenth of the prices of the articles sold. the payment of this tax is punishable with death.

Fraud in Such are

the functions which these bodies separately discharge. In their collective capacity they have charge both of their special departments, and also of matters affecting the general interest, as the keeping of public buildings in proper repair,
the regulation of prices, the care of markets, harbours, and temples. ( Next to the city magistrates, there is a third governing Military body (<rwo/>x0, which directs military affairs. This also conOne sists of six divisions, with five members to each. division is appointed to co-operate with the admiral of the fleet, another with the superintendant of the bullock trains, which are used for transporting engines of war, food for the soldiers, provender for the cattle, and other military requisites. They supply servants, who beat the drum, and others who carry gongs ; grooms also for the horses, and mechanists and their assistants. To the sound of the gongs they send out foragers to bring in grass, and, by a system of rewards and punishments, ensure the work being done with dispatch and safety. The third division has charge of the foot-soldiers, the fourth of the horses, the fifth of the warchariots, and the sixth of the elephants. There are royal stables for the horses and elephants, and also a royal magazine for the arms, because the soldier has to return his arms to the magazine and his horse and his elephant to the stables. They use the elephants without bridles. The chariots are drawn on the march by oxen, but the horses are led along by a halter, that their legs may not be galled and
inflamed, nor their spirits damped by drawing chariots. In addition to the charioteer, there are two fighting men who sit up in the chariot beside him. The war-elephant carries four men three who shoot arrows and the driver/
It will be seen that, according to Strabo, Megasthenes found in India two classes of superior civil officials the
.

dyopaw/uK (agoranomi) and the &arw6fwt (astynomi) administering the rural area and the capital city respectively, and

work of the latter, of which Megasthenes probably saw most during his residences at P&$aliputra, is described in much more detail than that of the former.
that the

Maurya
The word
in charge of the

Institutions : Greek Evidence

150
officers

dyo/Mu/o/uu is translated

by McCrindle as
is its literal

market ', and that meaning, but the word was used for the Latin aediles, as explained in the following extracts from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and

Roman
'

Antiquities

Agoranomi

(ayopavd/xm)

were public functionaries in most Agora*

of the Grecian states, whose duties corresponded, in many respects, to those of the Roman aediles, whence Greek writers on Roman affairs call the aediles by this name. . . . 4 Aediles (dyopayo/uu) . . They had the general superintendence of buildings, both sacred and private ; under this power they provided for the support and repair of temples, curiae, &c., and took care that private buildings, which were in a ruinous state, were repaired by the owners or pulled down. The superintendence over the supply and distribution of water at Rome was, at an early period, a matter of public administration. According to Frontinus, this was the duty of the censors ; but, when there were no censors, it was within the province of the aediles. The care of the streets and pavements, with the cleansing and draining of the city, belonged to the aediles, and the care of the cloacae. . The aediles had to see that the public lands were not improperly used, and that the pasture-grounds of the state were not trespassed upon ; and they had power to punish by fine any unlawful act in this respect. The fines were employed in paving roads, and in other public purposes. They had a general superintendence over buying and selling, and, as a consequence, the supervision of the markets, of things exposed for sale, such as slaves, and of weights and measures : from this part of their duty is derived the name under which the aediles are mentioned by Greek writers (ayo/oard/wi) . . , The general superintendence of police comprehended the duty of preserving order, decency, and the inspection of the baths and houses of entertainment, of brothels, and of pros. .

titutes,'

(astynomi) were public officers in most of the Greek states, in charge of the cities, whose duty it was to preserve order in the streets, and keep them dean, and to see

The

doTvi'o/Aoc

both public and private, were in a safe state, and not likely to cause injury by Ming down. It will be remembered * that, according to the
that
all buildings,
Cf. p. 44.

160

The Early History of Bengal

(dwga) as well

Compari- the Samdhartr should look after the fort or city

as the rural area (rdffra), mines, irrigation works, forests,

cattle,

and communications, and has

' *

heading durga goods, the supervision of weights and measures, control of liquor-shops, gaming-houses, and courtesans, and all the
duties of the Nagaraka, or city-superintendent, who is subordinate to the Samdhartr. Rdffra includes crown-lands,
pastures,

includes the collection of

also police duties. The tolls on sales of

and market towns

(paftana).

Thus

it will

be seen

that the range of functions prescribed by the Arthat&stra for the Samdhartr covers most of those which appertained to the

Roman

aediles,

whom

Strabo would

call iyopoyo/Mu.

He

represents, however, the ayopavopot as a body of officials concerned with the rural area only, and the city as managed by

an independent body of

dcrrwo/Aoi

comprising six boards,

whereas, according to the Arthaiastra, there should be one samdhartr, to whom the ndgaraka should be subordinate.

That

the organization recommended for a small state. It may be supposed that, to meet the needs of a great city, such as PStaliputra, and the home provinces of a great empire,
is

the primary organization was modified and expanded in the manner indicated by Strabo.
Agio-

We
may

do not know what Greek expressions Megasthenes have used in this connexion. It has been suggested

that the

name given by him to the officials in charge of rural administration was not dyo/oavo/xot but AypoKo/wH, a name
'

which occurs in certain passages of Aristotle's 4 Politics * and Plato's ' Laws as that of a class exercising in rural areas functions corresponding to those which devolved on
the
the 4<rwo/*ot in towns. Dr. Otto Stein conjectures that office of dy/xW/u* not being so well known as that of

Ayopovo/u*, the latter

may have

been substituted lor the

former in Strabo' s rendering of Megasthenes. 1

Samfr
X&ga.

However this may be, if we examine the duties of the ayopoyo/ioi and dcrrwo/foi, as described by Strabo, we find that
they correspond fairly closely to those assigned by the Arthai&stra to the SamShartr and Ntigaraka.
1

Stdo, Megasthent* und KaufUya* PP* 288-5.

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

ii

According to Kattfilya, the somdkaftjr should have general charge of the collection of all revenue, should control irrigation, the cultivation of crown lands, through the sttddhyakpa, mining, a government

monopoly, through the

OkarOdhyakfa and khanyadhyatya, the working of metals other than gold and silver through the Lohddkyakfa, and the working of gold and silver through the suvarnddhyakfa!
should also be responsible for the upkeep of roads. As ' regards industrial arts ', we find that, besides metallurgy, the manufacture of doth should be carried on by the samaharir in government factories controlled by svtrddhyakfas,

He

and in the book

are laid
for

down

whose

entitled KanfakaJodhanam regulations for independent artisans of different classes, control in rural areas the samdhart? is made

responsible, and in the city the ndgaraka. Among the latter's duties is to keep an eye on strangers visiting the city. The gopas and sthanikas, directly subordinate in the rural

area to commissioners (pradesfr) and in the city to the ndgaraka, are required to keep complete registers of the
population. The samaharir and ndgaraka control trade and commerce through the samsthddhyakfa and weights and measures through the same official and the pauUxv&dhyaksa. The sale of articles by public notice is prescribed in the chapter on the &ulkddhyak$a, and fines for adulteration in the book on Kanfakajodhana. We have in the Ariha6dstra> as in Megasthenes' account, an ad valorem tax on sales, the
9

Megasthenes gives its rate as ten per cent., while the Arthadstra has various rates, ranging from four to twenty per cent. The duties assigned by Strabo to the
tulka.

asiynomi, in

their collective capacity, viz. the repair of

public buildings, the regulation of prices, and the care of markets, harbours, and temples, are among those for which the Arthaifabra makes the samdhartr and ndgaraka
responsible. In his brief notice of the duties of the dyopavoywx Strabo Rlvcaihi 4 states, first, that they superintend the rivers and measure

the land as

is

done in Egypt

'

The
2778

Artha$d8tra> in its opening

summary

of the duties

102

The Early History of Bengal

of the samdhartr* mentions, among his subordinates, the * na&pMa or superintendent of rivers ', but what Ms duties

were does not dearly appear. The system of land measurement in Egypt to in another passage of Strabo * :
4

is

referred

This exact and minute subdivision is necessitated by the constant disturbance of boundaries caused by the Nile in its inundations, in which it adds (to some) and takes away (from others), alters shapes, and destroys the other signs by which the property of one can be distinguished from that of another, so that it (the land) has to be remeasured repeatedly.

Those

'familiar

with land-revenue administration in the

lower Ganges valley will not need to be reminded that, owing to alluvion and diluvion, frequent re-survey of land is required, both for fiscal purposes and for the settlement of

boundary disputes. Of such operations in the neighbourhood of P&taliputra Megasthenes may have seen something, and it may be that, in associating supervision of the rivers with ( measurement of the land as is done in Egypt ', he referred to the supervision and inspection of river-beds and alluvial deposits for revenue purposes. Here again it may be that
Irrigaturn.

Strabo has distorted Megasthenes account. Next, according to Strabo, the same officials
sluices,

inspect the

by which water is let out from the main channels into

',

their branches

ra/iccvcrou TO 3Sa>p.

ra? jeXcurraff Snipv\ws &$ &v cfc ras 6\Tta& In the Arthotiostra we find frequent reference

to irrigation works

by the

general description sctubandha,

which, apparently, would cover any tank or dam for holding water and also large or small canals or channels conveying water to the fields. Sluices appear to be specially mentioned in one place only,3 if Mr. Shamasastry's translation is correct, but whether the word pdra has that meaning is perhaps 4 We find nothing about inspection of the open to doubt. ' ' so that every one may have an equal supply of sluices water. The Arthaifotra, however, indicates that there were various kinds of waterworks, some the property of the king,
4
* Cf. p. 44, Cf. p. 108. xvii, p. 787. Cf. Stein, Mtgagthtnts und Kaufilya, pp. 25, 26.

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

168

somofprivateindividiials,and^tt,wWchmurtbetakcnto mean management or supervision of irrigation, is included in

the summary of the samdhartfs duties. 1 It seems reasonable to suppose that in India in the Maurya period, as now,. there were irrigation works of many varieties, great and small,
public and private ; that some of them were provided with sluices of more or less simple construction ; and that the public, if not the private, works were subject to regulation with the object of securing an equitable distribution of water.

In Strata's account of the Boards of Five by which the Boards city government and military affairs were controlled at Pataliputra, we may perhaps recognize the Indian custom of referring to any small body or group of persons, irrespective
of number, as a pancdyat or body of five. Of the six military boards, according to him, the first is The appointed to co-operate with the admiral of the fleet (rip
P*v pcra rot) vavapxov rarrovcrc).

In the ArihoAostra we find men-

tion of a superintendent of ships (ndvadhyak$a) and of royal 2 ships (rdjdndvas), but not of warships. The ndvadhyaksa is

subordinate to the sainahartr, that

civil

is

to say, belongs to a

department, and receives, it would seem, a salary purely of 1,000 panas a year only. There is no historical record of fighting with or from ships or boats, on the rivers, or around
it is

the coasts of India during the Maurya period. Nevertheless, 9 not unreasonable to suppose that, in Megasthenes time,

there were warships, and that the

same department was con*

earned with them as with the royal ships which were used for peaceful traffic, just as, according to the Arthadstra> the

same adhyaksas would be concerned with royal horses, elephants, and chariots used for war and peace. The duties
assigned

by the Arthai&stra to the n&oadkyakfa may have

come, by Megasthenes' time, to be entrusted at P&t&Iiputra to a board. It is also possible that, as in the case of the senapati, the same title, ndvadhyakfa, may have been given to a class of subordinate officers and to the admiral of the
whole fleet. Another possible supposition is that there was not actually any war-fleet, but that Megasthenes, hearing
*

Cf. p. 44.

M2

Cf. p. 72.

164

The Early History of Bengal

of the title nOvadkyakfa, was led, from similarity of sound, to identify it with vavapxas. As to the strength of Candragupta's standing army, the Strength of army, statement of Pliny, based on Megasthenes, that it comprised 600,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, and 9,000 elephants, has

been quoted above. 1

given

by

Pliny.

The number of chariots has not been The number maintained by the king of the

according to reports which reached Alexander, is given by Diodorus and Quintus Curtius as 2,000, and by Plutarch as 8,000. 2 Plutarch gives the total strength of
Prasii,

Weapons. Candragupta's

army

as 600,000.

Arrian, in his Indika*

gives some information about the arms used by Indian Each horseman, he says, carried two lances and soldiers. a buckler. The infantry carried the broadsword as their
principal weapon, and, as additional arms, either javelins or bows and arrows. The arrow was discharged with the aid of

pressure from the left foot on the end of the bow resting on the ground, and with such force that neither shield nor
breastplate could withstand
Slavery.
it.

quotes Megasthenes as saying that none of the Indians employed slaves, but points out that, according

Strabo

to Onesikritos, 5 this custom was peculiar to the country probably part of Sind ruled by a chief named Mousikanos,

and slavery did

ever,

exist in other parts of India. Arrian, 6 probably relying on Megasthenes, states that
free,

how*
4

all

and not one of them is a slave '. The Kaufttiya Arthatastra, as we have seen, distinctly recognizes the institution of slavery, for which it provides elaborate 7 mention slaves (dfoa) % regulations, and Aoka's edicts whom they distinguish from hired servants (bhdtaka),
Indians are
It is possible that enjoining kind treatment of both. "Megasthenes may have been misled by a statement of Onesi-

kritos that slavery did not exist

among the people

ruled

by

Mousikanos, and taken it as applying to the whole of India. Or it may be that slavery in India being of mild character
*

Cf. p. 8. Cf. pp. 1-3. Ch. 16. xv. I. 54,

*
'

Pilot of Alexander's fleet. In&ka, x.

R. E. IX, XI, XIII

P. B.

VII.

195 Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence and limited extent as compared with that which prevailed in the Hellenic world, he did not become aware of its existence. Perhaps he had heard of the principle, laid down in the ArthaJfatra, that no Arya should be kept in the condition of slavery na tvevdryasya ddsabhdvah. This, if literally applied, would have exempted from permanent slavery the
great bulk of the population, iudras being regarded as Aryas, although the Arihaidsira admits of Aryas being reduced

temporarily to servitude. With regard to marriage

among

the Indians, Strabo Marriage,

says:
4

They marry many

this it

parents for a

wives, 9 yoke of oxen.

whom

they buy from their

*

perhaps be inferred that the fofa* of marriage, mentioned in the Arihaidstra as one of the form superior (dharmya) forms, came prominently to the notice

From

may

of Megasthenes.

The ArthaJdstra allows unlimited polygamy,

subject to the condition that wives previously married shall

be compensated.

The punishment of criminals by mutilation appears to have been noticed by Megasthenes. Strabo says : 4 A person convicted of bearing false witness suffers a mutilation of his extremities. He who maims another not only suffers in return the loss of the like limb, but his hand also is cut off. If he causes a workman to lose his hand or his eye, he is put to death.
9

Mutilatlon '

In the Arihaastra, as we have seen, a chapter is devoted to

penal mutilations and fines in lieu thereof.

XIV
MAURYA INSTITUTIONS
GREEK EVIDENCE
(continued)

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

Character
people,

SOME

further observations of Greek

and Latin writers

regarding the character, manners, and customs of the Indians require notice. Speaking of the Indian population in general,

Strabo says : ' The Indians all live frugally, especially when in camp. They care not to congregate in large unruly masses, and they consequently observe good order. Theft is a thing of very rare occurrence. Megasthenes, who was in the camp of Sandrokottos, which consisted of 400,000 men, says that he found that the thefts reported on any one day did not exceed the value of 200 drachma!, and this among a people who have no written laws, but are ignorant of writing, and conduct all matters by memory. They lead nevertheless happy lives, being simple in their manners and frugal. They never drink wine except at sacrifices. Their beverage is prepared from rice instead of barley, and their food is principally a rice pottage. The simplicity of their laws and their contracts is proved by the fact that they seldom go to law. They have no suits about pledges or deposits, nor do they require either seals or witnesses, but make their deposits and confide in each other. Their houses and property they generally leave unguarded. These things show their moderation and good
sense.
9

Arrian's remark that no Indian was accused of lying has been quoted above. 2 In this there is, doubtless, exaggeration,

and the provisions of the Arthajfatra regarding con* and legal procedure do not suggest that the Indians universally trusted one another or that litigation was
tracts
Still, it is fair

unknown among them.

1

to record the tradi>

xv.

i.

58.

p. 150.

Maurya Institutions : Greek Evidence

tional

iff!

reputation

Greek and

Roman

which they enjoyed in the world for gentleness, honesty, simplicity,

and truthfulness. Aelian, 1 in his Varia Historia, says : 4 The Indians neither put out money at usury nor know how to borrow. It is contrary to established usage for an Indian either to do or suffer wrong, and, therefore, they
neither

make contracts nor require

securities/

Stobaeus in his Seria gives the following extract from an author named Nikolaos Damaskenos : 2

Among the Indians, one who is unable to recover a loan or a deposit has no remedy at law. All the creditor can do is to blame himself for trusting a rogue.'
These statements probably rest on the evidence of Megasthenes or other Greeks who visited India during the Maurya period. It may be inferred that, in regard to the virtues above mentioned, the Indians with whom they came into contact compared favourably with the general standards of the Hellenic world at that time, and no one acquainted with the peasantry of India, who form some 80 per cent, of the population, will deny them the same qualities now. The statement made by Strabo, on the authority of Megasthenes, that the Indians had no written laws, being ignorant of writing, and conducted all matters by memory,
thus explained by Biihler : 8 * In another often discussed passage, Megasthenes says that the Indians decided judicial cases according to unwritten laws, and adds, in explanation, that they knew no ypaftpara, and settled everything diro ftny/w?*. . . . Megasthenes took the term smrti used by his informants in the sense of
is

Writing.

Claudius Aeiianus, born at Praeneste, the modern Palestrina, near Rome, flourished about the middle of the second century A.D. He wrote, in Greek, the two works
1

nwirfXij

*l<rropia,

Varia Historia,

miscellaneous history (here quoted), and n*pi Zciw HMnjrof, DC Animalium Natura, *on the peculiarities of animals % referred to below. * Johannes Stobaeus, author of a collection of extracts from the works of Greek writers, many of

not known for certain. He was, of Stool in apparently, a native Macedonia. Of Nikolaos little is known except that he was a native of Damascus and lived in the time of the Emperor Augustus, at whose request he wrote a universal
history.
*

which are now lost. When or where Stobaeus himself lived is

Indian Palaeography, English

app.,

version, 2nd. Ant. 1904, p. 6 ; cfc supra, p. 32.

leg

"

Early History of Bengal " memory ", while they meant it in the sense of

7*he

the sacred

law", or "the law-books", which, according to Indian principles, can only be explained orally by one who knows the Dharma/
tradition, concerning

In a later passage 1 Strabo quotes Nearchus as saying that the Indians wrote letters on pieces of closely woven 2 that the tender bark linen, while Quintus Curtius records
of trees was used by them for writing on. The practice of writing on strips of cotton cloth survived until very recently

and ancient manuscripts on birch bark have been found in Kashmir and Orissa. 8 (bhfirja-betula utilis) In the chapter of the Artha&dstra on Forest Produce, 4 * under the head of 4 Leaves (patra), two varieties of palm and tali (Corypha taliera) and tola (Borassus flabelliformis)
in Southern India,

bh&rja (birch) are mentioned. Probably the two kinds of palm-leaves are mentioned as important forest products on account of their use as writing materials, and the entry

bhurja has reference not to leaves, but to bark, included

under this head because birch-bark, when used for writing

same size and shape as the used for the same purpose. 6 In different palm-leaf strips * places the word patra is used in the sense of letter or writ,
on,

was cut in

strips of the

particularly for the material on which royal writs or decrees (S&sana) were made out. In Buddhist tradition the writing materials which occur most often are

and in one

more

the leaves of tddatdla and

tddi-tdli,

and no doubt they were

have stated that Possibly he observed

what was commonly used at

Pfi^aliputra.

It seems unlikely that Megasthenes can

the Indians were ignorant of writing. that law-books were not referred to in the courts, maxims of law being committed to memory, and Strabo may have*
latoxi-

misunderstood him on the point, With regard to the use of intoxicating liquor in India,
Strata's words are
9

oW re yap ov mvw AXA* b famous

owndcmis.
* '

J* oar

fyvfo

fort *ptdcWy

*
*
4

Strabo, xv. i. 97. Hist. Alex. viii. 9. Bdhler, loc. dt., Cf. p. 58.

BQhler, loc. clt., p. 94. Bk. I, chs. xv, xJx.

<&, 98.

Bk.

II, ch. x.

Maurya Institutions; Greek Evidence The Greek word o6w covered fermented juiee of the
and also fermented liquor of other kinds. Herodotus * mentions ofro* {* Kptftw barley-wine, a kind of beer.
grape,

Grape-wine
said that

is

mentioned in the chapter of the Arthaidstra

it is

on the Superintendent of Liquor (surddhyakfd), where 4

and is comes as kdptidyana and hdrahuraka '. KdpUdyana would mean wine from KSpiSa, i.e. Northern Afghanistan, which was either included in or adjacent to Candragupta's empire. Hdrahuraka would be wine from the country of the Harahauras, a people mentioned in the Brhat Samhita 2 as inhabiting a region to the west or perhaps north-west of
Bh&ratavar$a. Jayaswal has suggested 3 that Harahura = Arachosia, i.e. Kandahar. The Arthai&slra mentions also a liquor made from rice named medaka. At the present day, as is well known, rice-beer, as well as distilled spirit made from rice, is largely drunk in various parts of India. In stating that the Indians drank wine at sacrifices,

the juice of grapes (mrdvlkdraso) is called madhu, known by the names of the countries from which it

Megasthenes may have referred to the use of alcoholic liquor in certain ceremonials, which subsists to this day. Or it may be that the only drinking which came to his notice

was that which occurred in connexion with certain religious The ArthaSastra mentions the issue of special 4 It is likely enough that liquor licences on such occasions. 9 in Megasthenes time, as at present, while drinking was practised by certain classes of the population, and permitted subject to state regulation, abstinence from alcohol was the
festivals.

general rule. f Strata's statement that rice was the principal food of the Rice. Indians corresponds with what would have come to Megasthenes' notice at Pa$aliputra.

Speaking of the climate and agricultural products of the other land, Strabo says :
4

By
Ct

the vapours which ascend from so

*

many

rivers,

and

ii.77. Fleet,

J.B.O.R.S.,
Cf. p. 06.

vol.

Hf

1M.
tf.

p. 79,

Ant. t vol. xxii,

note.

1893, pp. 169

170

The Early History of Bengal

is

1 by the Etesian winds, India, as Eratosthenes states, watered by the summer rains, and the level country

is

inundated. During the rainy season flax and millet, as well as sesamum, rice, and bosmoron are sown, and in the winter season, wheat, barley, pulse, and other esculents, with which we are unacquainted. 9 2

The

flax
*

'

here referred to was probably jute.

is

The
been

meaning of bosmoron' some kind of millet.

Luxuries.
*

uncertain, but it

may have

Strabo thus describes the habits of the wealthier Indians

Their favourite mode of exercising the body is by friction in various ways, but especially by passing smooth ebony rollers over the surface of the body. ... In contrast to the simplicity they observe in other matters, they love finery and ornament. They wear dresses worked in gold and adorned with precious stones, and also flowered robes made of fine muslin. Attendants follow them with umbrellas ; for they hold beauty in high esteem, and resort to any device which helps to improve their looks. 9 8

Of massage

there are numerous mentions in the Artha-

On the habits f&sfoa, as in the Indian dramas and epics. of the people in respect of clothes and personal adornment
but the catalogues found in the chapters on the Treasury and Collection of Tolls suggest luxurious standards in the wealthy
the Artfurfdtfra does not throw
direct light,
classes.

much

Hones
phant*.

Strabo has been represented as stating, on the authority f Megasthenes, that no private person in India was allowed to keep a horse or elephant, the possession of either being
icat

regarded as a royal privilege. i\*f>avTa rptytw owe C^COTIV

JCTJ}/ta.
. . .

Strata's words are

i&unrg* ftatnXutov
S*

ITHCOV

&
to

fcarcpop vcvd-

/aoTcu TO

Among
9 .

the meanings of rpc^civ are

*

*to

breed

bring up Arrian states that the animals used for riding by the generality of Indians were camels, horses, and asses, and by
1

President of the Alexandrian

science.

library from 240 to 196 B.C., and said to have been the first to rake

Geography to the tank of a

In hi* notices of India believed to have utilized the writing! of Patrokle*. xv. i. 18. xv. i. 41.
he
is

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

rich

he adds, * among the Indians, the elephant is a royal mount, next in honour as a conveyance is a four-horsed carriage ; to drive one horse is

men

elephants.

For

',

undignified/

Probably Megasthenes recorded that the king held a monopoly, not of the use of elephants and horses, but of the
capture of elephants and breeding of horses, and perhaps of the importation of horses from foreign countries. This

would be natural, in view of the great importance of the supply of elephants and horses for military purposes. We have seen that the Arthaiastra lays great stress on
the value of elephant forests as part of the royal domain, gives elaborate instructions for the hunting of elephants and
their training for purposes of peace and war, and makes the killing of an elephant a capital offence. In the chapter on

the Superintendent of Horses, which contains similar instructions for training, there is a classification of horses in the
royal stables, of which the first heading is panydgdrikam, ( translated by Shamasastry as those that are kept in sale-

be that of the elephants and horses trained in the State establishments, those left over after providing for military and other State requirements were
house for sale
'.

It

may

offered for sale to private persons. To this day there is a tradition in India that the elephant * ' is a royal beast ; the right of capturing elephants is

reserved
is

by the State

and the

killing of

a wild elephant

not allowed by law, except in the case of dangerous

is offered.

animals, specially notified as such, for the destruction of

which a reward

Up till very recently the GovernGovernsimilar

ment elephant-catching (kheddah) establishments were maintained, primarily, to provide an annual supply of elephants
for the

army, the surplus being sold to the public.

ment horse-breeding establishments have worked on

lines.

Aelian thus describes chariot races, with teams of oxen chariot and horses, as practised at PAtaliputra ;
4

The Indians make much

*

fcdo

about the oxen that

nm

Indika, xvii.

172
fast
;

The Early History of Bengal and both the king himself and many of the greatest

nobles take contending views of their swiftness, and make bets in gold and silver, and think it no disgrace to stake their money on these animals. They yoke them to chariots, and incur hazard on the chance of victory* The horses that are yoked to the car run in the middle with an ox on either side, and one of these wheels sharp round the turning-post Mid must run thirty stadia. The oxen run at a pace equal to that of the horses, and you could not decide which was the faster, the ox or the horse. And if the king has laid a wager on his own oxen with any one, he becomes so excited over the contest that he follows in his chariot to instigate the driver to speed faster. The driver again pricks the horses with the goad till the blood streams, but he keeps his hand off the oxen, for they run without needing the goad. And to such a pitch does the emulation in the match between the oxen rise, that not only do the rich and the owners of the oxen lay heavy bets upon them, but even the spectators, just as Idomeneus the Cretan and the Locrian Ajax are represented in Homer betting against each other.' l

In the Arthai&slra we find mention, in the chapter dealing with the Superintendent of Cattle, of (according to one ' reading) a class of oxen which equal horses in speed ', and
betting of
all

kinds

is

placed, as

we have

seen,

under the

supervision of the dyutddhyaksa. Arrian has left on record 2 the interesting observation Building*. that, in India, those cities which were situated on the banks of rivers or the sea-coast were built of wood, because brick
buildings could not long resist the effects of rainfall

and

inundation, while those on high and dry sites were built of bricks and lime. The inference suggests itself that, in

Megasthenes' time, the city of Pataliputra, near the confluence of the Son and Ganges, must have been built chiefly if not entirely of wood. It will also occur to those familiar

with Indian conditions that, on the alluvial banks of the great rivers, at a time when timber was easily available,
buildings would be constructed of wood rather than masonry, not on account of the effects of rain and inundation, but

two other good reasons : (a) the lack of firm foundation and probability of sinkage, and (b) the risk of erosion and 1 De Anton, xv. xxiv. IndOea, x.
for

178 a river's course. In the undermining through change of deltaic country of Bengal the rapid diluviation of river banks is a common experience, and when a site is thus undermined and washed away, the hopeless ruin of every masonry structure on it necessarily results. Such diluviation, however, does not happen quite suddenly. Gradual encroachment gives a warningit may be of weeks, months, or years and, in the case of structures of wood or other transportable material, much may be saved by timely removal. For masonry buildings the doom is total and irretrievable if, as is commonly the case, the river's encroachment cannot be staved off. For this reason, in the villages and small towns of the Bengal delta masonry buildings are comparatively rare, and houses and shops are made of wood or bamboo and matting, with roofs of thatch Still, the need of or, nowadays, of corrugated iron sheets. risk of fire, and the cost more substantial structures, the of building-timber when it has to be brought from distant forests, are considerations in view of which, after a time, brick buildings come to be erected, especially on sites which have not been diluviated for many years, and are therefore

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

The oscillations of the great rivers obeying no known laws, a particular site may survive for years or even for centuries, and in such cases people will erect
regarded as safe.
buildings, taking the risk of diluviation, thought to be small.

masonry

which

is

In the case of important towns protective measures against erosion are adopted with more or less success, but even then great buildings are menaced with sinkage, and the difficulty of securing the foundations of such edifices as the High Court and the Victoria Memorial at Calcutta is well known.

Stnkage.

The result of excavations on the site of the ancient city of Exoava P&fediputra goes to show that it was built on alluvial deposits of the Ganges and Son, and mainly of wood. Of the struc- bar.
1 tures under excavation at Kumrahar, Dr. Spooner writes : * These, as far as can be judged, were wholly built of wood,

J.R.A.S., Jan. 1915, 'The Zorastrian Period of Indian History',

pp. 78-5.

174

The Early History of Bengal

Possibly portions were made of brick, but stone was used sparingly, for certain features only ... at Kumrahar, what we see is the first use of dressed stone for building purposes, where stone is still subordinated to wood, and largely restricted to columnar use, and use in decorative adjuncts to the structure. . . . Such foundations as have hitherto been met with in this city are of wood. . . .'

Elsewhere in the same article, referring to the location of * the columnar rows of a vast pillared hall at Kumrahar, he says l : 4 It has proved, however, a work of unusual difficulty to determine the extent of the building, owing to the singular fact that the massive and imperishable portions of the structure have wholly disappeared, apparently by sinkage. The wooden parts, the roof, the floor, &c., have been burnt or have decayed, as the case may be, and all that is left at present to tell the story of the place is the disjecta membra of its ruin and the singular stratigraphical indications of the
4

soil/
4 ' the stratigraphical indications here referred to are a layer of ashes, showing that the wooden palace had been destroyed by fire, and chemical discoloration of the soil resulting from the decay of the timber baulks which formed its foundations. Others are thus explained :

Among

When we find, for example, that heaps of pillar fragments in rows at regular intervals across the site ; that underneath these heaps of stone descending tubular holes occur, filled from above ; that these holes are always round in plan, of fixed diameter, and regularly spaced, we see as clearly that rows of columns originally stood at these particular 2 points, as though we actually had the pillars in position/
4

lie

that the lower portions of the columns, which, being underground, had escaped destruction by fire or other means, eventually, on the decay of the timber foundations on which they stood, sank through the soft soil, leaving tabular holes* Most probably much of the ancient site of P&taKputra has been washed away by the Ganges and Son at one time or another. Indeed, one would expect
it is inferred
1

Here

p. 6*.

J. R. A. S., Jan. 1915, 'The Zorastrian Period of Indian History

Ibid., p. 60.

',

Maurya Institutions; Greek Evidence

ITS

the whole site to have been diluviated and re-formed more than once in the course of so many centuries ; but apparently, by chance or perhaps owing to protective works, the
site

of the palace referred to in the above extracts has remained undisturbed by the action of the rivers. Probably in Megasthenes' time good building-timber was available in plenty at Pa^aliputra, as sal forests may then have occupied extensive tracts not far from the city, which are now denuded.

Arrian goes on to quote Megasthenes as stating that the city of P&tatiputra was eighty stadia in length and fifteen in breadth, and was surrounded by a ditch six plethra in width and thirty yards (pechea) in depth, and that its wall had five hundred and seventy towers and sixty-four gates.
Strabo's description, according to which the wall

was of

wood and

1 pierced with loopholes, has been quoted above. In the course of excavations on the site of Pataliputra

palisade, which, it is thought, may have formed part of the ancient wooden walls of the city, have been found at depths of ten to fifteen feet below the surface,

portions of

wooden

and the difficulties of masonry construction on the site would account for the wall being of wood. Dr. Otto Stein has noted, 2 as a discrepancy between Megasthenes and
KautUya, that in the elaborate instructions for fortification which the Arthatdstra contains, there is no mention of a wooden wall, but the point does not seem very important. The Arthaifatra lays down that the fort should be surrounded with a rampart (vapra), on the top of which there should be a parapet-wall (prdkara) of brick. It may be taken that the author of the treatise recommended this as the best type of construction for a fort on a high and firm site, and did not think it necessary to mention the modifications, such as substitution of a wooden palisade for the brick parapet, which might be introduced in less favourable
situations.
1

Cf. p. 8.

Mcgasthencs und Kautilya* PP- 34, 299.

XV
MAURYA INSTITUTIONS
GREEK EVIDENCE
THE COUET
Strabo.

(continued)

STRABO thus
court
* :

describes the customs of the P&taliputra

The care of the

who
and

kills a king when drunk is rewarded by the wife of his successor. The sons succeed the becoming father. Moreover, the king does not sleep in the day-time, and at night he is compelled, as a precaution against attack, to change his couch from hour to hour. Of the occasions on which he goes out, in peace time (r&v TC py Kara iroAcfio? c&Swv), one is for the purpose of hearing cases (cirl ras jtptW$), which occupy him throughout the day, even at the time appointed for massage. A second is for the performance of sacrifice. The third is when he goes to hunt in a kind of bacchic procession, surrounded by women, who form a circle outside the spearmen. A rope is stretched to mark the road, and it is death for any one to go past it among the women* Drummers and bell-ringers lead the way. In his hunting enclosures, the king shoots with a bow from an elevated place, two or three armed women standing beside him. When hunting in a place not enclosed, he shoots from an elephant. Some of the

A woman who

king's person is entrusted to women, also are bought from their parents* The bodyguards the rest of the soldiery are posted outside the gates.

women are in chariots, some on horseback, some on elephants,

fully
*

armed as in war. 1
and send him great

the king washes his hair, they celebrate a great presents, each person seeking to outrival his neighbour in displaying his wealth. ... In the processions at their festivals, many elephants adorned with gold and silver are in the train, as well as four-horsed chariots and yokes of oxen. Then comes a great host of attendants in their holiday attire, with vessels of gold, such as large basins
festival
*

When

xv.

i.

55.

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

goblets, six feet in breadth, tables, chairs of state, drinking-cups and lavers all made of Indian copper, and set many of them with precious stones emeralds, beryls, and Indian garnets garments embroidered and interwoven with gold, wild beasts such as buffaloes, leopards, tame lions and a multitude of birds of variegated plumage and fine song. Kleitarchos 1 mentions four-wheeled carriages carrying trees of the large-leaved sort, from which were suspended in cages different kinds of tame birds, among which he speaks of the orion 2 as that which had the sweetest note, and of another called the Katreus, 8 which was the most beautiful in appearance and had the most variegated
9

and

plumage.

following is Aelian's description, probably based on Adian. Megasthenes, of the palace at Pa^aliputra : 4 In the Indian royal palace, where the greatest of all the kings of the country resides, besides much else which is calculated to excite admiration, and which neither Mem*

The

nonian Susa with all its costly splendour, nor Ekbatana with all its magnificence, can vie (for, methinks, only the well-known vanity of the Persians could prompt such a comparison), there are other wonders besides, which I cannot undertake to describe in this treatise. In the parks tame peacocks are kept, and pheasants which have been domesticated, and among cultivated plants there are some to which the king's servants attend with special care, for there are shady groves and pasture-grounds planted with trees, and branches of trees which the art of the woodsman has deftly interwoven. . . . Within the palace grounds there are also artificial ponds of great beauty, in which they keep fish of enormous size but quite tame. No one has permission to fish for these except the king's sons while yet in their boyhood. These youngsters amuse themselves without the least risk of being drowned while fishing in the unruffled sheet of water and learning how to sail their boats.' 6

Among

the

royal

spectacle of fights

amusements, Adian mentions the between men (possibly wrestling matches),

and between elephants and other animals. 6

Author of a history of Alexander, whose contemporary he was. * Species not identified.
3

Perhaps monal pheasant

(cf.

McCrindle, Ancient India as dc-

Mxibcd in Classical Literature. p. 70, note 1). 4 xv. i. 6f>. * DC Anton, xui, XVHI. Ibid., xv. xv.

178

The Early History of Bengal

:

Quintus Curtius, in his Hittory of Alexander the Great*

gives another account of Indian courts
*

which it is his pleasure to be conveyed. He lolls in a golden palanquin, garnished with pearls which dangle all round it, and he is robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. Behind his palanquin follow men-at-arms, and his body-guards, of whom some carry boughs of trees on which birds are perched trained to interrupt business with their
cries.
all

The luxury of their kings/ he says, or as they call it, their magnificence, is carried to a vicious excess without a When the king condescends to parallel in the world* show himself in public his attendants carry in their hands silver censors and perfume with incense all the road by

'

The palace is adorned with gilded pillars clasped round with a vine embossed in gold, while silver images of those birds which most charm the eye diversify the workmanship. The palace is open to all comers even when the king is having his hair combed and dressed. It is then that he gives audience to ambassadors, and administers justice to his subjects* His slippers being after this taken off, his feet are rubbed with scented ointments. His principal exercise is hunting ; amid the vows and songs of his courtesans he
shoots the game enclosed within the royal park. The arrow, which are two cubits long, are discharged with more effort than effect, for, though the force of these missiles depends on their lightness, they are loaded with an obnoxious weight. He rides on horseback when making short journeys, but when bound on a distant expedition he rides in a chariot mounted on elephants, and, huge as these animals are, their bodies are covered completely over with trappings of gold. That no form of shameless profligacy may be wanting, he is accompanied by a long train of courtesans carried in golden palanquins, and this troop holds a separate place in the procession from the queen's retinue, and is as sumptuously appointed. His food is prepared by women, who also serve him with wine, which is much used by all the Indians. When the king falls into a drunken sleep his courtesans carry him away to his bedchamber, invoking the gods of the night in their native hymns.* l
It is not

dear whether Quintus Curtius

is

here describing

the habits of the Imperial minor Indian potentates ;

Maurya Court or of some of the

probably the Jatfcr wpj&J be

*Bk.vm, ch.it.

Mawrya Institution*: Greek Evidence

ITS

disposed to inMt^ allowed. As to the general luxury and magnificence of the Indian court, the concordant testimony of Strabo, Adian,

and Quintus Curtius

which In saying that wine is ' much used by all the Indians ', Quintus Curtius is in conflict with Strabo, as has been seen. That the Maurya princes drank wine is likely enough, for it would be quite in accord with Indian traditions for the royal family to allow themselves an indulgence which was eschewed by the more respectable part of their subjects. But the charge of habitual drunken* ness which Quintus brings against Indian kings can hardly have been true of the ambitious and successful Candragupta. Possibly it may have applied to his successor, Bindusara, or Amitrochates, of whom Athenaeus tells the story that he begged Antiochos Soter to send him some figs and raisin wine, and also to buy and send him a professor. Antiochos replied, sending the figs and wine, but explaining that it was not lawful for Greeks to sell a professor. 1 Strabo's * statement that a woman who kills a king when drunk is
the Artkaifatra affords.

finds support in the indications

rewarded by becoming the wife of his successor no doubt has reference to some tradition of such a case having
occurred.

'

On the whole, Strabo's description of the court represents the sovereign as leading a strenuous life, though surrounded with pomp and luxury ; not sleeping in the day-time the
absence of the siesta struck Megasthenes, accustomed to other Asiatic courts and fully occupied with public affairs

when not engaged

ances*

in war, the chase, or religious observ-

This account corresponds with the prescriptions of the Preacrip* 2 Arihaidstra, which, in an early chapter, lays down that the secret of success for kings lies in self-control (indriyajaya). 4 The king ', it says, ' who has not his organs of sense under his control, though possessed of the four quarters of the doty
9

earth, perishes soon, Further on it is laid

1

gites historical examples in proof. down that the king should gratify his

and

ig, 894.

Bk,

I,

ch. vi.

N2

180
1

The Early History of Bengal

and

desires without offending the principles of righteousness

The
8

Jffy
routine,

economy. In the chapter * which prescribes the king's daily routine of life (rdjapranidhi) the virtue especially inculcated is * uttAdno energy, watchfulness, literally standing up % The * opening sentence says that if the king be energetic, his 9 servants will be equally energetic (rdjdnamtUtiftamdna' It is laid down that he shall divide muttiffante bhrtytify). the day and the night each into eight watches of one hour and a half '. Of these, only three the third, fourth, and fifth watches of the night, or four and a half hours altogether are allowed for sleep. In the sixth watch he is to be awakened by the sound of trumpets and ' recall to his mind
the injunctions of sciences as well as the day's duties ; during the seventh he shall sit considering administrative
'

measures and send out spies, and during the eighth he shall receive benedictions from his chief priests, and having seen

and astrologer, and having saluted a cow with its calf, and a bull, by walking round them, he shall proceed to the upasthdna. This word is translated by * * 4 Shamasastry court ', but, from the context, office or hall ' of audience would seem a better rendering. In the first watch of the day, and apparently in the
his physician, chief cook,
f

upasthdna, the king should attend to the arrangements for the security of his person and receive accounts of income

and expenditure.
affairs of

In the second he should attend to the

the people of the city as well as of the country ; in the third, bathe, dine, and study ; in the fourth, receive gold and attend to the appointment of superintendents
(adhyakfa)
;

in the fifth, issue written orders to his ministers

;

and receive the reports of spies

to recreation or deliberation

the sixth he should devote

in the seventh, inspect his ; in the eighth, discuss military operations with troops ; the cominander-in-chief. In the first watch of the night he

and

should receive secret emissaries, and in the second, bathe, sup, and read before retiring tcfrest.

This programme
*
,

is

given evidently as a
*

counsel of per*

Bk.

I, ch. vii.

Bk.

I, cfa. arix.

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

faction \

181

and it is added that the king may alter the division of night and day, and discharge his duties in accordance
with his capacity.

We may

well suppose, however, that Candragupta, the

founder of a great empire and dynasty, set a high standard of duty. Noticing divergences between Megasthenes and Kau$lya, ThewpoDr. Otto Stein points out * that the Arthaidstra does not attribute to the king any functions as a judge of first instance or of appeal, but contemplates a separate establishment of
judges ; also that the Greek expression #0809 implies going out of the palace, whereas, according to the Ariha$dsira, the upasihdna is part of the palace. But the hearing of
subjects' petitions in the upasihdna, as prescribed in the

might not readily be distinguished by Megasthenes from a judicial function, and we may suppose that the upasihdna^ though within the palace precincts, was a separate building at some little distance from the king's private apartments, and that he went to it in some form of
Arihatdsira,

processional state. The Ariha&aslra represents the king as transacting in the upasihdna other official business besides the hearing of petitions, and as devoting to the latter duty
less

in hearing cases.

time than, according to Strabo, His Majesty occupied It does not, however, purport to lay down

the routine of the king's daily duties quite rigidly, and it may be that on occasion he gave up the greater part of

a day to the hearing of a specially important case, and that Megasthenes generalized from what he observed in one or
in the upasihdna the king AccessiMity * shall never cause petitioners to wait at the door, for when a king makes himself inaccessible he brings about, through
*

two instances. The Arthaidsira lays down that

his officers, disaffection

among

his subjects

of his enemies

Quintus Curtius, unfavourable picture of Indian

'.

seen, their accessibility,

1

and

their

Me$08ihencs und KautiluaMv.'ttX

182
justice
Precau+itfWM An*

The Early Hirtory of Bengal

and transacting ether business while their toilet was being made* In two points Strata's account of the royal household at

the king's

wfety

R&faUputra finds striking confirmation in the Arthai&stra, namely, the attendance on the king of a body-guard of armed women, and the personal services rendered to him by female slaves, both being connected with a feature alluded to by Strabo in one sentence, but strongly emphasized in the

ArtkaiMn
Female

the danger of assassination to which the king

1

3^.
tendants.

that the king, on rising from his be received first by troops of women armed with bows evidently his immediate body-guard- also that female slaves shall bathe and massage the king, make his bed, wash his clothes, and adorn him with garlands* Both of these
bed, shall

was exposed. The Artho4d#tra enjoins

on Precautions for ' the king's safety (AtmaraksitaJcam), and it may be inferred that, as guards and personal attendants on the king, women were thought more trustworthy than men. As to the recruitment of the female guards, and the race or class to winch they belonged, the Artha4d$tra is silent. It is not certain whether they were slaves.
prescriptions are found in the chapter

The author of the

is

preservation * sentence of an early chapter 8 lays down that, having secured his own personal safety first from his wives and his
sons, the king will be in a position to maintain the security of his kingdom against internal and external enemies '. About the king's wives he gives very little information,

the

first

Arthatdstra insists strongly that self* duty of kings, and in the opening

The

on the part of the palace reserved for concerned with regulations for the king's chiefly safety, quoting instances of kings in past times who were assassinated by their queens. From the minister's point of
and, in his chapter
is

them,

view, seemingly, the queen was necessary for ensuring the succession to the throne, but always a trouble and danger.
* always to be watched by aged men and women, in the guise of mothers and fathers ', and eunuchs, and to have

She
*

is

Bk.I, cb. xxJ,

Bk.

I,

ch. xvii.

Bk.

I,

cb. xx.

Maurya Institutions: Greek Evidence

no communication with wandering
ascetics

18* or mountebanks

or female slaves, other than those attached to the harem, nor with free women from outside, except such as attend on her in confinement. Everything that goes into or issues

from the harem is to be carefully inspected and sealed before

being allowed to pass. Similarly, the injunctions
of the Artftoidstra with regard The to the king's sons are largely directed towards securing his * personal safety, for princes, like crabs, devour their be'.

getter

Suggestions of different authors for dealing with are rejected by Kau$lya. He does not approve of princes * for to acquaint the putting temptations in their way,
is

innocent with sin (abuMhabodhanam)

a great crime

'.

Young men are impressionable, and accept as i&tfra what- Eduea* ever they are taught. Therefore the young prince should be taught righteousness and deterred from vice through scenes got up for the purpose, in which various characters
are enacted

by

secret

agents.

According to

how they
classified

respond to the education they receive, princes are

as intelligent and capable, indolent or perverse. The instructions for treatment of princes according to the aptitudes they display are somewhat obscure. It is laid down that

a prince possessed of good qualities should be appointed commander-in-chief or installed as heir-apparent, and that even an only son who is undisciplined should not be allowed
to

come to the

throne.
Suooes*

Elsewhere a verse seems to prescribe that the king's eldest son should succeed to the throne, except when it involves danger. Apparently, the rule was that the eldest son should

to
*$

throne,

be made heir-apparent unless disqualified by character : if the eldest son was disqualified, another son possessing the
necessary qualifications should succeed, or, failing any qualiA prince excluded from fied son, a qualified grandson. inheritance should endeavour, by faithful service, to regain his father's favour. If he fails to do so, he may take refuge

with another king or seek an independent livelihood. He may gain adherents and amass wealth by unscrupulous
Bk*
I, oh, xvii.

184

The Early History of Bengal

means, such as stealing the goods of religious sects, rich widows, or merchants, or property of gods (devadravya) other than endowments of learned brahmans, and then conspire to oust the king by violence from his throne. On the other hand, suggestions are given as to how the
cession.

king should treat a son whom he has excluded from sucIf the prince has been finally cut off (tyakta), the

king may have him killed by a secret emissary. Otherwise he may be conciliated through his mother or other agents and induced to come to court, where he may be encouraged

with promises of succession and at the same time kept under guard. Or an unruly prince may be banished. 1
Other

The Arthaidstra does not mention the king's changing his bed during the night to avoid assassination, and it is unlikely that this can have been a usual precaution, though it may have been resorted to on some occasions, of which MegaVarious rules are given by Kautilya for the of trustworthy persons about the king, guards employment to be provided on different occasions, special precautions to
sthenes heard.

be taken in regard to his food, medicine, clothing, perfumes and garlands, carriages, riding-animals, and boats. In order
to practise shooting at moving as well as stationary marks the king should hunt, but only in forests which have been
cleared of robbers, enemies,

and snakes. 2 Strabo's reference to royal hunting enclosures is supported, as we have seen,

by a passage of the
*

Arihaidstra prescribing the reservation

for the king of a game-forest surrounded by a ditch.

Bk.

I,

ch. xviii.

Bk.

I,

ch. xx.

XVI
BINDUSARA. A$OKA

THE ROCK INSCRIPTIONS

Candragupta's son and successor, Bindusara, called by BinduStrabo Amitrochades and by Athenaeus Amitrochates, we ***** know little. He has been credited with conquests in the

OF

south of India by Vincent Smith, 1 with some hesitation, and also by Jayaswal,2 chiefly on the authority of Tfirfin&tha. 3 It is not clear, however, from Schiefner's rendering of TSrfin&tha, whether the conquests effected through the magical power of the brahman minister, Cnakya, to which he refers,

took place in the reign of Candragupta or in that of Bindusara. From Strabo 4 we learn that Seleukos was represented
at Bindus&ra's court by Deimachos, and, from the anecdote of Athenaeus quoted above, that Bindusara corresponded with Seleukos's successor, Antiochos Soter.
third sovereign of the Maurya line, ASokavardhana, Afoka. commonly called Aoka, is celebrated in Buddhist literature

The

as patron and propagator of Buddhism, and detailed narratives of his career are found in the Pali chronicles of Ceylon,
as well as in

many Buddhist books

Tibetan, and Chinese origin.

He

is

of Indian, Nepalese, mentioned also in the

Pur&nas and in Jaina literature. Unfortunately the Buddhist accounts of Aoka, for the most part, cannot be relied on, exhibiting as they do the defects which may be expected in works composed with a view to edification rather than
historical accuracy, as well as discrepancies attributable to local jealousies and rivalry among the sects by which

Buddhism has been divided. From the historical point of m* view, the most important documents relating to Aoka's reign are the well-known inscriptions on rocks and columns
1

Early Hittory of India, pp. 148, 149. J. fl. O, , S.; vol. ii, pp. 79 It.

Cf. p. 24.

n*

i.

9,

188

The Early History of Bengal

him

in different parts of India, which are attributed to

the only inscriptions of the Maurya period that have been found.1 They have been for many years the subject of exhaustive study by eminent scholars, and a brief account of them only will be attempted here, for the information of the general reader.

They have been found on conspicuous rock-faces at fourteen, and on monolith columns of sandstone at ten different places in India, as well as on the walls of three caves cut
in solid rock for the use of ascetics.

Atoka's

name appears

in one of these documents only, a short rock-inscription found in 1015 at Maski in the Raichur district of the

dominions of H.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad. Before that, however, the correctness of the tradition attributing to Aoka the other inscriptions, purporting to have been
of friendly mien '), (Priyadarsi had been supported from numerous references in Buddhist Two of the inscriptions literature and internal evidence.

made by order of Piyadasi

are engraved in the Kharosthi character, an ancient script similar to the Aramaic, which was written from right to
left,

believed to have been introduced in the Panjab during the period of Persian dominion, four or five centuries before Christ. The remainder are in the Br&hml character,
is

and

written from left to right, from which the Devanagari or Sanskrit alphabet and the modern alphabets of Northern

and Western India have been evolved. For fuller accounts of the Kharosthi and Brfthml scripts, the most ancient forms
of writing found in India, the reader 4 Indian Palaeography '.*
Lanis

referred to Btthler's

The

inscriptions are in various local dialects akin to

Sanskrit and Pali, and were evidently intended to be read by the genera] public. Portions of them have become

as might be expected, by the natural wear of centuries, and the gups thus occurring have been supplied by collating different versions of the same proclamation or
effaced,
4

edict

V and

in part

by

conjecture.
*

Except brief inaefiptions on

tfflpa imifingt, Ac., referred

to in

Several of the inscrip2nd. Ant* vol. xaodii, 1904, App. t pp. 1S-44.

ch. id* below.

Atoka: The Rock Inscriptions

tions contain

197

which
ii

words or passages in the interpretation of difficulty ha* arisen, and on these questions new fight being thrown by the investigations of students, and new

which

theories are put forward from time to time, but the points still remain open to dismission are not of great

importance from the historical point of view. The versions here given do not pretend to critical accuracy, nor does a detailed statement of the authorities on which they rest
for, but it is believed that they convey approxithe purport of the documents, so far as it has been mately ascertained. For a fuller account and bibliography of the inscriptions the reader is referred to Vincent Smith's work,

seem called

Atoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India. With the exception of the three dedicatory notices on caves, to be described
later,

issued

they are proclamations in the nature of homilies, by Aoka with a view to the moral improvement of
'

his subjects, to which, in the literature of the subject, the

somewhat inappropriate name of * edicts has been given. Of the fourteen rock-inscriptions, seven contain versions of Sites of or the whole or part of what are called, in the literature of the j^^ ' * Edicts, subject, the fourteen Major Rock Edicts ', and are found
at the following places : 1. Sh&bftzgardi, in the Yuzufzai country, 40 miles northeast of Peshawar, North-west Frontier Province.
2.

8.

Mansehra, in the Aazfira district of the Panjab. K&lsi, among the foot-hills of the Himalayas, 15 miles
SSpara, in the

west of the hill-station of Masuri.

4.

the sea-coast,
5.

Th&na district, Bombay Presidency, near about 85 miles north of Bombay.

Girnar, near Junagacjh in Kathiawar, on the rock already referred to, which bears also later inscriptions
relating to the artificial lake or reservoir called Sudarfana. . Dhauli, 7 miles south of BhuvaneSvar in the Puri
district of Orissa. 1

town in the Jaugatjha, or Jogadh, an ancient walled 2 Ganjam district of the Madras Presidency.
7*

188
Cfeai*e

The Marly History of Bengal

tarf^,
t*01**

these seven inscriptions, the first two are in the Kharorthi character and the others in Br&hmL

Of

A
I.

summary
'

Edicts

is

of the text. of the fourteen 'Major given below.

sacrifice here.

Rock

No

animal must be slain for

Formerly,

on the occasion of a royal banquet, thousands of living creatures were slaughtered. Now three animals only two peacocks and a deer are slaughtered daily for the royal household, and before long even this will cease.

King Piyanations and among neighbouring (amta) princes, such as the Ccxjas, the Pandiyas, the Satyaputras, the Keralaputras, Tambapanni, the Yona king called Amti(vijite
)

II.

Everywhere in the dominions

of

dasi,

as well as

yoke, and. those who are vassal kings of that Amtiyoke, King Piyadasi, beloved of the devas (devdnam piya), has
2 provided for the treatment of diseases of men and animals, and has caused wells to be dug and trees planted for the

enjoyment of men and animals. m. In the thirteenth year after my coronation I ordered that everywhere in my dominions (vijite) my yutas, rajukas, and prade&kas should go forth on tour (anusamydna 3 ) every
five years for the

preaching of the Sacred

Law (dhammanu-

sathi), as well as for other business. They should preach obedience to parents, and liberality towards friends, acquain-

tances,

and

relatives,

brahmans and ramanas. The parisad

also will issue orders to the yutas according to the letter as well as according to the spirit.

IV. For many centuries the slaughter and cruel treatment of living beings, and unbecoming behaviour (asampratipati)

towards relations, brahmans, and ramanas increased. But now* in consequence of the fulfilment of the Sacred Law

(dfammacarana) by King Piyadasi (devdndmpiya), the drum of the Sacred Law (dhammaghosa *) has taken the place of
Butter's
alternative
p. 205. 1 Lit.
*

translation.
is

An
below,

suggested

made
'.

healing arrangethis

ments
*

(cifacha)

The meaning of

word

is

Smith (Atoka, p. 164), following Jayaswal (J.B.O.R.S. iv. 87), interprets it as referring to periodical transfers of officials. An expression found in Bud* dbist literature.
doubtful.

Aioka: The Rock Inscriptions

180

the war-drum and edifying shows have been exhibited to the people.

V. In the fourteenth year from

overseers of the Sacred

my coronation I appointed

occupied with the

Law (dhammamahdmdtd). They are observance of the Sacred Law (dhamma-

dhistdna) among all religious sects (pd$anda), with the growth of the Sacred Law, and with the welfare and happiness of my dhammayuta, 1 as also among Yonas, Kambojas, Gandharas, Rastikas, Pitinikas, and all other nations on my western frontier (apardnta). They are busy among servants

and masters, among brahmans, the wealthy, the helpless and the aged, in the control of their subordinates, and in the revision of capital sentences and sentences of imprisonment. At Pataliputra, and in outlying towns (Pataliputesu ca
bahiresu ca nagaresu), they supervise the female establishments of my brothers and sisters, and throughout my

dominions

they are concerned with the maintenance of the Sacred Law and with pious gifts (dhammaddna). VI. Formerly the dispatch of business and the receipt of reports (prativedana) did not take place properly. Now I have ordained that the reporters (prativedaka) may report to me the concerns of the people (atham (artham) janasa
(vijita)

prativedatu) at all places while I am at meals, or in my carriage, or in my pleasure-garden. private apartments, in Everywhere I dispatch public business. Moreover, if with

my

respect to anything which I order by word of mouth, or which as an urgent matter (acayika, atiyayika) is entrusted
2 to the mahamatas, a dispute or deliberation arises in the parisad, I have given orders that it shall be brought forth-

with to

cognizance in any place and at any time ; for I am never satisfied with my exertions (uih8nasi[\), and with the dispatch of business. For I consider the welfare

my

of

people to be something for which I must work. But the root of that is exertion (usf&nam, uth&nanJie]). There
all
Cf. Smith, AMca, p. 166. Perhaps officials concerned with the promotion of morality

Krishna Deb, AtotoT* Dhamma-

J.A.S.B., n*. 1920,

no. 8).

ttpfe (Calcutta,

May

1919),
vol.

and
xvi,

ami

religion, subordinate to the

(of.

dhammamaMmdtas

Harit

The Early History of Bengal 190 is no more important work than to secure the welfare of aH.
the purpose of every effort that I make is that I may discharge my debt to creatures, that I may make some happy here (idha, to, hida L e. in this world), and they may gain heaven svagam, spagam, spagram (svargam) in the

And

next (paratra).
VII. King Piyadasi dev&nampiya desires that adherents of creeds (pdfandd) of all kinds may dwell everywhere, for they all seek after self-control and purity of mind.

Formerly the dev&n&mpiya used to go forth on pleasure tours (vihdraydtra), in which the chase and similar amusements were pursued. Now, in the eleventh year from the coronation of King Piyadasi, he went in search of true knowledge, and hence, in place of such pleasure-tours, he has instituted religious tours (dhammayatd), which are devoted to inspection of the country and the people, visits and gifts to
holy men, and preaching and discussion of the Sacred Law. IX. It is customary to perform various auspicious rites
(mangold) on the occasion of misfortunes, at marriages of sons and daughters, at the birth of sons, at the time of starting on a journey. At such times women, in particular,

VUL

observe trivial and useless

rites.

ought, indeed, to be performed.

But

auspicious rites rites of this description

is

Now

produce no
Sacred

results.

The

following,

which

the rite of the

results.

Law

(dhammamangala), produces truly great

It includes kindness towards slaves

taka), reverence

and servants (ddsabha-

towards venerable persons, self-control in relations with living creatures, liberality towards brahmans and faunapas. These and other similar virtuous actions are called the auspicious rites of the Sacred Law, Every worldly
auspicious rite

without reference to time (akSUka). If it does not secure the desired object here, it yet produces endless merit in the next world (paratra). But,
is effective if it

accomplish its of the Sacred

of doubtful efficiency. It may or may not object in this world. But the auspicious rite
is

Law

desired object is gained here also in the next world*

does secure the desired object, both are gained the and endless merit is produced

Ateka: The Rock Inscriptions

X. King Piyadaai does not think that glory and fame bring much profit, except that lie desires glory and fame with .the view that, at present and in the future, the people may practise obedience to the Sacred Law. All the king's efforts are made with reference to the results for a future life that all may be free from the danger of sin. This is
to accomplish, whether for the low or the great, except by the greatest exertion and by renouncing every*
difficult

thing*

XI. King Piyadasi devanampiya speaks thus : There Is no such almsgiving (dSna) as the almsgiving of the Sacred

Law

(dhammaddna).

slaves

and

This includes the good treatment erf servants, obedience towards parents, liberality
relatives,
sacrificial

towards friends, acquaintances, brahmans, and abstaining from

$rama$as, and
slaughter (anar-

ambha) of all living creatures. XII. King Piyadasi devanampiya honours men of all creeds (sarva-pdfanda), both ascetics (pravrajiia) and householders (grhastha), by gifts and marks of honour of various kinds, but thinks gifts and honours of less importance than
the object that an increase of essential good (sard) may take place among men of all creeds. This may be produced in
various ways, but chiefly by control of speech (vdcagupti). A man should not extol his own religion and find fault with
others unnecessarily
:

when he does

so of necessity, he

should be moderate in his language. And he should honour other creeds for their good points. Thus a man exalts his own creed and benefits others; by taking the opposite course he injures both his own creed and the others.

For he who extols

his

own

creed and condemns

all others,

thinking thereby to benefit his

contrary, exceedingly.
is

creed, injures it, on the Hence, self-restraint in this matter

own

commendable, so that men may hear the Sacred Law one from tiie other, and take pleasure in the hearing. For it is
the de$ire of devftn&mpiya that

much and
pf jjifts

possess holy

men of all doctrines. And to

'
:

creeds shall hear

the adherents of
less

all religions it

must be

said

The devn&mpiya thinks

increase antf boaours than of the object that a large

192
of essential

The Early History of Bengal good may take place among men of

all creeds.

For this end are working the overseers of the Sacred Law (dhammamah&mfitd), the superintendents (mahSmOtd) of women, the Vftcabhfimikas, 1 and other bodies (nikdyS). And this is the result : the exaltation of one's own creed, and the promotion of the interests of the Sacred Law. 9 XIII. In the ninth year from his coronation King Piyadasi

devanampiya conquered KaliAga.

One hundred and

fifty thousand persons were carried away thence, one hundred thousand were slain, and many times as many died. Since then, as the result of that conquest, the devftnftmpiya has become jealous in the protection of the Sacred Law, and in his love for it and the teaching of it. That has come from the repentance of the devfinfimpiya on account of his conquest of Kaliftga. For the conquest of a country results in

people being slain or dying of disease or being carried That is very painful and regrettable to the dev&n&moff. But what appears still more regrettable to him is piya. this. In such a country there dwell brahmans and ramanas, religious men of different creeds, and householders (grahatha, gihitha), men of strict principle, who practise the virtues of obedience towards the first-born, towards parents, and towards venerable persons, and becoming behaviour towards
its

friends, acquaintances,

companions, relations, slaves, and

and such men suffer injuries or death, or forcible separation from their beloved ones. Others, who themselves escape unharmed, grieve in sympathy with afflicted friends and relatives. Even the hundredth or thousandth part of
servants,
*

slain or otherwise died, or were carried the conquest of Kalifiga, now appears to the during devanSmpiya matter of deepest regret, and, even if a man should do him an injury, he holds that all that can be borne should be borne* Even on the people of the forests (atom) in his dominions (vijita) he has compassion, and would spare, though having power to destroy them, if they

those

men who were

off

refrain

and

for he desires for all beings peace security, self-restraint, equity, and happiness. But this
evil
;

from doing
*

Meaning doubtful. Apparently a

class of officials.

Atoka: The Rode Inscriptions

conquest he holds to be the

19$

greatest, namely, the conquest the Sacred Law (dhammavijaya), which he has made through both here and over all his neighbours, even as far as six hundred yojanas, where the King of the Yonas called

Amtiyoka dwells, and, beyond this Amtiyoka, where the four kings dwell, viz. he called Turamaya, he called Aihtikine,
he called Maka, and he called Alikasudra ; in the south, where the Cocjas and Pamdas dwell, as far as the Tamba*
p&Qini
:

Vajras,

here, too, within the empire ; among the Visas, Yonas, K&mbojas, in Nabhaka of the Nabhitis,

among the

Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Amdhras, the Pulindas everywhere they follow his preaching of the Sacred Law

(dhammanusatthi). Even those to (data) do not go follow the Sacred

whom his messengers Law as soon as they

with
it,

have heard

his orders issued in accordance

it,

and

his

preaching of

and they

will follow it in future.

And

the

conquest which has been made thereby everywhere yields a feeling of joy, but it is indeed something small. The
devftnftmpiya esteems as precious only that which refers to the next world. And this religious edict (dhammalipi) has

been written in order that my sons and grandsons may not think a new conquest desirable, in order that, on the occasion of any conquest that has to be made by the sword

may find pleasure in mildness and and that they may deem a conquest through the gentleness, Sacred Law alone a real conquest. Such a conquest is of Let all this world and the next (hidalokika paralokika).
(lit.

by

arrows), they

their joy (nirati) be the joy of exertion (bramarati), for that yields bliss in this world and the next.

XIV* This
by

religious edict (dhammalipi) has been written order of King Piyadasi devftn&mpiya in full, or abridged.

For not everything is suitable in every place. For my empire (vijitam) is large, and much has been written, and I shall write more. Certain sentences have been repeated
because of their sweet import.
order that people

The

edict has been

made

in

may act accordingly. But it may be that something has been written incompletely, through a mistake of the writer or for some other reason.
1778

194

The Early History of Bengal

In the rock inscriptions at Dhauli and Jaugacjha, in Ka' ' HAga, the two edicts known as the Kaiiftga local edicts are substituted for Nos. XI, XII, and XIII of the above series. The Dhauli version of the first of these two special edicts,
as rendered
* The officers of Tosali in begins : of the administration of the city are to be commanded charge ' as follows (tosaliyam mahamata nagalaviyohcdaka vataviyam). The Jaugacjha version has, for 4 tosaliyam ', ' samapayam \

by

Senart,

The edict warns the officials against subjecting the people of the cities to arbitrary imprisonment or torture, and, generally, against the vices of envy, readiness to be discouraged, harshness, impatience, want of application, idle* It also directs the sense of weariness '. ness, and a

mahamatas to make tours (anymmyani) every five years, and the princes (KumarS) of Ujjayin! and Taksasila every
three years. 2

The Dhauli version of the Second Kaiiftga edict is addressed

to the prince and officers (Kumala mahamdtdca) of Tosali, and directs that the independent (avijita) frontier peoples (amid) be assured of the king's benevolence, and led to observe the Sacred Law (dhamma), and thus secure for themselves happiness in this world and in the next. version of this edict addresses the mahamatas of
Sites of
jto^fc

The other
Samapa.

places at which rock-inscriptions of TOr have been found are :

1.

The remaining

Aoka

Edicts.

Maski, in Lingsugur taluk, Raichur district, of the dominions of H.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad.

and 4. Siddapura and two adjacent villages, JatingaRameSvara and Brahmagiri, about 45 miles south-east of
2, 8,

Maski, in the Chitaldroog district of Mysore. 5. Sasseram (Sahasram), in the Shahabad district of South
Bihar.

Rupn&th, near Jabalpur, Central Provinces. 7. Bairat, in the Jaipur State, Rfijput&na. 1 transferred every five yean, and Senart, translated by Grier*w, 2nd. Ant. vol. xix, 1890, those of UjjayinI and Takaasila
6.
9

pp. 82-102.

According to an alternative interpretation, the mah&m&taa of Total! and Samapa are to be

every three years (Smith, Atoka, pp. 195, 196 ; cf. supra, p. 188, note 8).

195 At each of these {daces is found inscribed a version of Hie Fiwt what is known as the First Minor Rock Edict of Atoka* jfo&f
This document, though not of great length, has been
discussed
scholars, its
difficulties.

Afoka: The Rock Inscriptions

much

Edicts,

by interpretation presenting special Here it may suffice to say that the edict refers to the fact of A4oka having been a lay disciple (upasaka) for two and a half years, and having subsequently approached
is interpreted as meaning that he became a professed monk. The Maski version purports 4 to have been made by order of devanampiya Aoka ', being, as already mentioned, the only extant inscription in which

or joined the saftgha, which

mentioned, ajid the Siddapura version reads as a communication addressed from Suvannagiri to
is

the

name

of

Aoka

certain officials (mahdmdta) in Isila

by a
:

prince (dyaputa,

dryaputrd) and

his

mahamatras.

Isila is

understood to have

was

been the ancient name of Siddapura where Suvannagiri is uncertain, but it would appear to have been the head-quarters of a viceroy of Asoka, who was also a royal
prince. tions to

The Sahasram and Rupnath

have
'

versions contain direc-

these things

'

engraved on mountains and

is

stone

pillars.

a short one appended The to the three versions of the First at Siddapura and adjacent
villages in Mysore.

The Second Minor Rock Edict

It has been thus translated

by Vincent Rock

Smith
*

3Mict *

Thus saith His Majesty : Father and mother must be hearkened to ; similarly, respect for living creatures must be firmly established ; truth must be spoken. These are the virtues of the Law of Piety which must be practised. Similarly, the teacher must be reverenced by the pupil, and proper courtesy must be
*

shown to
4

relations.

This is the ancient nature of things this leads to length of 9 days, and according to this men must act.

The inscription known as the Bhabru Edict is on a boulder The which was found at the top of a hill at Bairat in Jaipur State near another hill, at the base of which the version of the First Minor Rock Edict, known as the Bairat inscription, appears, and removed thence to Calcutta. It begins thus :

02

196
*

The Early History of Bengal

King Piyadasi of Magadha greets the Safigha and wishes prosperity and good health. Ye know, Reverend sirs, how great are my respect and goodwill to the Buddha, the Law, and the Saftgha (budhasi, dharwnari, tanghati). Whatever
it

has been said by the Blessed 9 all that has been well said.

Buddha

(bhagavaii budhena),

follows has been interpreted as recommending! in particular, seven texts or passages of Buddhist scripture,
five

What

of which have been identified in the Nikfiya portion of

Pfili

the The cave

Buddhist Canon.

Remains of three short Inscriptions attributed to Aloka are ^3 foun d on *ke polished walls of three caves excavated
in the hard (quartzite gneiss) rock of the Barabar hills, near Gaya in Bihar. They show that the caves were granted by

King Piyadasi to the Ajivikas, two in the thirteenth and the third in the twentieth year from his consecration.

XVII
ASOKA
(continued)

THE PILLAR INSCRIPTIONS

the Pillar Inscriptions of Asoka the most important The are the well-known series of seven edicts, of which a rendering pjj^
is

OF

given below
I.

Edicts.

King Piyadasi devanampiya speaks

thus*

In the

twenty-seventh year from

my
Law

coronation I ordered this

Happiness in religious edict (dhammalipi) to be written. this world and in the next is difficult to gain except by the
greatest love of the Sacred

(dhammakdmatd), circum-

spection (palikhd), obedience (sususa), fear (bhaya), and energy (usdha). But, through my instructions, the longing for and love of the Sacred Law have increased day by day,

and will increase still more. And my officials (pulisa), high and low, as well as those of middle rank, can lead the fickle back to their duty. So also the wardens of the marches
duty to protect (pdlana), to govern (vidhana), to make happy (sukhdyana), and to guard (gupti), in accordance with the Sacred Law (dhamma).
(amtaniahdmdtd).
It is their
II.

King Piyadasi devanfimpiya speaks thus. The practice

of the Sacred

Law

is

meritorious.

It includes

freedom from

sin, good works, compassion, liberality, truthfulness, and purity* On bipeds and quadrupeds, on birds and aquatic

even the boon of In order life, and in other ways I have done much good. that other men may do likewise I have caused this religious edict to be written. He who will act thus will perform
animals I have conferred

many

benefits,

a deed of merit.
III.

his

King Piyadasi dev&n&mpiya speaks thus. Man good deeds, saying This good deed I have done.
:

sees

He

does not see his evil deeds or say

This

evil

deed I have
indeed
is this

done ;

this is

what

is

called sin.

But

difficult

198

The Early History of Bengal

Nevertheless, each one should mark the following. Such feelings as rage, cruelty, anger, pride, and jealousy are called sinful : even through these shall I bring welfare in about my fall. This conduct conduces to
self-examination.

my

this world, that to

my

welfare in the next.

IV. In the twenty-seventh year from my coronation I ordered this religious edict to be written. My Lajukas (rajukas) are established among the people among many hundred thousand souls. I have made them independent in awarding both honours and punishments in order that they may do their work tranquilly and fearlessly : that they
happiness to the people of the country (janasajdnapadasa), and may confer benefits on them. They will know what gives happiness and pain, and they will exhort the peoples of the country in accordance with the principles of the Sacred Law, so that they may gain happiness in this world and in the next. My Lajukas being eager to serve me, my other servants (pulisani) also, who know my will, will render service and exhort the people, and thus the Lajukas will strive to gain my favour. For as a man, after making over his child to a clever nurse, says to him* self The clever nurse strives to bring up my child well ' even so I have acted with my Lajukas for the welfare and happiness of the people of the provinces, so that, being fearless and tranquil, they may do their work without perplexity. For this reason I have made my Lajukas inde:

may give welfare and

pendent in awarding honours and punishments. For equity in official business and in the award of punishments is
desirable.

condemned to death,

I have also promised a respite of three days to prisoners after sentence. Their relatives may

secure a remission of their sentences, or, with this object, will give alms or fast. My object is that such condemned prisoners may achieve bliss in the next world, and that the
practice of self-denial
people.

and charity may extend among the

V* In the twenty-seventh year from my coronation I forbade the slaughter of the following creatures : parrots,

Afaka: The Pillar Inscriptions

starlings,

199

ruddy sheldrakes (cakrav&ca, anas

casarca),

wUd

ducks, bats, terrapins, boneless

fish, tortoises! porcupines, bulls set free, rhinoceroses, grey doves, village pigeons, and all quadrupeds which are not used and are not eaten. 1

and sows which are with young or in milk, up to the age of six months, must not be slaughtered. Caponing of cocks is forbidden. Husks containing living creatures must not be burned. Forests must not be burned mischievously, or so as to cause injury to living creatures, nor must any live animal be given to another animal to devour. At the full moon of the three cdtwmdsyas (four-monthly celebrations), and at the conShe-goats, ewes, and their young

junction of the
shall

full moon with the constellation Tisya, fish not be killed or sold during three days, viz. the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the moon becoming full, and the first day following. Nor shall fish be killed or sold on

any fast (uposatha) day. On the same days, no other animal found in the elephant preserves (ndgavanasi) or in the fishermen's preserves (kevatabhogasi) must be killed. On the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of each lunar halfmonth, on the Tiya and Punarvasu days, and on the
full-moon days of the three seasons (caiurmdsya), bulls, he-goats, rams, boars, or other animals shall not be castrated. On the Tisya and Punarvasu days, on the full-moon days
of the caturmdsyas, and on the first days of the fortnights succeeding them, the branding of horses and oxen is forto the twenty-sixth anniversary of my coronation I have decreed twenty-five times the liberation of

bidden.

Up

prisoners.

VI. In the thirteenth year from my coronation I ordered religious edicts to be written for the welfare and happiness
of the people, so that, abandoning evil conduct, they might make progress in the practice of the Sacred Law. Thus do
I give my attention, not only to my own relatives, but to all others near and far, so that I may lead some of them

to happiness.
*

In

like

manner

I direct

my

attention to all
is

Some names of

species, the

meaning of which

doubtful, are

omitted.

200

The Early History of Bengal

bodies corporate (nik&ya). I have also honoured men of all creeds with various honours. But what I consider most
essential is the voluntary approach of one sect to another. In the twenty-seventh year from my coronation I ordered this religious edict to be written.

VII. King Piyadasi dev&n&mpiya speaks thus. Kings who lived in ages past conceived the wish that mankind

should

make

progress in the observance of the Sacred

fitting.

but this did not take place as was

this,

Reflecting

Law, on

by what means mankind might grow befitting growth of the Sacred Law by what means I might raise up some of them to do so. I decided to order
I considered

sermons on the Sacred Law (dhammasdvandni) to be preached and instructions on the Sacred Law (dhammdnusdthi) to be given. Mv missioners and my servants (pulisd), who

many men, will spread instruction. Even the Lajukas, who are set over many hundred thousand souls, have been ordered by me to instruct my loyal subjects in
various ways. of the Sacred

are set over

With the same object

have erected

pillars

Law (dhammathambdni) and have appointed superintendents of the Sacred Law (dhammamahdmOtd).

to

I have planted banyan-trees on the high roads to give shade man and beast. I have planted mango orchards, and

ordered wells to be dug at every half-kos, and rest-houses and watering-places to be established. But such benefits are of small account and have been conferred on the people by former kings as well as by myself. I, however, have

men obedient to the Sacred of the Sacred Law (dhammamaMy superintendents hdmdid) also are occupied with various spiritual matters
all this in

done Law,

order to render

men

affecting both ascetics (pavajild) and householders, and with of all creeds. I have arranged that they shall be

occupied with the affairs of the Saftgha, with the Ajlvika brahmans, with the Niganthas, and numerous other creeds.

As various
ments of

officials

different classes of

have been appointed for various requiremen, so my superintendents of

the Sacred Law are occupied with the spiritual requirements of men of all creeds. Both these and many other high

Atoka: Tfo Pillar Inscription*

officials

a0l

axe occupied with the distribution of my own charities, and those of the queens and of ail my female

They point out various objects of charity. I have arranged that they shall be occupied with the distribution of the charities of my sons and the other princes,
establishments*
in conformity with the Sacred Law through which compassion, liberality, truthful* ness, purity, gentleness, and holiness may increase among

and thereby promote that conduct

men.

King Piyadasi devan&mpiya speaks thus. The virtuous actions which I have performed have been imitated

and will be imitated in the future by other men, who thereby have advanced and will advance in obedience towards parents and venerable men, in reverence for the aged, in proper conduct towards brahmans and sramanas, towards the poor and wretched, and towards slaves and servants. Such progress in morality has been secured by two means rules and
meditation, and, of these two, rules arc of less importance, and more is accomplished by meditation. I have ordered

that creatures of various species shall be exempt from But through slaughter, and have prescribed other rules.

deep meditation more progress in the observance of the Sacred Law has been achieved among men, so that they do
not injure created beings or slaughter living creatures. These orders have been issued with the purpose that they may endure as long as my descendants reign as long as
obeying them happiness is secured in this world and in the next. I have caused this religious edict to be written in the twenty-eighth year from
the sun and

moon

endure.

By

be engraved wherever stone columns or tablets are found, so that it may last a long time. The complete series of the above seven edicts is found

my coronation.

It is to

sites of

engraved on one column only, now standing in the Kotila or citadel of the Emperor Firoz Shah Tughlak, to the south of the modern city of Delhi, about five hundred yards from the Delhi gate, to which situation it was removed by Firoz
Shah's orders towards the end of the fourteenth century

from Topra in the

stood.

district of

Ambala, where

it

originally

308
TbeMitmt

The Early History of Bengal

Wlir

'

another column, which stands on the ridge to the north of Delhi, the first five edicts are found. This column

On

was

similarly

removed by Firoz Shah from

its original site

at Mirat and erected in the grounds of his country palace called the Khushk-i-Shikar, which stood beyond the walls

The
gjJSSri Pillar.

of the city of Firozabad, founded by and named after him. Three other columns bear the first six edicts of the series,

the seventh being found on the Topra column alone. Of these columns one stands now at Allahabad, but appears,

Three

pg^~
Pillars.

from another inscription of Agoka which it bears, to have been erected originally at Kauambi, a town often mentioned in Indian literature, the site of which has been much discussed, but seems to be identified with most probability as the place now bearing the name of Kosam, on the left bank of the Jumna about thirty miles above Allahabad. The other two columns on which the same six edicts are inscribed stand at two places in the Champaran district of Bihar, both called locally Lauriya, but distinguished in archaeological reports as Lauriya Araraj or Radhia, and 1 Lauriya Nandanga<Jh or Mathia, respectively, and a third pillar in the same district, at Rfimpurva, bears edicts I, II, It is supposed that the columns III, and IV of the series. erected at the three places mentioned in Champaran, with another (bearing no inscription) at Bakhira, the site of the
ancient Vaisali, in the district of Muzaffarpur, mark the route of a pilgrimage which, according to Buddhist tradition, Aoka undertook from P&\ aliputra to visit the Buddhist

holy places in the Nepal tarai. Besides the seven principal edicts enumerated above, the following inscriptions of ASoka on pillars have been found :

The

on a broken column at Sarnath near Benares, of which the lower portion only still stands on its original site in the deer-park ', and four broken pieces, with
1.

The

inscription
*

fully explained in *

These confusing names are Cunningham's * Inscriptions of Asoka (Carpus Inscrlptionum Indicarum, vol. i,
1

(phallus).

lag** are

1877, pp. 89-42). The two vilnamed after the pillars, wfidh are called locally rlaur'

a temple near the rite of one pillar, nd Nandangacjh of a ruined fort and Nan near the other. Radhia and Mathia are names of other neigh*
touring villages.

Araraj

is

the

name of

Atoka: The Pillar Inscriptions

the
first
4

lion capital

% are preserved in the Stonftth

208 museum.

This inscription originally consisted of eleven lines, but the three have disappeared, with the exception of the first two syllables of the first and second lines and part of the
third,

which were recovered on three of the detached

frag*

The remainder of the inscription is in good preservation. As conjecturally restored, it is a warning against divisions in the Saftgha, and directs that any monk or nun
ments.
the Saftgha shall wear the white clothing of a layman instead of the monk's yellow robe, and shall not reside in any monastery in other words, they are to be unfrocked and expelled from the Order* The edict con4 cludes : Thus should this command be brought to notice in the order of monks (bhikhu-sanghasi), and in the order of nuns (bhikhuni sanghasi). Thus saith the devanampiya. One such writing (lipi) accessible to you has been posted in the samsarani^ And even such a writing (lipi) ye must
inscribe for the lay disciples (updsaka). And the lay disciples also should come on the fast (uposathd) days, in order to

who breaks up

make themselves acquainted with

On

every fast day regularly (inahdmdta) attend the uposatha service, so that they may become thoroughly acquainted with this order, and to learn
it.

this decree (iasanam). shall each superintendent

And, as
districts

far as

your jurisdiction extends, in

all

town
be

and

ye

shall cause sentence of expulsion to

carried out according to the letter thereof.' 2. much defaced inscription recovered on broken pieces The of a column which stood near the great stupa at Sfinchi in

PH^

the native state of Bhopal. From what remains it appears Edict, to be directed, like the Sfirnith edict, against divisions in the Saftgha, prescribing that any monk or nun who breaks

up the Saftgha shall be expelled from the Order, and using the same formula, viz. that the offender shall wear white clothing, and not reside in a monastery. 8. The brief inscription, also much defaced, on the column The ' at Allahabad, which is addressed to the Kosambiya mahft*

^i
Edict.

Meaning

doubtftal

'

perhaps

cloister

(cf.

F.

W< Thomas

in

J. H. A. S. 1915, p. 112).

204

The Early History of Bengal

edict, is

mAta', and known as the Kausimbt

The

of similar

purport* * 4* third inscription on the same column, known as the queen's edict ', refers to charitable donations of the second

queen (dutiyaye deviyc), whose name is given as mother of Tivara.

The
5.

Karuvaki \

mSSd
fttk*
Inacription.

standing at Rummindei in the Nepal tarai, identified as the site of the Lumbini garden, where, according
pillar

to tradition,
.
.

Gabtama Buddha was

born, bears the following

inscnption
*

Devfin&mpiya Piyadasi, the king, when he had been con* secrated twenty years, having come in person, did reverence, and, because the Sakya sage (Sakyamuni) was born here, a stone vigadabhlca l was made and a pillar erected. Also,
because the venerable one (bhagavdn) was born here, the village of Lummini was made free of the bali cess (ubalika) and granted the eighth shere (afhabhagiya).'
The
*
Filar
Inscrip-

6.

At

Nigliva, another place in the Tarai about thirteen

Rummindei, a broken pillar has been removed from its original site and now found, apparently lying on the bank of an artificial reservoir, which bears a partly defaced inscription, setting forth that Devan&mpiya Piyadasi, when he had been consecrated fourteen years,
miles north-west from

enlarged for the second time the stupa of Buddha konakamana (kanakamuni), one of the three Buddhas who pre-

ceded Gautama.

A few other words of

which can be traced show that it Piyadasi's reign in which he 'came in person and did 9 reverence , but the words stating when and where this occurred have become effaced.
1 Meaning doubtful Atoka, p. 222).

the same inscription recorded also the year of

perhaps 'stone bearing a horse'

(cf.

Smith,

XVIII

ASOKA

(continued)

EVIDENCE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS

evidence afforded by Aioka's inscriptions may con* veniently be considered under the heads of (a) the extent

THE

and organization of his empire, (b) the system of administration, (c) religious and moral propaganda. The first has been noticed briefly in Chapter II above* In the passage quoted there from Chapter XXI, vol. i, of
the Cambridge History of India, Professor Rapson refers to * the King's dominions ', adopting Buhler's translation of The the expression vijita, which occurs in Major Rock Edicts
II,
4

JJjj]
nions.

XIII, and XIV, but the word means, literally, conquered ', and may have been used to distinguish the
III,
'

which were added by conquest to the *home provinces of the Maurya state. The inscriptions in which it occurs are all found in outlying provinces. In the Bh&bru religious edict, engraved on a rock in Rajputana, the title
territories

assumed by Aoka Magadha was the

properly belonged.

showing that state to which the Imperial dynasty

is

'

King of Magadha

',

In Bengal proper, as already mentioned, no record of Maurya rale has been found, but the Greek evidence would lead one to suppose that most, if not all, of what is now
in Bengal was regarded as part of the home provinces

Aloka's time.

The
rock
is

of the two local edicts incised on the Dhauli ' addressed to the officers (mahdmOta) of Tosali ', and
first
*

the prince and the officers (kum&la mah&that there was mAtdca) of Tosali'. We must conclude as viceroy, with the administration a royal prince charged, * of Kaliftga, -whose head-quarters were at a place called
the second to
Tosali, like those at Tok?aslla

and

Ujjayini.

Now

Ptolemy

206

The Early History of Bengal

mentions a town, Tosalei, beyond the Ganges, in long. 150, lat, 28 20', that is, in Eastern Bengal! which he calls a 4 metropolis ', indicating that it was a seat of government of some kind. It does not seem extravagant to suppose that there may have been, under Aoka, a viceroy with
head-quarters somewhere east of the Ganges who was responsible for the administration of Orissa, as have been,

modern times, governors stationed at Dacca, Murshidabad, and Calcutta. On the other hand, it has been held by eminent authorities that Tosali was the name of a city at This was the view taken by or close to Dhauli itself. * Kittoe in 1888, and accepted by Vivien de Saint-Martin l and McCrindle, 2 and lately by Haraprasad Sastri. 3 In supin

port of.it reference has been made to passages of the Brahmdnda Purdna and other works, in which the names

Tosala and Kosala are associated, and it is suggested that Tosala may have been an equivalent for Kosala, signifying

not the Kosala of the

Ramayana (Oudh and

Benares), but

the country known as Southern Kosala or Mahakosala. The name Southern Kosala, as appears from later records, was applied, properly, to the upper basin of the Mah&nadi (the

Brahmdnda Purdna
tains
'),

but

it

may

behind the Vindhya mounhave been used, like so many names of

places
it

'

an extended sense, embracing Dhauli and the adjacent part of Kali&ga. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that Ptolemy would have made the mistake of placing Tosalei, the metropolis, east of the Ganges delta, if it was really so far to the west of it as Dhauli. It is true that the errors in his data have had the
countries in India, also in
effect of shifting his longitudes for
1
* *

many places
des

considerably

vol. vii, pp. 485 ff. Mtmoirc*, vol. vi, pi. I, p. 201.

J.A.S.B.,

says: *Les noms marques <Tn ast&isque paraissent tre dea additions
latins,

McCrindk'i statement that 'the name of Tosate is among those that are marked as having been added to our actual Greek texts ' by the rid Latin translators is based on Vivien de apparently
Saint-Martin (loc.cit.), but, in his foot-note at p. 197, vdU vi, pt. I of the Mfmoirei, the latter merely

McCrindle, Ptofemy, pp. 230-1.

premiers

interprfetes

connue. Plusieurs de ces aaditions peuvent fttre tirfes de manuscrits grecs ant&ieurs k oeux que nous jpossldons** 4 J.B.O.R.S., vol. vf, 1920, pp. 84-9 ; cf. also Kern in J.R. A. Sn vol. id! (n.s.), pp. 884, 885,

dont la source n'est pas

Aboka; Evidence of the Inscriptions

to the east, but this would apply to the longitudes which he gives for the mouths of the Ganges and places on that
river such as Palimbothra, Tamalitcs,

and Oreophanta, as

well as to Tosalei. As we have said, in Ptolemy's time the lower course of the Ganges must have been tolerably familiar to Greek sailors and merchants, and they would be likely to give him correct information as to which side of the river

Tosali

was on.

and Burnouf that there and by the former may that Ptolemy's Tosalei may have been somewhere in the
It has been surmised

by Lassen

have been two

cities

of that name,

neighbourhood of Dacca.
situation of Tosali, mentioned in the Dhauli local edicts, must be regarded as uncertain. If we suppose that there was a viceroy responsible for the administration of
Kaliftga, with head-quarters in Eastern Bengal, we must infer that his jurisdiction included also the whole or part

The

of

'

Lower Bengal* As we have seen, Ptolemy mentioned royal town ', Gange, somewhere in the Ganges delta.
exactly he attached to the terms
'

Gange.

What meanings
*

'

metro-

polis

and

basileion

respectively

we do not know, but we

may suppose Gange to have been the capital of a feudatory chief ruling the whole or part of the Ganges delta, in relation
to

whom

the sovereign power of Magadha was represented

by the prince- viceroy at Tosali.

In any case, it is most likely that the social conditions ***** nga and the administration of Bengal proper during the Maurya
period approximated to those obtaining in the neighbouring country of Magadha, with which we find, at the dawn of
history, the peoples of the Ganges delta in close political association. The mention in the Arthaiastra of commercial
* products of Vaftga and Puncjra would indicate that Lower Bengal was commercially important at that time, and go to confirm Greek notices of Gange as a considerable place of trade. Again, the directions in the same work for the
*

control of river traffic 8

*

seem designed
;

for

a country in which

In* Alt.,

vol.

it,

p. 256

vol. Hi, p. 158.

SOS

The Early History of Bengal

water communications were of capital importance. Strata's reference to the system of land surveys, 1 and Arrian's mention of towns on the banks of rivers being built of wood instead of brick, which, as explained above, 2 would be
specially applicable to deltaic Bengal,

may

not have been

based solely on the observations of Megasthenes. In the third of the Major Rock Edicts there is a reference
to orders issued
(yutas),

by the

parisad to subordinate officials

and in the sixth to discussion in the parisad of

urgent or important (acayika, atiyayika) matters entrusted to the mah&m&tas. The injunction in the Arthaidstra to
consult the mantriparisad with regard to important work It might be inferred (atdyike karye) will be remembered.

that the parisad mentioned in Aoka's edicts is the mantriparisad of the Arthaddxtra, but Mr. Harit Krishna Deb has
edicts (dhammalipi), the

pointed out that the two edicts in question being religious mah&m&tas, to whom they refer,

must be taken to be dhammamah&m&tas, and the parisad a council of advisers on religious subjects distinct from the 3 The point is perhaps doubtful. In the mantriparisad. seventh century, as we find from I Tsing's Record of the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archi* petego, the term parisad was applied to different degrees of 4 religious men and women. The designation mahdm&a is found, without specification
ftuttra*.

f functions, in the twelfth Major Rock Edict, the first Minor Bock Edict, the second Kali&ga Edict, and also in the Kaufiinbi and Sarn&th Edicts. This word occurs also several times in the ArthaJdstra, and has been tendered by Mr. Shamasastry in his translation * as ' minister '. The Arthatidstra, also, does not show what the duties of the mah&m&tras were, but indicates that they were high officials. The term amtamahdm&ra in the first Pillar Edict probably corresponds to amtapdla of the Arthaidstra, and means * warden of the marches ', amta being the word used for

tribes
*

and peoples on the

frontiers of the empire.

*
*

9
>

157, 161-S. Of. pp. 179*8. J.A.S.B., vol. xvi

Ct pp.

v.

i.

(nj.) t

pp. IS, 26, 64, 71, 870, 297, 298, 899.

Atoka: Evidence of the Inscriptions 209 The office of the dhammamaham&tas was created by Aoka, as we learn from his fifth Major Rock Edict,1 in
the fourteenth year from his coronation, and some of their duties are specified in the same edict, as well as in R. E. XII and P. E. VII. It appears that the general object of
their appointment was to promote morality and religion* and they were concerned especially with the religious affairs of the Buddhist order as well as of other sects. It was part of their duty to encourage gifts for religious and charitable objects and supervise their distribution, and also to promote toleration and good feeling between different sects. In the twelfth of the Major Rock Edicts there is mention of mahfim&tras for women, but what their functions were does

not appear. In three of the edicts (R. E.

Ill, P.

E. IV, VII) there

is

Rajukas.

mention of a class of officials called rajuka or lajuka. They would appear to have been important, since P. E. VII refers to them as being set over many hundred thousand souls '. What their functions were is not certain. It has been 2 suggested by Blihler that the designation, which occurs in Pali literature, is a contraction of rajjugrdhaka, meaning literally rope-holder *, and was applied to land-surveyors in a secondary sense, to high land-revenue officials, and, who may have been entrusted also with other important
' *

on account of the connexion of their duties with the measurement of land. Vincent Smith rejected this interpretation, holding the word rajuka to be etymologically
civil

functions

connected with rtija? In the Kaufiliya Arthafdstra the only rajjukas mentioned are the corarajjukas, who would seem to have been subordinate police officers. The pradetikas mentioned in the third of the Major Rock ProdeEdicts were perhaps the same as the pradesfrs of the Artha4&stra 9 * namely, district revenue commissioners, exercising also judicial and police functions. The designation yuta (yukta) in the same edict seems to Tufcto,

be a general one covering subordinate

Z. M.D. <?., vol.
2778
Cf. 9upfa, p. 180. xvii, p. 466.
*

officials

of different

Smith, AMea, p. 208.

.

A., p. 65,

210
departments.

The Early History of Bengal

In the Arthatdstra we have the terms yukta and upayukta with similar meaning ; also ytiktakarma for 4 an official act, and ayukta for non-official \ * It is not certain whether puLisa* literally men ', which
occurs three times in the Pillar Edicts, 1 is the name of a particular class of officials or a term for officials generally.
If the expression

anusamydna
is

in the third

Major Rock

correctly interpreted as referring to periodical transfers of officers, the orders prefirst

Edict and

Kali&ga Edict

scribing

them may be based on an

injunction of the Artha-

Boh*.

The Rummindei
been made
religious cess,

inscription sets forth that the village has ubalika, no doubt meaning free of the ball or

which

is

often referred to in the Arthaidsira,

and

also afhabhdgiya.

In the Arihaidstra, bhdgd is the word used for the share of the produce payable to the king as land-revenue, and
athabhdgiya (astabhdgiya) in this inscription probably means that the village was granted a remission of one-eighth of

the produce, perhaps representing half the share which would ordinarily have been payable. It will have been noticed that in the sixth Major Rock Precepts Edict Aoka lays claim to the quality of energy, chiefly
"

Enenrv
Accessi-

by the ArihaSdstra in a ruler, using the same express* on **&&***, and enlarges on his accessibility to the prativedakas, whose duty it was to make reports to him on public affairs. No doubt, as ruler of a great empire, he was unable
praised
'

to receive
Proper
of slaves
****

have already person. referred to the injunction of the Ariha&dslra requiring the king to enforce proper treatment of slaves and relatives,
all

petitioners in

We

which

is

IX, XI, and XIII, and

Medical

so strongly insisted on in Major Pillar Edict VII.

Rock Edicts

III,

By

Rock Edict
Arthaidstra.

the provisions for medical relief mentioned in Major 4 of the II, Afoka carried out another precept

chapter on the city superintendent, that on certain auspicious occa

treatise lays

The same

down, in

its

>

P. K. I # in, VII. Cf. p. 194.

Supra, p.
*

Cf. *upra, p. 41.

Afoka: Evidence of flw Inscriptions

211

sions there should be a release at prisoners from jail (mokfo Afoka takes credit for Rebate bandhanasya). In Pillar Edict

having decreed bandhanamokfa twenty-five times. The thirteenth Major Rock Edict mentions ' inhabitants
of the forests
(afavi) within the empire. They may be the same people as the afcvikas so often referred to in the Arthaddstra. From the tenour of the edict it would appear
*

tribes,

that they were regarded as beyond the pale of dhamma. Yet they were not to be destroyed, but spared, if they
refrained from doing evil.

In the

fifth Pillar

Edict there

forests (ndgavana), to

is mention of the elephant- Elephant which the Arthai&stra attaches such forert8
'

importance.
Generally in his "edicts Aoka appears as professing to model his conduct on the Arthajdstra, though of course
9

he may have had in mind not Kautilya's work but some other treatise or treatises containing similar precepts. In permitting, however, by his Major Rock Edict VII, adherents
of various creeds (pasanda) to dwell where they pleased, he perhaps consciously departed from a rule in the chapter
of the
4

Arihaidsira on town-planning, which assigns to ' heretics (pdsanda) and candalas a special quarter beyond

the cremation ground. 1

Buddhist tradition representing Aoka as the saint-king, Dhamma. to whose missionary zeal the spread of Buddhism throughout
boundaries, was mainly due, finds some support in his edicts, in which the chief purpose discernible is the inculcation of dhamma (dharma). For this
India,

and beyond

its

word no exact equivalent

it

exists in

European languages, but

connotes religion, piety, and morality. Derived from the * root dhf, to hold ', it signifies the rule and standard of

conduct which should afford support and guidance through life to every man, and stands for a conception which may

be described as fundamental and universally accepted among

the peoples of India. Some of the edicts 2 recognize expressly the observance of dhamma by men of different creeds, and
1

Cf.

K. A., R.

&V

p. 62.
f

VII, XII, XIII

P. B. VII.

P2

212

The Early History of Bengal

disposed not only to tolerate the various religions found in his empire, but in the interests of dhamma actively to encourage, supervise, and regulate
their practice.

show that

Aoka was

At the same time

there are passages which

was not from an adherent of the religion founded by Gautama first, Buddha. We must be on our guard against hastily attributing to Asoka and the Buddhists of his time beliefs and practices set forth in Buddhist writings which may be of
indicate clearly that he himself became, if he

the

a much

later date, for in regard to

much

of the Buddhist,

as of other Indian literature, there

is

uncertainty as to the

The

^*

times and places to which different works belong. In some of the edicts * we find mention of the sangha a word which, at a later date certainly, and perhaps already
in

was used in two senses for the general monastic order, which was the chief institution of Buddhism as an organized religion, and for the community of a parti* In Kautilya's ArthaAastra, as we have cular monastery. there is frequent reference to sanghas, which were seen,

Aoka's

time,

guilds or corporations formed for various purposes

religious,

industrial, commercial, military, &c., and perhaps from some such general use of the word sangha it came to be applied to the Order founded by Gautama. For detailed and, at the same time, exactly dated descriptions of the Buddhist monastic organization in India we must have recourse to

the accounts of Chinese pilgrims

centuries after

who

visited the country

Aoka's time. Such a description is furnished,

for the seventh century of our era, in the Record of the

Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archipelago,

by I

Tsing,

and from incidental references in Fa

Hian's Fo-kwo-ki (Buddhist Country Records) we may gather that, in its general features, the Buddhist monastic system

same in the early part of the fifth century as I Tsing found it in the seventh. According to I Tsing, 8 sangha is the correct designation of the members of a religious
house

of India was the

who

are priests (pravrajya,

;

i.

e.

homeless

').

Minor Rock Edict I

P. E. VII

and

Katiftftmbi Edicts.

and the S&rnftth, Sftnchi, Tafariwtti, pp. 187-9.

A&oka: Evidence of the Inscriptions

elder

A layman desiring to enter the religious state applied to an

monk (sthavira bhikfu) of a monastery, who examined him, particularly as to his motive, and, if found suitable, introduced him to the sangha. On being accepted by them, he received the tonsure and the five precepts * do not kill, steal, tell a lie, commit adultery, or drink intoxicating
from his introducer, who became his upadhydya or and was then called an updsaka. After being teacher, instructed in ten more precepts, he went through a form of initiation, and was called a sramanera or novice* and after
liquor
'

Updsaka.]

further instruction he received full ordination (upasampada) and became a bhiksu. For the ordination of nuns (bhikswpi)

a similar course was prescribed, beginning with the grade but including an additional grade that of HkfamdnA between those of sramanen and bhikfwpi. The
of upasikd,
different degrees of Buddhist religious men and women were called parifiods, which were reckoned, sometimes as five in Parfyad.
',

number,

viz. (1) bhik$u> (2) bhikfuni, (8) tikfamdnd, (4) sramanera, and (5) sramanerl, sometimes as seven, including In Asoka's Sarnath Edict we (6) updsaka and (7) updsikd.

bhikhu sangha for order of monks ', and * bhikhuni * 4 sangha for order of nuns ', and we have updsaka in the
find

'

Minor Rock Edict, where it is said that Asoka himself was an updsaka for two and a half years. In the translations of these edicts the word * updsaka has been rendered as lay disciple ', but from
edict, as well as in the first

same

seen that, in the seventh century, the updsaka was not a mere lay believer, nor, like the
I Tsing's account
it is

Franciscan and Dominican lay tertiaries, a person living in the world and at the same time connected with the order
certain ascetic rules, but a postulant or candidate for orders in a particular monastery. It will

by the observance of

also be seen that in I Tsing's time, according to one opinion, the updsaka did, and according to another he did not, form

part of the sangha. It is likely enough that the word updsaka had not exactly the same meaning in I Tsing's time that it had in Afoka's. There is room for doubt as to the interpretation of the
first

Minor Rock Edict, but

it

seems to

SU
imply that
of updsaka.

above that Whether he reached full ordination as a monk is uncertain, but this may have been allowed by some special dispensation. At any rate, it is clear that he took a lively and active interest in the affairs of different monasteries, as
well as of the monastic order in general. One is tempted to wonder whether his immixtion in ecclesiastical matters

The Early History of Bengal Aoka attained some monastic grade

was always welcome, and the comparison with Justinian

suggests
Upo******
itself.

In Pillar Edict V, and in the S&rn&th Edict, we find

reference to uposatha (upavasatha) days. These, as appears from Buddhist sources, were weekly fast days on which

Buddhist laymen visited a priest and took the upavasatha vows, that is, promised to observe during the day the 4 ' eight precepts (4Uas), of which the first five were those
administered to the updsaka on taking the tonsure, and the remaining three (6) not to take pleasure in music or the use of garlands or perfumes, (7) not to use a high or wide
couch, and (8) not to take food at forbidden hours. The uposatha days would be good occasions for promulgating
Doctrine
Edictf.

the king's orders, as directed in the Sarnathi Edict. The doctrine of Afoka's Major Rock and Pillar Edicts

cannot be called distinctively Buddhist, but is of the simplest kind, including belief in devas a word* which we translate,
for

want of a
'

better equivalent in English, as

'

means,
4

literally,

pure spirits world ', in which good actions in this life will be rewarded and bad punished. There is certainly no trace of atheism
of

bright beings ', as well as in life

gods ', but and might be rendered by 4 after death, and another

or disbelief in a personal soul. the metaphysical theories

Nor
of

is there any indication karma and rebirth \

*

although it is vary likely that they in Aioka's time as they are now.

been popular Evidently Asoka was anxious to promote toleration and do away with sectarian strife, and for this xeason avoided distinctive doctrine in
his general edicts.

may have

The

chief virtue inculcated is that of

c living creatures. for animal life is not of course

charity
ttopeet
for

and kindness to all The doctrine of respect

A&oka: Evidence of the Inscriptions

215

peculiar to Buddhism, but has always been a prominent animal ***** feature of every Indian religion. There seems to be no

necessity for connecting it with the theory of 'rebirth', though each may find support in the other. Respect for

perhaps sufficiently accounted for by an instinctive sympathy, which is universal in mankind, and in Europe takes the form of ' kindness to frpiynftte \ The
life

animal

is

difficulty of reconciling this

sentiment with the imperious

need for animal food has led to

for it
is

many

controversies

and

illogical compromises ; clearly illogical to respect the life of one species of animal and not of another, or to profess kindness to animals and kill certain animals for food.

Differences of opinion on this great question have been the chief cause of religious conflict in tolerant India, and to this day the most serious religious riots between Hindus and

Muhammadans

arise

out of the slaughter of cows by the

for food.

latter in sacrifice

and

Perhaps we

may

see in

animal sacrifice itself an evidence of respect for animal life a recognition that the taking of life is an act of solemn
import, only permissible when it has the sanction of religion. This question is of such importance in Indian history that Three it will not be out of place here to quote Watters's explanation
4

of the expression
is

three pure meats

literature.

"

or

foods

which

found in Buddhist

of flesh is there was in Vaisali a wealthy general, Siha, who was a convert to Buddhism. He became a liberal supporter of the Brethren, and kept them constantly supplied with good flesh food. When it was noised abroad that the bhikshus were in the habit of eating such food specially provided for them, the Tirthikas made the practice a matter of angry reproach. Then the abstemious ascetic Brethren, learning therethis, reported the circumstances to the Master, who When they were upon called the Brethren together. assembled, he announced to them the law that they were not to eat the flesh of any animal which they had seen put to death for them, or about which they had been told that it had been kijled for them, or about which they had reason to
1

The explanation of the "

three pure kinds san-ching or In the time of Buddha as follows. briefly

"

Yuan Chwang

i,

pp. 54r-7.

216

The Early History of Bengal

suspect that it hadubeen slain for them. But he permitted " to the Brethren as pure (that is, lawful) food the flesh of animals, the slaughter of which had not been seen by the bhikshus, not heard of by them, and not suspected by them to have been on their account. . . . The animal food now " permitted to the bhikshus came to be known as the three " or " three pure kinds of flesh ", and it was tersely pures described as "unseen, unheard, unsuspected ". . . . Then two more kinds of animal food were declared lawful for the Brethren, viz. the flesh of animals which had died a natural death, and that of animals which had been killed by a bird of prey or other savage creature, so there came to be five classes or descriptions of flesh which the professed Buddhist " was at liberty to use as food. Then the unseen, unheard, " came to be treated as one class, and this unsuspected " *' " with the natural death ", and bird killed made together

a san-ching.'
Hinay&na
Sfojha.

Generally speaking, laxity in regard to the use of flesh as food was associated with the HinaySna system, and what

ydna.

was in Mahayana
contrasted

literature called
4

with the

gradual teaching ', and ' instantaneous teaching of Maha4

'

'

yanism. The expressions gradual teaching and instan* taneous teaching are thus explained by Walters : * The Buddha suited his sermons and precepts to the moral and spiritual attainments and requirements of his audience* Those who were low in the scale he led on gradually by the setting forth of simple truths, by parable and lesson, and by mild restrictions as to life and conduct. At a later period of his ministry he taught higher truths, and inculcated a stricter purity and more thorough self-denial. Thus, in the matter of flesh-food, he sanctioned the use of it as an ordinary article of food by his own example and implied permission* Afterwards, when he found that some of his disciples gave offence by begging for beef and mutton, and asking to have animals killed for them, and eating as daily food flesh which should only be taken in exceptional circumstances, he introduced restrictions and prohibitions. But the " instantaneous teaching", which took no note of circumstances and environments, revealed sublime spiritual truths to be com* prehended and accepted at once by higher minds, taught for these a morality absolute and universal, and instituted rules for his professed disciples to be of eternal, unchanging
obligation.
. .
.

The "gradual teaching"

is

practically

A&oka: Evidence of the Inscriptions

co-extensive with the Hlnayftna system, and the Buddha describes his teaching and vinaya as gradual, growing and developing like the mango fruit according to some scriptures. The " instantaneous teaching " is the Mah&yftna system as found in those scriptures of the Buddhists which are outside of the Hinay&nist Tripit&ka. . . . Our pilgrim being an adherent of the Mah&yfinist system, refused to admit the " three-fold pure" flesh-food indulgence, validity of the which the excellent HinaySnist Brethren of Yenk'i followed. The Buddhist scriptures, to which Yuan Chuang adhered, prohibit absolutely the use of flesh of any kind as food by 44 the sons of Buddha ". This prohibition is based on the grounds of universal compassion and the doctrine of Karma. Mahayanism teaches that the eating of an animal's flesh retards the spiritual growth of the Brother who eats it, and entails evil consequences in future existences. Some Mah&y&nists were strict in abstaining not only from all kinds of flesh food, but also from milk and its products. . . . There have also, however, been Mahayanists who allowed the use of animal food of certain kinds, and we find wild geese, calves, and deer called san-ching-shih 9 or "three pure (lawful) articles of food 'V

Many

centuries later,

as

we

shall

attempt to prevent animal sacrifice fishermen led to a revolution in Bengal. Whether, in Asoka's time, the development of Buddhism, on the whole, favoured strictness or laxity as regards respect for animal life is perhaps open to doubt. The restrictions which his edicts impose on the slaughter of animals are cautious and moderate, following in their general lines, though not exactly, the rules of the ArthaJastra.

a Mahayanist and excommunicate

see,

Restric-

Major Rock Edict merely prohibits the slaughter of animals for sacrifice at certain places, and mentions the

The

first

example

set in the royal establishment.

The

fifth Pillar

Edict refers to a general prohibition against the slaughter 4 of four-footed animals, which are not used and are not eaten \ This amounts to saying that such animals shall

not be killed uselessly or wantonly. The edict mentions also protection granted to certain animals specifically, but
these

do not Jnclude any of the bovine

species, except butts

set free (for breeding).

Other domestic animals the slaughter

218
of which
are with
is

The Early History of Bengal

prohibited are she-goats, ewes, and sows which young or in milk, and their young up to the age

of six months. Besides these, the animals protected, so far as they have been identified, are wild species* There is a prohibition against fishing, or the killing of any animal in

an elephant-forest, on certain days of the year. Caponing of cocks is prohibited absolutely, and castration of other animals on certain days. The Arthaddstra, as we have seen in its chapter on the superintendent of slaughter-houses, 1 prohibits the slaughter of calves, bulls, and milch-cows, but not of other cows or oxen. The other animals of which the same chapter prohibits molestation or slaughter appear to
be
all

wild species,

goose,

among them the brahmany duck, wild and parrot protected by Asoka, The chapter on the

2 superintendent of cattle mentions beasts fit for slaughter, and sale of beef by cow-herds. The chapter on the treatment

of a conquered country
all

lays

down

that the ruler should

prohibit slaughter of animals for a fortnight during the rainy season and for four days at each full moon also that

he should prohibit
animals,

(restrict ?) slaughter of females

and young

and

castration.

While the Kau^illya Arthasdstra is not a Buddhist composition, there does not seem to be sufficient ground for ' regarding it as brahmanical in the sense of anti-buddhist '. The passage in which it is laid down that pd$andas should live beyond the cremation ground has been quoted. In another part of the Arthaiastra where it occurs, the word
'

'

pd$anda is explained by the commentator, Bhattasvamin, ' as meaning Buddhist mendicants 4 but this interpretation seems doubtful. In Asoka's edicts the word is taken to mean an adherent of any creed or sect. Probably the
9 ,

passage of the Arthaiaztra in question has been reproduced from some older work, in which the term pfyanfa was applied to members of some sect regarded by the author
as heretics, who should be excommunicated. In the thirteenth Major Rock Edict Afeka takes credit

Preach-

ct

Cf. p. 67. p. n.

ctp.

ifc.

JK. A., p.

in.

for the

Aioka: Evidence of the Inscriptions 219 * conquest of the Sacred Law (dhammavijaya)
9

beyond

effected during his reigA both within and beyond the limits of his empire. Among the regions beyond his frontier to North, which this conquest has extended, he mentions, first, the
territories of

$&&.

(Greek) king Amtiyoka, and, next and beyond them, those of the four kings Turamaya, Amtikine, Maka, and Alikasudra. These names correspond, as
rulers, who are known to have been contemporaries of Aioka. Amtiyoka (also mentioned in R. E. II) = Antiochos Theos,

the

Yona

shown below, with those of Hellenic

King of Syria and Western Asia (261-246 B.C.), grandson of Selcukos Nikator, and successor of Antiochos Soter. Turamaya =* Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt (285-247 B.C.).
Amtikine=aAntigonos Gonatos
B.C.).

of

Macedonia (277-230

Maka = Magas

of Cyrene, half-brother of Ptolemy Phila-

delphos (285-258 B.C.). Alikasudra King of Epirus (272-258 B.C.). As to the precise nature and effects of this

'

'

conquest

we
the

are left in the dark

* '

it is

unfortunate that Greek records

are silent

on the subject. From the edict we gather that conquest was made through envoys (duia). They

were sent to the various countries to preach, not Buddhism, * but * dhamma ', and, in Asoka's view, as we know, dhamma' was compatible with adherence to various creeds. We may infer that the envoys were politely received.
countries beyond the frontiers of the empire South, to which, according to the thirteenth Major Rock Edict, the * dhammavijaya extended, are described as in the south

The other

where the Ccxjas and Pamelas dwell, as far as the Tamba4 panini '. In the second Major Rock Edict we find the
Ccxjas,

the P&ndiyas, the Satyaputras, the Keralaputras,

in ancient times, the name of a people tract of country along the eastern coast of the

Tambapanni '. Co4a or Cda was,

inhabiting a

Indian peninsula called Coga or Colamandala, a name which in the form Coromandel is familiar to students of the history
of British India.

We

must

infer that the Ccxja country

220
is

The Early History of Bengal

mentioned in Asoka's edicts lay south of KatiAga. Paijtjya the Sanskrit form of the name Pandiya or P&mda applied to a people inhabiting what are now the Madura and Tinaccepted that Tambapanni and Tambapanini (T&mrapar;u) in Major Rock Edicts II and XIII represent not Ceylon but the T&inraparni River, which
nevelli districts*

It is

now

flows through Tinnevelli district, and near the mouth of which there was, in ancient times, a famous pearlfishery*
1

As we have

seen,

the Arthaidstra mentions a class of

pearls called tdmraparnika.

The Keralaputras were the

Among

people of Malabar. The Satyaputras, not mentioned elsewhere, were evidently another people of Southern India* The remaining peoples mentioned in the thirteenth Major

Rock Edict are border peoples subject to the emperor's The countries occupied by some of them are indicated by Professor Rapson in the passage in Chapter xxi,
control*
vol.

of the Cambridge History of India, an extract of which has been given, 8 but it should be said here that while the
i,

Yonas and Kambojas, grouped

tion

in Major

Rock Edict

with

the Gandharas, arc located approximately without hesitathe name Yona here being applied, doubtless, to Greek
authorities

settlements on the north-west frontier of India

are not agreed as to the location of the Bhojas, Pitinikas (Petunikas, Petcnikas), and Amdhras (Andhras), and that

of the Nabhakas and Pulindas has not been settled*

fifth

In the

Major Rock Edict the Pitinikas are associated with

the Rasjikas and other peoples on the western frontier of the empire*

No men*
Kashmir
or Nepal

inscriptions of Asoka which have so far been discoverec* do not support the traditions current in Kashmir

The

and the Nepal Valley of the inclusion of those countries in his empire, though they prove that it embraced a part of what is now the Nepal Tarai, bordering on North Bihar and Oudh. Nor do the inscriptions confirm the Buddhist legend
of the dispatch of missionaries during his reign, after the
1

Cf. Smith, Atoka, pp* 102, 108 Cf. p, 49.

also McCrindlc, Ptolemy, p. 57. * Cf. p. 28.

Afaka: Evidence of the Inscriptions

A

Buddhism in Kashmir, the Himalayan mountain region, Burma, and Ceylon, ft is not even proved historically that Asoka sent forth missionaries to preach Buddhism at all, since Buddhism and dhamma were not the same thing. At the same time, it is likely that many if not all of the dhammam&hamatas and dhammayutas employed by him, and the envoys whom he sent to preach
Third Council
',

to preach

or

<rf

dhamma
sion, to

in foreign countries, were of the Buddhist persua-

which he himself belonged, and that he may have the first impulse to the missionary enterprise which, given in course of time, carried that religion throughout Asia. Outside Buddhism, the only religious denominations speci- Impulse fically referred to in Aoka's inscriptions are the Niganthas
(Nirgranthas), mentioned in the seventh Pillar Edict, and the sionary Ajivikas, named in the same edict and in two of his cave
prised"

IS^mis-

inscriptions.

According to Jaina literature, Nirgranthas and Nirgranwere different Jaina sects. Ajlvikas Ajivikas. In the enumeration of countries in the Major flock Edicts Bengal II, V, and XIII we do not find mention of any part of what
is

now Bengal. At this we heed not be surprised, seeing that in these edicts Aoka is proclaiming the wide extent
of the provisions made by him for the material benefit of all living creatures and for the promotion of dhamma, and,

with this object in view, he naturally mentions places on the frontiers of the empire, and not the countries immeto the diately adjoining Magadha. Obviously, no inference as
prevalence of Buddhism in Bengal under ASoka can be drawn from the fact that Fa Hian found twenty-four Buddhist saigh&rSmas at Tamralipti at the beginning of the fifth

century A.D., or from the legends current in the seventh, which attributed to Afoka stupas found by Yuan Chwang We may accept it as proved that, from at various
places.

a very early date, intercourse was carried on between but PStaliputra and Ceylon, through Tamralipti, by sea, there is no reliable evidence of Buddhism having spread to
that the Ceylon in Afoka's time. It is, however, very likely the countries Buddhist religion did gain a footing early in
adjoining

Magadha on the

east

and

south-east, where, as

222

The Early History of Bengal

Gautama took very
firm

later history shows, the cult of

root and survived longer than elsewhere in India.

Kftma-

do not mention Kftmarupa among the border and it is curious to find Yuan Chwang recording, countries, in the seventh century, that the people of Kfimarupa did not believe in Buddhism, and that no Buddhist monastery had ever been erected there. We may perhaps infer that
edicts

The

Aoka did not send missionaries or envoys to preach dhamma

in Kfimarupa, but
it

should be borne in mind that the edicts

do not mention
or Nepal.

either

Kashmir (unless included

in

Kimboja)

XIX
ART OF THE MAURYA PERIOD. CONCLUSION

WE have now considered the literary evidence bearing on

the civilization of the Maurya period as contained in the Kaufillya Arthaiastra, the works of Greek and Latin writers on India, and Aoka's inscriptions. It remains to notice the evidence furnished by such products of the arts of the
period as survive. We are here again confronted with the difficulty of fixing dates. The existing monuments, which

may

be ascribed approximately to the Maurya age, are not very numerous, but they are of exceptional interest, and
Pillars,

suggest many problems. Of the great monolithic pillars attributed to Aoka, ten which bear his inscriptions, and one without inscription, which stands at Bakhira, 1 have already been mentioned.

At Rampurva,

in the

Champaran

district of

North Bihar,
is

besides the inscribed pillar referred to above, 2 there another of the same type, but without inscription.

At

Patna some fragments of a similar column have been found buried underground, and near Benares there is the stump of another, which was destroyed by local Muhammadans in the course of a riot which took place in 1800.
these , pillars only those at Bakhira and Lauriya * 4 Nandangarh are practically perfect, with bell-shaped of a capitals, each surmounted by the sculptured figure

Of

Pillar

seated lion.

The

others are

more or

less

mutilated and

without their capitals, but in the case of four the remains of capitals, more or less damaged, have been found near the
sites

of the
first

pillars.

of these capitals that of the thus described in the catalogue of the Museum
at Sftrnftth, where
4

The

it is

preserved.
(ht,

Capital

erf

Afoka column

ft.

wjjftlwfcross Jftfi

CC. p. 202.

224

The Early History of Bengal

abacus 2 ft. lOin.). The lower portion, 2 ft. in height, has, as usual, the shape of a bell decorated with conventional petals in Persepolitan style. They are sixteen in number. The necking above the bell is circular in horizontal section and has a torus moulding with plain surface. The middle portion, which is fashioned into a circular abacus resembling a

common drum 1 ft. 1 in. high, is decorated with four wheels, of twenty-four spokes each, in high relief. The ends of the axles are left rough, from which it may be surmised that they were originally covered with caps, probably of precious metal. This is proved by the existence of three fine holes pierced into the rim of each axle, into which metal pins were evidently inserted to keep the cap in position. The spaces between the wheels are occupied by the figures of an elephant, a bull, a horse, and a lion, following each other from right to Three of these left in the direction of the pradakshina. animals are represented as walking, the horse as running at full gallop. These figures are all more or less damaged, but they are wonderfully life-like, and their pose graceful. * The abacus is surmounted with figures of four life-sized lions placed back to back, so that only the fore-parts are shown. They are each 3 ft. 9 in. high. Two of them are in perfect preservation. The heads of the other two were found detached, and have been refixed. The upper paw of one and the lower paw 'of the other were not recovered. In place of eye-balls some sort of precious stones were originally inserted into the sockets, as is clearly shown by the existence of very fine holes in the upper and lower lids, which received thin iron pins to keep the jewels in position. One such pin still remains in the upper lid of the left eye of one of the
lions.

The capital was carved out of a single block of sandstone, but is now broken across j ust above the bell. It was originally surmounted by a wheel (chakra), the symbol of the Buddhist Law, supported on a short stone shaft. The latter was not discovered, but its thickness can be estimated from the mortice hole, 8 in. in diameter, drilled into the stone between the lions' heads* Of the wheel itself, four small fragments were found. The ends of thirteen spokes remain on these pieces. Their total number was presumably thirty-two. . . The material of which the capital is made is a black-spotted, buff-coloured sandstone from Chunfix, but of a much finer grain than the Chunftr stone used in the construction of houses in Benares and its neighbourhood/ Portions of the capital of the Sfinchi pillar, which have
.
<

'

Art of the Maurya Period

been recovered, show that it was of similar type, surmounted
* by a group of four seated lions carrying a stone wheel of 9 the law The two stone figures of animate a lion and a bull respectively which crowned the two RAmpftrva
*

pillars

have been recovered near their

sites,

and tradition

has

it

that the Allahabad (Kausambi) pillar once carried

pillars are all of circular horizontal

a stone lion. The shafts of these

section, tapering

Dimen-

very gradually.
pillar's

The height of the Topra

Their dimensions vary. mutilated shaft is 87 ft.

'

above the platform in Firoz Shah's * Kotila at Delhi, on which it stands ; its circumference at base 9 ft., and at
top 6$
ft.

total height of the Bfikhirft pillar above the level of the water, in which its base is now submerged, is 44 ft. 2 in. (shaft 82 ft., capital 12 ft. 2 in.), the diameter of its shaft

The

being 49-8 in. at water-level and 88-7 in. at the top. The shaft of the Lauriya-Nandanga<Jh pillar has a height above

ground
is

level of
in.

82

ft.

in.,

a diameter of 85|

in.

at base,

and of 22

at top.

The

total height of its lion-capital

6 ft. 10 in. The total height of the Sftrnath pillar, including its capital (7 ft.), is estimated at about 50 ft., that of the
All the pillars are of fine-grained

Sftnchi pillar at 42 ft. sandstone, and have, in

common

with other sculptures

attri-

to be similar to that which

buted to the Maurya period, a special, brilliant polish, said is found on examples of ancient

Persian stonework at Persepolis and elsewhere. The monoliths in question are believed to have been Material

quarried in the neighbourhood of Chunar in the district of Mirzapur. Quarries yielding the same kind of sandstone are

of

worked there to

this day,

and no other place

is

known where

the huge blocks required for the purpose could have been obtained. When it is considered that the weight of each
of the monoliths
estimated at about 50 tons, it will be at such distant apparent that their transport to and erection S&nchl in Bhopal, and the sites as Topra near Umballa,
is

ttepalese Tarti, were no An idea of the labour

mean

engineering feats.

and organization involved may be

226

The Early History of Bengal

Removal formed from the following account by the chronicler, Shams* * 1 !' Sirft3 Aflf' of the To*** pM**'* removal to Delhi:
After thinking over the best means of lowering the column, orders were issued commanding the attendance of all the people dwelling in the neighbourhood within and without the Doab, and all soldiers, both horse and foot. They were ordered to bring all implements and materials suitable for the work. Directions were issued for bringing parcels of the cotton of the Simbal (silk cotton tree). Quantities of this silk cotton were placed round the column, and when the earth at its base was removed, it fell gently over on the bed prepared for it. The cotton was then removed by degrees, and after some days the pillar lay safe upon the ground. When the foundations of the pillar were examined, a large square stone was found as a base, which also was taken out. The pillar was then encased from top to bottom in reeds and raw skins, so that no damage might accrue to it. A carriage with forty-two wheels was constructed, and ropes were attached to each wheel. Thousands of men hauled at every rope, and after great labour and difficulty the pillar was raised on to the carriage. A strong rope was fastened to each wheel, and two hundred men pulled at each of these ropes. By the simultaneous exertions of so many thousand men the carriage was moved, and was brought to the banks of the Jumna. Here the Sultan came to meet it. A number of large boats had been collected, some of which could carry 5,000 and 7,000 maunds of grain, and the least of them 2,000 maunds. The column was very ingeniously transferred to these boats, and was then conducted to Firozabad, where it was landed and conveyed into the Kushk with infinite labour
*

and skill. * At this time the author of this book was twelve years of age and a pupil of the respected Mir Khan. When the pillar was brought to the palace, a building was commenced for its reception near the Jam'a Masjid, and the most skilful architects and workmen were employed. It was constructed of stone and mortar, and consisted of several stages. When a stage was finished the column was raised on to it, another stage was then built, and the pillar was again raised, and so on in succession until it reached the intended height. On arriving at this stage, other contrivances had to be devised to place it in an erect position. Ropes of great thickness were obtained, and windlasses wfre placed on
* Cf. Elliot,

Hut, India, iii. B50-S.

each of ropes were fastened to the top of the pillar, and the other end passed over the windlasses, which were firmly secured with many fastenings. The wheels were then turned, and the column was raised about half a gaz. Logs of wood and bags of cotton were then placed under it, to prevent it sinking again* In this way, by degrees, and in the course of several days, the column was raised to the perpendicular. Large beams were then placed round it as supports, until quite a cage of scaffolding was formed. It was thus secured in an upright position, straight as an arrow, without the slightest deviation from the perpendicular. The square stone, before spoken of, was placed under the pillar/

Art of the Maurya Period the aix stages of the base. The ends of the

The
is

fact that ten of the pillars bear inscriptions of Aioka proof that they were erected not later than his reign : it

Dtt <*

does not prove that none of them was erected earlier. The Rummindei pillar is the only one the inscription on which shows that it was set up by Aoka's order. In the seventh
of his Pillar Edicts, after recording that he has erected ' 4 (dhammathambdni), he directs pillars of the Sacred Law that the edict is to be engraved wherever stone pillars or
tablets are found.
'

In the Sahasram and Rupnath versions of the first Minor Rock Edict there is a direction to have 4 these things engraved wherever there are stone pillars
*

It may be inferred that pillars similar to those Afoka's edicts had been erected in India before his bearing time, but he was the first to use such monuments for the propagation of dhamma. On the other hand, the wide distribution of similar

here'.

columns, and an estimate of the power, resources, and organization needed for the purpose, especially on the sup* position that all were quarried in the one district not far

from P&taliputra, suggest that their erection must have been the work of rulers over an extensive territory. We may
therefore safely ascribe these

monuments
three

to the period

covered by the reigns of the

first

Maurya emperors,

Candragupta, Bindusfira, and Aoka. This would be consistent with tjie evidences of Persian influence in the style
of the pillars
figures

the bell-shaped capitals surmounted by animal

features which they have in o a

common with

isolated

W8

The Early History of Bengal

columns found at different places formerly included in the dominions of the Achaemenian rulers of Persia. For it is known that, about five centuries before Christ, Darius, son of Hystaspes, conquered and annexed to his dominions the valley of the Indus, which formed thereafter the Achaemenid province of India, so that for about two centuries before
the foundation of the Maurya dynasty the ruling chiefs of Northern India had been brought into contact with the
great Persian empire, and it was natural that they should be influenced by its prestige and example.

The

The fragments of a
tions,

pillar

bearing one of

Aoka's

inscrip-

found near the great stupa which stands on the levelled summit of a hill near S&nchi or Sfinchi-Kanakeda, twenty miles north-east of the capital of Bhopal State, help
towards assigning dates to the successive stages of that monument. Stupa, it should here be explained, is the name given in Buddhist literature to structures erected over relics,
or as memorials on holy sites, the type of which described by Grttnwedel l
:

is

thus

A st&pa consists of a circular or square base supporting a dome (garbha), on which stands a square block or neck (gala) representing a box to hold a relic, crowned by a
*

capital consisting of a number of flat tiles. Above this is the umbrella or spire (chudamani Burmese hti) single or with several roofs, usually three, over one another.'

In some cases the stupa was surrounded by a stone railing (sucaka), provided with one or more high arched
gateways (torana), of a structure suggesting development from a wooden prototype. Similar railings were sometimes
erected around other objects of Buddhist veneration, such as sacred trees, &c. It appears to have been a practice of

pious Buddhists in ancient times to enlarge

an

existing

stupa

erecting another the old one. covering

by

on the same

site,

enveloping and

As now seen, the great st&pa at S&nchi is a solid dome of brick and stone rising from a circular plinth, the diameter
r
*

BuddMti Aft in

litdfo,

translation

by Gibion and

p. 90*

Art of the Mawrya Period

of the i^inth being 1S1| dome 110ft.
ft.,

and that of the base of the

Railing

round the st&pa there it a massive stone railing, 11 ft. in height, which stands cm a stone pavement ind has four gateways facing the cardinal points. These gateways are 84 ft. high with triple architraves, and ire profusely adorned with sculptures in relief illustrating the Buddhist scriptures. The railing is otherwise {dun*
circle

Forming a

On the 8ttipa?8 summit there is another smaller stone railing* in a square, surrounding a stone umbrella. The height of :he plinth is 14 ft., and that of the whole structure, excluding the railing and umbrella on the top, 58 ft. The inscribed pillar stood neax the south gateway of the
jreat

ground

railing.

successive stages of the building, as traced from stages of 1 ^sting indications, are thus described by Sir John MarshaU:

The
*

The earliest structure, which was erected, apparently, Aioka, at the same time as the lion-crowned pillar near the south gateway, was of brick, crowned by a stone umbrella, md of not more than half the present dimensions. At that :ime, the floor laid around the stupa and column by the workmen of A&oka was several feet below its present level. is years passed by, however, much debris collected above :his floor, and, over the debris, another floor was laid, and
i>y

higher up, and, last of all at least a column a stone pavement the whole hill-top . . . simultaneously with the covering laying of this final pavement, the stupa itself was also enlarged to its existing size by the addition of a stone casing faced with concrete ; on its summit was set a larger umbrella tvith a plain stone rail in a square around it, and, encircling ts base, another rail, equally plain, but of more massive
:hen a third one
still

jentury after the erection of the

proportions.'

These works, Sir John Marshall estimates, must have taken nany decades to accomplish.

Then came the construction of smaller decorated rails round the berm of the Jtflpa, and flanking the steps by which t was ascended, and, finally, and to crown all, the four at the gateways at the entrances between the quadrants

'

880
ground rail, date than the

The Early History of Bengal

which can hardly be relegated to an
it is

earlier
9

last half-century before the Christian Era.

In the above computation

assumed that the pillar near

the south gateway was set up by Aoka, apparently, because it bears one of his inscriptions ; there does not seem, however,
to be
his

any evidence that its erection did not take place before time. For the reasons given above, we are justified in

it, less precisely, to the period covered by the of Candragupta, Bindus&ra, and Aoka. Again, Sir reigns John Marshall places the laying of the final stone pavement

assigning

present size, at least a century later than the erection of the pillar, allowing that time for the gradual accumulation of debris on the site,

and enlargement of the stupa to

its

but, having regard to the Buddhist practice of enlarging

*tupas> it seems possible that the edifice to its present dimensions in a shorter time.

may have grown

Close by, on the

Other

a fifth sculptured gateway, which to the railing of another stupa, and, on evidently belonged a lower spur of the hill, there is a third stupa of similar

same

hill-top, there is

design surrounded by a stone railing, which has no gates, but is itself elaborately decorated with sculptured panels.

Hie

which we have indications of date, are the sculptures in relief, chiefly representing scenes from * ' the jatakas (edifying stories from the successive births or lives of Buddha), on the railing and east gateway of the Bharhut stupa, and the railing round the temple at Buddh Gaya, which are similar in general style to those of the Sanchi gates. Those of the Bharhut reliefs, which represent jaiaka
Other works of
art, for

episodes, bear inscriptions in

titles.

Brahmi

character, giving their

a village in the small native state of Nagaudh, in Baghelkhand, about 95 miles south-west from Allahabad, where remains of a brick stupa, about 68 ft. in diameter, and ttie railing around it, were discovered in 1878.
is

Bharhut

The portions of the

Intctip*

railing recovered, including its eastern

gateway, arc now preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. *dkc ther Buddhist structures of the same class, this railfug bears a number of inscriptions recording that different parts of it pillars or uprights (ttambha), rails (*uct), coping

*ta*ro

Art of the Maurya Period

stones, &c.

281

were given by pious Buddhists. On one of the of the east gateway there is an inscription in Prakrit pillars recording that the gate was built by one Vatsiputra
Dhanabhuti, suganam raje (Sanskrit, sungdndm rdjyc)> L e in the kingdom, or in the reign, of the Su&gas, and from this it has been inferred that the gateway in question was erected in
the days of the Suftga kings, who succeeded the Mauryas on the throne of Magadha, Sir John Marshall assigns the whole
sttipa to

that period. 1
actually, very little

We know, however,

about the Su&gas. The

According to Purai^as, the first Suiga king of Magadha was Puyamitra, who served as commander-in-chief under
Brhadratha, the last Maurya king, and, having assassinated his master, usurped the throne. According to Buddhist accounts, Puyamitra was a persecutor of Buddhism.

Puranas give the succession of ten kings of the Suftga dynasty after Pusyamitra, and the total duration of the dynasty as 112 years. As we have seen, it is probable that,

under the empire of the Mauryas, there were subordinate or feudatory rajas in different parts of their dominions, and it
seems quite possible that the Su&gas may have been, in their origin, a dynasty of vassal chiefs, whose territory included
Bharhut. So that the expression suganam raje occurring in the inscription on one pillar of a gateway of the Bharhut stupa does not establish that the gateway, still less that the
the stupa, was erected after the Suftgas had replaced the Mauryas on the Magadha throne. Two of the The pillars of the Buddh Gaya railing bear inscriptions showing

whole

railing, or

that they were donations of the queens of kings Indramitra and Brahmamitra respectively, and from the script of the
it has legends of coins struck by rulers bearing these names been inferred that they flourished not earlier than the year 100 B.C. These are weak grounds for assigning the whole

of the

Buddh Gaya

of the Suftga railing to the period

Pillars

dynasty.

There are other indications which connect the railing and also sculptures of Buddh Gaya, Bharhut, and S&nchi,
Cambridge History of India,
vol.
1,

reliefc.

ch, xxvi, p. 826.

282
the edict

The Early History of Bengal

those found on twelve stone railing posts at S&rn&th, with In these reliefs, representations of piUaxs pillars.
capitals of various dcrigivi

with pedestals and

aw a ^"^jr-is.

decorative ieature, serving sometimes to adorn the uprights, sometimes to divide the sculptured panels of the crc8-pieces.

of the pillars so represented have bell-shaped capitals surmounted by groups of seated lions bearing wheels exactly
similar to the lion-capitals of Sfirnftth

Some

and Stachl.

This

that, at the date of the railing sculptures, pillars of the type of the edict pillars were well known and generally admired, if not venerated, by Buddhists in Northern India, and, consequently, that the date in

would indicate

question
pillars*

must be placed not

earlier

than that of the edict

On the whole, it seems that we shall be justified in holding

the opinion, with great deference to eminent authorities, by whom certain monuments have been assigned to the Maurya

and others to the Su&ga

period, that there

is

not at present

evidence enabling us to fix the date of any of them confidently within a century. In any case, there is nothing to make it likely that the Suftga period was marked by any
special

development in

art,

be called a new school.

or produced anything that could In the present state of our know-

ledge, it seems that it will be safest to assign all the monuments in question to one art period, embracing roughly

the last three centuries before Christ, which may conveniently be called the Maurya period, although it may have included

that of the Suftga* as well. The pillars bearing Afoka's inscriptions may, for reasons given, be assigned roughly to the first century of the period, beginning with the reign of

Candragupta, and ending with that of ASoka, about the year 280 B.C.
Lade of

Strange that, for examples of the art of the M**oya period, we have to go so far afield as S&nchi and Bharhut, while at Patna, the site of the Maurya capital*

It

may seem

has been found which can with certainty be assigned to that period. This may be variously explained* At Patna, a town of greater or less importance has probably very
little

*
}

:m

I?

3.

Railing Pillars found at Sarnuth.

^V",
.

-V -

'.'SI

f1

:E5-

-!

K:

Corner Posts of Buddliist Railings found at Sarnath.

existed continuously during all the centuries which have In India successive elapsed since the Maurya period.

generations have not shown themselves very scrupulous in respeet for the monuments left by their predecessors, and
at Patn& there

must have been a constant temptation to

dilapidate ancient buildings for the purpose of obtaining materials for new ones. Again, on a site thus continuously inhabited, the material evidences of Maurya civilization

would be likely, in the course of ages, to become buried out of view through the gradual accumulation of debris* Remoteness has saved the monuments of S&nchi and Bharhut
even at Bharhut, the Dilapidations of neighbouring villagers have completely
obliteration,

from complete

but,

destroyed the stupa, and greatly damaged the railing. Thai there was the instability of the site of Pofotipufra, owing to
which, as already mentioned, the buildings of the Maurya city were constructed chiefly of wood, and the stone portions
or sinkage at of them are likely to have become buried, through diluviation unknown depths. The excavations carried out

hitherto in and around Patna have been on a small scale ; on inhabited sites they must, in any case, be strictly limited, and they are impossible on sites occupied by religious buildings and graveyards.

In the course of the excavations referred to there have been discovered, besides the fragments of a pillar of dimensions
similar to those of the pillars bearing Aoka's inscriptions, fragments of smaller pillars, distributed at regular intervals,

and indicating a great

pillared hall, as well as parts of three

stone railings. Dr. Spooner has advanced reasons for surof a mising that the pillared hall in question formed part royal palace designed on the model of the Achaemenian been definitely con* palaces, but this surmise has not, so far, firmed, and, apart from it, there is really nothing to connect the hall with the Mauryas.

Three colossal statues, rude and primitive in style, of which two were found in the neighbourhood of Patna, and the third
at Parkhaia, between Agra and Mathura, were formerly attributed to the Maurya period, but of late a theosy has

884

The Early History of Bengal

earlier

been put forward that they are of

date

that the

Parkham statue represents King Aj&tasatni, and the two Patna ones other kings of the Saisunfiga dynasty. 1 This
question remains unsettled*
referred to represent various forms and of development in the sculptor's art; the colossal J^St*" stages in art. figures of Parkham and Patna being almost barbarous in
Stages of

The works above

and S&nchi, conventional and decorative, display an exquisite finish and highly developed technique, and the reliefs of Sanchi, Buddh Gaya, and Bharhut, somewhat primitive in technique, are yet graceful and vigorous compositions, full of life and 1 Sir John Marshall, who attributes the lion-capitals Sir John fee& & Mwof Sarnath and Sanchi to the reign of ASoka, holds it * incredible that any Indian hand at this period should view.
their execution, while the lion-capitals of Sfirnftth

have modelled in day or chiselled from the stone such 2 and conperfected forms as those of the Sarnath capital, that the artist must have been a Greek siders, apparently, or Hellenized Asiatic, who drew his inspiration from Bactria, formerly an Achaemenian satrapy, which, about this time, under the leadership of Diodotos, had revolted against the Sdeukid Antiochos Theos, and become an independent
either
9

Every argument, indeed,' Sir John Marshall says, (1) based on geographical considerations, or (2) on the political and commercial relations, which are known to have been maintained between India and Western Asia, or (8) on the happy fusion of Hellenistic and Iranian art visible
kingdom* 4 whether
in this

monument

indicates Bactria as the probable source

from which the artist who created it drew his inspiration.* * The same eminent authority places the sculptures of the

Buddh Gaya

railing in the early part of the second century of the Bharhut railing and east gate in the middle BX?., those of the same century, and those of the Sanchi railings and

gates in the last half-century before Christ, and regards these monuments as marking a rapid development in the national art of India with the rise of the Su&ga power in Hindustan
Cf. J. B O. R. S. f vol. vf Pt. IV, Dee. 1919. * Cambridge Hittory of India,
vol.
*

i, ch. xxvi f p. 622. ' Ibid.

Art of tfo Maurya Period

285

during the second century B.C., and the simultaneous extension of the Bactxian dominion tathePanjab, Generally,
the view put forward by Sir John Marshall is that the sculptures of the Maurya and Suftga periods, winch show

an advanced and superior technique, are probably the work of foreign artists, and that it was only in the jewellers and lapidaries arts, as exemplified in certain relic caskets
1
9

found in the Sftnchi tiupa*, that the Maurya craftsmen

attained any real proficiency. This theory may be correct, but in view of the scanty evidence available, the argument

by which
It is

supported cannot be regarded as very strong. needless to enlarge on the errors which similar reasoning
it is

from evidence of foreign influence on schools of art might involve.

different

European

The

facts

with regard to the extension of Bactrian Bactrian

dominion over the Panjab simultaneously with the rise of the Su&ga power in Magadha are not clearly established. We have the evidence of Strabo and Justin, showing that, about
the year 190
B.C.,

Demetrios, King of Bactria, son of Euthy-

demos, made

conquests in Northern India, probably including the Panjab and Sind, from which he was later ousted by Eukratides, another Bactrian, and that later still,

perhaps about 155 B.C., further conquests in India were made by a ruler named Menander, who probably belonged to the
family of Eukratides.

Then

it is

established

coins which have been found that for about

by numerous two centuries

and a

half,

A.D. 50,

from the time of Demetrios to about the year a succession of Bactrian Greek kings reigned over
Again,

different parts of the Panjab.

we

find in Indian

literature

P&tanjali's grammar, probably of about 150 B.C., the G&rgi Saxhhita, a work on astrology of uncertain date, and Kalidfisa's drama, Malavikagnimitra, probably of the

century A.D. allusions to an invasion or incursions of Hellenes (yavanas), in the time of Puyamitra> the first
fifth

Suftga ruler of Magadha, which swept over Oudh (Saketa), the Ganges-Jumna Doab (PancMa), Mathura, and parts of what are now Rftjputftna and the Gwalior State, and even

penetrated to P&t&Hputra.

It is evident that, during the

The Early History of Bengal

long period of Bactrian rule in the Panjab, there must have been ample opportunity for Hellene influence on the plastic
arts in Northern India.

employed
Earlier

Greek sculptors may have been in the Suftga dominions, and Indian sculptors
Greek methods of technique.

may have adopted

It is equally probable that such Hellene influence on influence Indian art may have been in operation from a much earlier
probable, date,

the Mauryan empire having been, from its very foundation, in contact with Hellene powers on its north-Western In AJoka's thirteenth Major Rock Edict, among frontier.

the peoples of his empire, Yonas, that is to say, Hellenes, are mentioned, apparently distinct from the subjects of the
India

Yona King Amtiyoka. And long before the Maurya period, may have been affected by Hellenism through contact

with the Persian empire, where Hellene influences had been at work from a time centuries earlier than Alexander's conquest*
Indian
of reliefs.

Whether any of the sculptures of the Maurya art period *?e the work of foreign artists or not, it is at least certain
that the sculptors who produced the reliefs representing scenes from the life of Buddha and the jatakas had lived

long in India, and were familiar with Indian scenes. Much of the charm and interest of these reliefs lies in their delineation of the everyday life of the Indians of that time their dress, their cottages, ploughs, carts, and boats; cities,
palaces, temples, stupas,

and caityas

and the numerous

representations of elephants a subject not often successfully treated by modern European artists are specially lifelike

and
Unknown
artisu -

characteristic.

These works are anonymous like

many

masterpieces of

sculpture adorning European cathedrals. In the Arthaddstra we find no mention of sculptors as

Kaufilya's work, indeed, is severely utilitarian, and says little about the fine arts. In the rules for the construction of the palace, we find mention
(according to Shamasastry's rendering)

a class distinct from masons.

images'

(gtkQ^rabandha)
*

and

of 'carving* of 5 ornamental arches

Skilled artisans (Kdru,

Kdruka, Kdrutilpi)

K. A*9 Bk.

I, eh. iii, p. 67*

I
I

'/*"",'/ **&

-*x!
'

"^-"/

Mf
*
"-

*- ***"

""

"

trf"

Ji

Artof the Maurya Period

are often mentioned

W7

we have pradhdna-kfravak (master

craftsmen), and according to one reading svacitta fcdrwol, * * meaning artisans working according to their own designs.'

Perhaps in India of the Maurya period, as in mediaeval Europe, the class of sculptors was not sharply distinguished from that of stone-masons.

The paucity of surviving monuments of the Maurya age Paucity has been referred to. It is partly accounted for by a climate
very destructive of man's handiwork, of the rapid effects of which countless examples may be found in India. One has only to think of the ruins of Gaur, or Lakhnauti, which as late as the seventeenth century was capital of Bengal, with

^j^ remains,

a population, probably, of over a million, or of the present town of Murshidabad, which, in Clive's time, rivalled London in magnificence. Other destructive agencies have been the ravages of war, and sectarian iconoclasm, but both of these have operated in Europe, perhaps on as great a scale and with as much fury as in India. When all allowstate of the

ances are made, the fact that so little remains of the artistic productions of the Maurya period is remarkable. Perhaps Poverty India the explanation is that they were never very rich or numerous
in comparison with the extent and power to which the Maurya empire attained. Probably, then as now, India was

poor according to European standards. The sculptured reliefs of the period suggest that, then as now, the peasantry lived in thatched cottages with earthen or mat walls, wore
scanty clothing, used
tive agriculture.
little furniture,

The

and practised a primiArihaidstra affords evidence that

There were rich men princes and as well as wealthy traders, and other private high officials, individuals, who dressed sumptuously and lived in palaces,
famines were frequent.

In the few great cities, there were magnificent and at sites of special sanctity, stone railings and temples, rftow, and dftjww, with great

but such were few and far between.

like the village gateways, but probably the village shrines, with roofs of dwellings, were small and simple structures, wood or hunboo, and thatch, or earthen sKlpas or eaityas

with plain wooden or bamboo rails.

IWd., Bk. IV, dt.
i,

p. 858.

888

The Early History of Bengal

In such material conditions, masterpieces of art might be produced; a profuse and widely distributed artistic out-turn could not be looked for* Greek visitors to India, three centuries before Christ, found the country backward, on the whole, in respect of material civilization at the same time found much to admire in the moral character of the Indians, and in their
social institutions.

It

is

worthy of note that the verdict

of Chinese pilgrims in the seventh century of our era substantially the same.
Con*
*

was

In concluding this volume, it is important once more to emphasize the historic fact that in the India of the Maurya period the chief centre of political power and civilization was
at Pfi$aliputra in the Lower Ganges Valley, and the legitimate inference that the evidence which we possess for the period, bearing on the institutions, arts, manners, and civilization of India relates especially to that region,

embracing

the territories

now known

as Bihar and Bengal.

We

have the general picture, dim, it may be, in outline, and faint in colours, of a population poor and simple in their habits, yet neither barbarous nor degraded, capable of
organization and co-operative effort, and of producing work, in architecture and decorative sculpture, of imposing pro*

already capable of building * like titans and finishing like jewellers . As the system of government portrayed in the Arihaidstra is not democratic,
:

portions and high artistic merit

'

so we may be sure that, in the social organization and general outlook of the people, there was nothing democratic in the modern European sense. Then, as now, the feature which arrested the attention of foreign observers was the caste
system, so radically opposed to the idea of democracy. Neither can it be said that the social system of ancient India was aristocratic, as that epithet is understood in Europe*

In India, the sentiments of regard for family and ancestry and inherited standards of conduct have never been the

monopoly of a limited wealthy or powerful class, but pervade every dais of society, and every caste, high, middle, and low*

INDEX
Abetment, punishment* for, 120, Abortion, punishments for causing*

Anga

nation, 18.

we.

Accountants, duties
village, 110.

of, 45,

SO;

Accounts and records, 45-6. Administration, details of, 89. Admiral of the Fleet, Strabo on duties of, 168-4. Adultery, punishments for, 129. Aediles, Roman, compared with the Agoranomi, 159 ; duties
of, 159. Aelian, on Indian manners and

Animals, restrictions concerning killing of, 66-8, 217-18; respect for, 214-15 ; killing of, as cause of religious strife, 215. Antiochus Soter= Bindus&ra, 185.

Anusamy&na, interpretation
210.

of,

Arachosia (Kandahar), 141. Arms, manufacture of, 59-60 ; Arrian on Indian, 164. Army, the, 76-9 ; hereditary
troops, 76; military corpora* tions, 76-7; classified, 77-8; pay of soldiers, 78 ; classes and salaries of officers. 78-9; ambu-

customs, 167 ; on cliariot races, 171-2 ; on palace at Pataliputra, 177.

Agents, secret, selection

of,

88

duties of, 88-9 ; employment of, 188. the, (A-yopa^oi), Agaranomi Strabo on duties of, 157-60;

compared with Roman

159.

aediles,

lances of, 79 ; strength and weapons of Candragupta's, 164. Arrian, on Palimbotnra, 5 ; on the Prasii nation, 5, 6; on 148-50 on Indian castes, arms, 164; on slavery, 164; on riding animals, 171 ; on Indian buildings, 172-8,208 ; on
;

Agrammes, Gangaridae and

king, 2.

Prasii

Agreements, 90-1* Agression, policy of, 188. Agricultural products, classified, 56-7 ; Strabo on, 169-70. Agriculturalists, Arrian on, 158 ; Diodorus on, 158 ; Strabo on, 169-70. Aifttasatru, king, 6. Ailvikas, 221. Alexander the Great, biographers on his invasion of India, 1-4, 11, 140. Alexandria, town, 8. Alikasudra = King of Epirus,
territories of, visited

Pataliputra, 175. Artha, referred to, 28. ArthaJOstra, authorship and date of, 29-80 ; historical value of, 80-1 ; interpretation of, 82 ; ' 4 sutra style of, 82-8 ; dan$anlti or political science in, 88 ; plan of the work, 84-5 ;
deflects

summarized, of, 89; account of castes comwith Greek writers, with Strata's ; compared accounts, 160-5 ; prescriptions of, 179 If. ; utilitarianism of,
187-9 pared 158-5
;

Artisans,
to, 111

by Aftoka's

missionaries, 219*

Allahabad, Kaulftmbi pillar inscription at, 202-8. Amitrochade* ; Amitrochates : see BindusAra. AmtikineAntigonos Gonatos of Macedonia, territories of, visited by Aloka's missionaries, 219. ArfHiyoka, Yona king, 286; Antiochiu Theos, 219; territories of, visitedljy Asoka't missionaries, 219*

Arya, from slavery of, 97; redemption from slavery of, 98-9;
protection of, 99. Ascetics: village restrictions confree of feny toll, cerning, 41 ; 78 ; city regulations concern-

regulations applicable Diodorus on, 148. conditional exemption

;

Asoka, Maurva emperor, 7,,21, 26, 140 ; edicts of, referred to, 26-7, 41, 187, 151 f 164; WOpagator of Buddhism, Itt;

ing, 85.

240
Afoka (continued)
created office of the

Index
dhamma;

mahamatas, 209

in monasteries, 214;

his interest his pro-

Bharhut **0pa, 200-1 ; Buddhist on railings of, inscriptions 280-1; dilapidations of, 288;
reliefs, style of, 284. Bhaftasvftinin, commentary

pagation of dhamma, 218-22 ; extent of his empire, 219-22 ; border subjects of, 220 ; sculpture, dimensions, and material of monolithic pillars of, 223 ff. INSCRIPTIONS : where incised, 26 ; evidence of, 28-9, 205-22; language of, 186-7; cave indoctrine of the scriptions, 196
;

on

portion of the ArthaMstra, 88. Bhikfu, 218. Bhikfuni, 218. Bihar, province, 19. Bindusftra (Amitrochades, Amitrochates), Maurya emperor, 20-1, 28-4, 140, 179, 227, 230 ; conquests of, 185 ; = Antiochos
Soter, 185. Birds, measures against damage by, 114. Boards of Five, Strabo on, 168. Boundary disputes, 102. Brachmanes, the, 145 ff. Brahmagiri, rock inscription at, 194. Brahmanda Purdna, 206.

edicts,

and sites of, 197-201; Sarnath Edict, 202-8 ; Sanchi Edict, 208; Kaus&mbi Edict, 202-4; Queen's Edict, 204; Rummindei inscription, 204 ; 204 ; inscription, Nigliva doctrine of the edicts, 214 ff.
Rock Inscriptions : description and sites of, 185-6; doctrine of the edicts, 214 ff. ; Major Rock Edicts, sites of, 187, characters of, 188, text of, 188-98 ; Minor Rock Edicts, sites of, 198-5, First Minor Rock Edict, 195, Second Minor Rock Edict, 195 ; Kalinga Edicts, description of, 194 ; Bhafora Edict, 195-6. 107 ; definition of, Assault, penalties for, 107.
Assessment, 81. Asthagoura, city, 14.

tions: texts

214 ff. Seven

Pillar InscripPillar Edicts,

Brahmans,
;

free of ferry toll, 73 ; penalty for selling into slavery 98 as witnesses, 105*; of, punishment for assault of, 108 ; exempt from torture, 120-1 ; death penalty for treason by, 126.

Buddh Gaya
231
;

Brahmi script, 186, 188. Brehon Law, 188. Brhadratha, Maurya iking, 281.
railing inscriptions, style of reliefs, 284.

Astynomi ( A<jrwo>w), the, Strabo comon duties of, 157-60 pared with the Ndgaraka, 160. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, re;

ferred to, 20.

Augustus,

Roman

emperor,

3.

Aoka a propagator of, spread of, during Aloka's reign, 261-2 ; Pusyamitra a persecutor of, 281 Buddhist literature, references to Aioka in, 185-6 ; monastic system, 212-14. Buddhists, the three pure foods of, 215-16 ; stdpa erections by, 228-81 veneration for edict
Buddhism,
185
;
. ;

pillars,

232.

Bactrian influence on Mauryan sculpture, 285-6. Bafrat, rock inscription at, 194-6. Bakhira, Aloka pillar at, 202, .283 ; dimensions of, 225.

Biihler, G.,

205

teaching, 82 ; written law, Palaeography, rajukas, 209.

on Hindu oral on Indian un167; 186;

on

Indian the

BO&, meaning of, 210. Barabar hills, cave inscriptions

at, 196.

Buildings,

101-2 ; regulations, Arrian on, 172 ; construction of, 172-3 ; sinkage of, 178.

Beggars, rules concerning, 112. Benares, city, 7; Afoka pillar fragment mind near, 228* Bengal, prevalence of Buddhism in, 221-2; Lower Bengal, commercial importance of, 207-8. Bevan, E. B.* on India, 141. 210.

Burdwan,?=Parthalis, IS.
Burnouf, fimile, on Tosaiei, 907.
Calingae nation, 17-18. see Kautillya. (Sandrokottot), Candragupta Maurya emperor, 16, 18, 20, 2S-9, 141, 179, 185, 227, 280 ;

Ctoakya:

Index
origin

241
;

and

early coieer ot,

JO;

aocMsimi, tO; rise to power, ; toty with Seteokos, 22-4; extent of his empire, 2S-7, 185-6 ; strength and weapons of his army, 164, Caravans, rides Ibr protection

Crime, of, 114-18

of

11

11416

pl

in,

110-17; stolen property, 117; house-breaking, 117-1 8; punishments lor sexual, 127.

Oiminal Law, distinction between

Civil and, 88-9-

of, 128.

Castes, mixed,

96; vmrietr
of

of,

189;
rfdtfr*

and Greek writers on,

comparison

Artka-

Crown lands, cultivation of, 5-6 ; system of labour, 05; inin*

tion-tax, 65
;

collection of seeds,
oiaiiafle*

158-5; Diodorus on, 141-3 ; Pliny on, 148*50; Strabo on,

148-8.
Cattle, breeding of. 40; remedies for disease of, 114 ; rates concerning, T8 ; theft of, a capital offence, 126 ; trespass by, 108*

05 5 Crown {voperty,

meat of; 48.

evidence Ceylon, concerning spread of Buddhism in, 221. Champftran pillar inscription, 202.
classification of, 75; races, Arrian on, 171-3. Chunar, material for Aioka's

Chariots,

Cultivator: tee Agriculturalists. Curfew regulations, 86-7, Currency.general, 58-4. Curtius, Quintus, 6, 15-16; on Alexander's Indian campaign, 2; en strength of Candragupta's army, 164 ; on Indian on writing materials, 168; Indian courts, 178-9; on judicial functions of Indian
rulers, 181-2.

pillars quarried at, 215.

Customs, Indian, Strabo on, 166

If.

Civil

Law, distinction between Criminal and, 88-9 ; the court*,

89
;

Damaskenos,
167.

Nikolaos,

author,

procedure, 01-109. Codas (Colas), nation, visited by Aioka's missionaries, 219. Coins, mintage of, 52-4 ; penalties for passing counterfeit, 111 ;
tions concerning examiner "111.

Collector-geoeral:

fine for exorbitant Dancers, charges of, 112. Daadin, Datakumdracarita, quoted, 29-80. Divine, Dangers, protective measures against: fire, flood, 118; demons, famine, pesti-

water 40. Conquerors, three kinds of, 184. Contracts, illicit, 90-1. Co-operative woifcs, rules relating to, 108-4.
Coral,

two kinds of, 50.

Corporations, military, 76 ; power of, 88 ; workmen's, 100. Council, the Kiiufe functions

CoimoiUors,

Airiaa on, 150; Diodara8on,148; Megastbenes on, 1*5; Straboi,144u

Courtesans, 48-71. Courtiers, 182. Court*, Indian, niflcenceof, 179; (Seek writer* on, 176-84; Quintus Curtius on, 178-9. Courts of law, 89-92. Cows, fees ip ktili*,

lence, rats, snakes, tigers, 114. Darius, Persian king, valley of the Indus conquered by, 228. Death, offences punishable by, 122-4, 125 ff. Deb, Harit Krishna, on the pari?ad, 208. Debts, limitation of, 104-3; penalty for evading payment of 104 ; recovery of, 104. Defamation, penalties for, 1O7, Delhi, Topra pillar inscription at, 201. Demetrios, Bactriaa Greek king, conquests of, in Northern India, 285. Demons, exonrizatian of, 114. Awu, belief in, 314. Dhaimnft {4han*al> connotation
of,

211

olervmoce of, 211-18 ;

of,

sionaries, 218-22.

pmeUog
created of, 209.

by Aioka's ***
;

marriage price, 92; riots caused by sUH^b]

1778

by Aioka/209

342
tion at, 26, 187, 194.

Index
Gambling
regulations, 108-9.

Dhannapala, Pala king, 8. Dhauli, city, 206 ; rock Inscrip-

Diamond*, 50.

Gangaridae nation, 1-19, 20. * Gange, royal town*, 18, 207; commercial of, importance
207-8. river, 1-19, 206-7; Ganges, worship of, 147* Ctergl Sa&hita, referred to, 285. Gau(Ja kingdom, 24-5. Gaur: tee Lakhnauti.

on Diodorus, 6, 15-16, 90; Alexander's Indian campaign, 1-2 ; on Indian castes, 141-8 ; on strength of Candragupta's
army, 164. Diplomacy, 188-4
in, 184.
;

use of spies
ff.

Gautama Buddha,
204.

birthplace of,

Doctrine of Aftoka's edicts, 214

Documents, official, classification of, 46 ; drafting of, 46*

Droughts, 114.
Edicts of Atoka: *6*Aioka.
Elephant-forests, 42-8, 74, 111. Elephants, death by, rules concerning, 129; killing of, an offence, 48, 181 ; training of,

Gems,

classification of, 49-50.

Girnar, rock inscription at, 187.

Gold, charges for manufacture of articles in, 111 ; quality-tests

of, 55 ; working in, 55. Goldsmiths, regulations relating to, 55-6, 111. Goods, adulteration of, 112 ; fines

for false description of, 112

value on, 170-1.

;

74-5

of,

42-8

Strabo

monopolization of, 112-18 ; pro* fits allowed on sale of, 118.

Embezzlement, forms of, punishments for, 45-6.

Epidemics,
114.

and

precautions

against,

Government, form of, 85. Greek authors on the Maurya period, 140 ff. Grttnwedel, A., on definition of
ff*OfHZ, 228. Guilds, funds of, 110 ; power of, 88 ; village restrictions concerning, 41.

Eukratides, Bactrian Greek king, 285. Evidence, rules of, 105-6 ; categories of persons excluded from 105 ; adjuration of giving, witnesses, 105-6.
Fabrics, 51; cotton, 52; tolls on, 62. Factories, state, 48 ; employees in, 64; wages of employees, 64. Fa Hian, Fo-kwo-li, 212* Famine, measures for relief during, 114. Ferry regulations, 72. Fires, prevention of, 86-7, 118,

Hanging, as a means of torture,

120.

Haraprasftd Sastri, on Tosali, 206. Hellenic influence on Mauryan 285-6. sculpture, Heraldes, worship of, 145. on Herodotus, intoxicating
liquors, 169.

Hlnay&na system, 216-17.

Firoz Shah Tughlak, emperor, 201-2. Firozabad, Mirat pillar inscription at, 202. Floods, precautions against, 118. Foods, the three pure (Buddhist),
Forests, elephant-, 40, 42-8, 79,
; produce of, 58 ; sanctuary-, 67 ; timber-, 40, 42-8, 79; forest tribes: * Tribes. Forgery* penalties for, 122* Fortifications, 48 ; inspection of, 87. Forts, classes of, 89, 89 ; situation of, 89. Fun, 50-1.

Homicide, investigation of in affray, death of, 118-19 ; penalty for, 125. Hones, breeds of, 78-4 ; classification of, 171

officials con; nected with, 78 ; training of, 74, 171 ; Strabo on, 170-1. of methods Housebreaking, detection of offenders, 117-18. Householders, trespassing by,

211

67 ; responsibilities of, 86. Hyphasis (Bias), river, Alexander stopped at, 1, 2.

Impalement, offences punishable

by, 126. India, poverty of,

27 ; admirable moral and social character of

Indians, 288.

Index
Indus, river, 8, 9. Infantry* 75-9.
Inheritance, law of, 05-6. Injury through negligence, rules concerning, 128-9. Inscriptions of Aoka: *eeAoka. InBects, measures against damage by, 114,
Institutions, charitable, 85-6. Interest, rates of, 104. Irrigation, accounts of Strabo and

ArthaJOstra compared, 102-8

rules concerning, 102-8 ; irrigation-tax, 81. I Tsing, Record of the Buddhist

40*1 j rights of ptotecS of state agriculturalists, 41-2; factories of, 48, 64; tale of his merchandise, 57-8 ; sources of revenue, 61, 81-5 ; menials of, 68-9 ; cattle of, 78 ; chariots of, 75 ; release of prisoners on birthday of, 67; duties of, during famine, 114 ; punishments for conspiracy against, 124, 127 ; use of spies by, 181 ; 179-81 ; general duties of,
.

41;

Religion, 208, 212, 218 kusu, 212.

Taka-

accessibility to, 181-2, 210 ; judicial functions of, 181-2 ; ' the first self-preservation
1

duty

Jail delivery, 87. Jailors, punishments for offences

of, 182 ; wives and attendants of, 182 ; female guards of, 182 ; precautions for safety 182-4 ; sons of, 188 ; of,

by, 128-4.

dominions

of,

204

Jaina literature, 185.

Jatjnga*Rftmesvara, rock inscription at, 194. Jaugadha (Jogadh), rock inscription at, 26, 187, 194.

ment of
210. Kittoe,

slaves

and

his treat* relations,

= Tosala, 206. Kosam = Kauldmbi, 202.

Kosala
?

on

Tosali, 206.

Jayaswal, author, 185. Judges, appointment of, 85 if,, 110 ; punishments for offences by, 122-8. Julius Caesar, Roman emperor, 1.

Kumrahar,
at, 178-5.

village,

excavations

Jumna, river,

11.

Justin, on Candragupta, 21-2 ; on Bactrian conquest of Northern India, 285.

Lakhnauti (Gaur), city, 287. Land revenue, system of, 80-8 ; village accountants, 80 ; supervisors, 80-1 ; assessment, 81 ; additional taxes, 81-2 various
;

land taxes, 88.

Land

settlement, 89-40

arable,

Kalidasa, Mdlavikdgnimitra, 285.

Kalihga

kingdom,

17,

18,

28,

26-7, 205-7. Kaliiga ?=Kalinga, city, 17. Kalsi, rock inscription at, 187. Kamandaka, dedication to the NUitara, 29. Kamarupa country, evidence con* oerning Buddhism in, 222. Kashmir, 220-1. Kausambi pillar inscription, 202, 208-4. Kautillya (= Visnugupta, Canakya), Brahman minister, author of ArthatOatra, 29-80. Kauti&ya Arthajf&8tra : seeArtha-.

period, 140 ff. Lauriyft Arftraj (Radhia), pillar inscription at, 202. Lauriya Nandangagh (Mathia), pillar inscription at, 202, 228 ; dimensions of, 225. Licchavi clan, 6. Liquors, intoxicating, kinds of,

89-40. Lassen, J., on Tosalei, 207. Latin authors on the Maurya

manufacture of, 66 ; tolls Strabo on, 168-9. ; Lumbini garden, birthplace of

169
;

on, 66

Gautama Buddha, 204. Luxuries, Indian, Strabo on, 170.

Keralaputras, nation, visited by Afoka's missionaries, 219.

McCrindle, on Ptolemy's Outline of Geography, 8-9, 14 ; on the

Agoranomi,
206.

159;

on Tosali,

Kharorthi script, 186, 188. King, the, council of, 84, 89

ministers^ Characters examined by, 87 ; his duties for State

8778

Macdon&ld, D, B., on treaty between Seleukos and Candra-

*4*
Magadha kingdom
MaiUmatrtsTtbe, 208.
t

system, 216-17. age of*

95,;

Monolithic pillars : e Pillars, Mousikanos, Indian chief, 164. Murshidabad, town, 287. Musicians, fine lor exorbitant

of Cyrene, terri tories of visited by Aioka's missionaries, 219. Mandalai nation, 14, 16-17. Manners, Indian, Strabo on, 166 ff. Mansehra, lock inscription at, 187. Marcus Aurdius, Roman emperor,

charm of, 112. Mutilation, forms of, as punishment, 124-5 ; Strabo on, 165,

with those of the Attynomi,

160-1.

duties oft compared

Nanda nation, 20.

Nepal Tarai, state, 220. Nepal Valley, 220. Nicanthas (Nirgranthas), religious
denomination, 221. Nigliva, pillar inscription at, 204. Nile, river, 8, 5, 10. NUUfotras, 28.
Offences,

Market-towns, 40.
Marriage, classes of, 92-8, 188 ; remarriage of males, 98, of females, 98-4; offences connected with, 127-8; Strabo on, 165. Marshall, Sir John, on construction of the Sftnchi stdpa, 229-80; on the Bharhut *Mpa> 281 ; on Mauryan art, 284-5. Maski, rock inscription at, 186,
194.

ments
126-7.
Officials,

for,

miscellaneous, punish* 109, 128 ; capital,

salaries of,, 84, 86-7; punishments for offences by;

Maurya
Greek

institutions,

28-33

evidence on, 140 ff. ; paucity of Maurya remains, 287. Mayne, F. O., on the Smrtis, 28. Measures of space and time, 61. Medical relief; 210-11. Megasthenes, deputation of, to court of Sandrokottos, 16, 18, 140 ; doubts as to accuracy of his accounts, 28 ; his knowledge of Indian caste, 150-1 ; his views on Indian philosophy and religions, 151-8 ; on Indian writing, 168 ; on use of in-

duties of : see Superintendents. Oreophanta, city, 14, 207.

Palibothra: see Palimbothra. Palimbothra, town, 18-14, 141, 207 ; = Ptolemy's Palibothra,
14.

Paihdas
visited

(Pandiyas),

nation,

by Asoka's missionaries,

219.

Panjab, Bactrian domination of, 285-6. Parisad, definition of, 208 ;? =

mantriparisad, 208.

Por^odv, the five, 218.

Menander, Bactrian Greek king,

285.

toxieatingliquors, 169.

Merchants, protection of, 128. Metals, charges for manufacture

of, 111.

Mines, 40.
creation of, 85-6; of ministers 9 , its constitution, 86; temptations * of, 87-8. Mhut pillar inscription, 202. Mischief, degrees of, and penalties
Ministers,
*
*

assembly

Parkham, statues at, 288-4. Parricide, death as penalty for. 126. Parthalis, city, 17 ; ? Burdwan, 18. P&faQJku, rules concerning habitation of, 190, 218. Passports, 79. Pastures, duties of superintendent

tor,

108 .

^^

MkeekOf meaning

of,. 97; ditions of slavery of, 99.

con-

Moghal*,76. Monastic system,

of, 79-80. Pataliputra, city, 10, 14>1, 81, 141, 156, 158, 160, 168, 168-9, foundation of, 171-5, 202; 6-8 ; Patna, 6 ; description of fort at, 175 ; Greek writers on court of, 176-84 ; Aelian on palace at, 177 ; as chief centre
*

Buddhist,

of Mauryan political power and

dviliiatlon,288. o Pitanjali, grammarian, 185*

devices tor raising,

Patna, dty, 7-8 ; *= Pftiaiiputra, 6 ; fragments of Aloka pillar found at, 228 ; lackofMaurya remains at, 282-8 ; excavations
at,

Priests*
,

protection

of,

238; statues

at, 288-4,

Patrokles,admiralofSeleukoa,140. Pearls, dassiflcation of, 49 ; defects of, 49. Penal code, 188; provisions, 41-2. Perfumes, 50. Periplua Maris Erythraei, referred
to, 15, 97. Pestilence, precautions 114.

education of, 188; to the throne, 188-4. Prisoners, release of, 211 . Procedure, legal, 91-2; breache* of rules of, 91, and penalty for, 91 ; payment of witnesses, 91 ; rules concerning lawsuits, 91-2. Property immovable, tolls on
sale of,

against,

62/101

definition of,

Philosophers, Diodorus on, 141-2 ; Megasthenes on, 151-8 ; Strabo on, 148-8. Physicians, regulations affecting, 112 ; duties of, during epidemics, 114.
Pillars of

101 ; damage to, and trespais on, buildings, 101-8 ;- married women's, 92-6 ; penalty for seizure of, during riots, 108 ;
prescriptive titles to, 106; private, penalties for theft of, 121-2 ; stolen, proceedings for discovery of, 117 ; succession to, 189. Protection of the innocent, rules
for,

Aloka, 228 ff. ; pillar 228-4 ; dimensions of, material 225; of, 225-6; weight of, 225 ; date of, 227 ; use of, to propagate dhamma, 227 ; Persian influence seen in
capitals,

119-20.

style4 of, 227-8. Plato, Laws ', referred to, 160. Pliny <the Elder), on India, 4-6,

on Indian castes, on strength of Candragupta's army, 164. Plutarch, on Alexander's Indian campaign, 2-8, 6, 15-16; on
11, 16-18
;
;

148

Ptolemy, Claudius, plan and scope of his Outline of Gcogrttpm#> 8-19 ; data relating to India, its 10-12; 12-18; defects, data relating to Eastern India : Prasiake, 18-14, Tamalites, 14the Gangarides, 15-16, 15, Magadha, 16-17, the Calingae, 17-18, the Vanga nation, 18, the Lower Ganges valley, 18-19 ;

strength

of

Candragupta's

army, 164. Poisons, as a means of suppressing sedition, 182 ; prescriptions for, 186-7 ; for hair-dyeing, 186
;

on Tosalei, 205-7. Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt,

140.

Public safety, 118 ff.

regulations

for,

for causing diseases, 186 ; for acquiring supernatural powers, 186. Police regulations : fire prevention, 86 ; curfew, 86-7. ' elements Policy, foreign, 182-6 ; of sovereignty ', 182 ; sixfold policy, 182-8 ; of aggression,

Pulisa, interpretation of, 210. Pun<lra, ancient kingdom, 16

commercial products of, 207* Punishment, methods of, 88 ; of wives, 95 ; discrimination ' in, 109 ; the six punishments % 120 ; for theft, 121 ; by mutilation, 124-5. PurAgas, 12-18, 20, 185. Pusyagupta, viceroy of Candragupta, 27. Pu^yamitra, Sunga king, 281, 285 ; persecutor of Buddhism,

diplomacy, 188-4; for a weak state, 184 ; treatment of conquered country, 185. Historia Pompdus Trogos,

188;

Philippica, 21. Pradetiteu, duties of, 209. Pramnal, the, a class of philosophers, 147-8. Praslake country, 18, 14. Prasii nation, 1-10, 20. Prayftga (Allahabad), city, Prescription of titles to property, 106.

281.

Rajukas* the, class of officials, 209. Rampttrva, AAoka pillar at, 202,
228, 225.

Rapson, E.

subjects, 28-4,

on AAoka's border 220; on the Mauryan empire, 28, 25-6 ; ott

J.,

246
Jadian
coinage,

Index
58
;

pa the King's dominions, 200.

Scavengers and treasure trove, 111-12.

R*t, measures
114
;

worship

Religions, views on, 151-8* Reservoirs, artificial, inspection of 87. Revenue system, 188.

for keeping down, of, 114* Indian, Megasthenes' 40,

41

Rioe as principal Indian food, Strabo on, 169. Riots, penalty for seizure of property during, 108. Riverain surveys, accounts of Strabo and Artha&fatra com*
pared, 161-2.

228 ff. ; Mauryan, Sculpture, Persian influence on, 225, 2278 ; stages of development in, 284-5 ; Bactrian influence on, 285-6; Hellenic influence on, 286 ; Indian character of, 286 ; anonymous artists, 286-7. Sedition, methods of dealing with,
181-2
;

use of spies, 181

by

Roads, 40, 79 ; inspection of, 87. Robbery under arms, fines for,
122.

Rock edicts of Asoka

Rummindei,

see

Asoka.

pillar inscription at,

204,227. Rupnftth, rock inscription at, 194.

Law (dhammavyaya), Sacred Atoka's conquest of, 218-22. SOhasa of property, 106 ; of persons, 107 ; penalties fbr, 107. on Vivien de, Saint-Martin, Ptolemy's accounts of India, 12-14; on the Calingae, 17;
on Tosali, 206. Sale of immovable property, 101. Salt manufacture, 54 ; price of, 54 ; king's share of, 55. SamOhartr, duties of, 44-7 ; compared with those of the Agoranomi, 160-2.
Sambalaka,
Sanchi
city, 14.
pillar, 203, 224-5, 282-3 ; 9t&pa t 228-80 : dimensions of, 228-9; railing and gates round, 229 ; Buddhist inscriptions on, 229, stages of construction of, 229-80 ; style of reliefs at, 284. Sandal-wood, 50. Sandrokottoe : see Candragupta.

poisoning, 182. Seleukos, Nikator, 21, 140, 185 ; treaty with Candragupta, 22. Senart, fimile, on the Kaliftga Edicts, 194. Servants, government, remuneration of, 182 ; hired, rules concerning, 100. Shab&zgardi, rock inscription at, 187. Shainasastry, R., translation of the ArthaJdstra, referred to, 82, 85, 89, 41, 48/45, 54, 57, 76, 89, 91, 105, 128, 155, 162,

171,180,208,286.
Shamsi-Siraj 'Afif, chronicler, hi* account of Topra pillars removal to Delhi, 226-7. Sher Shah, ruler of Bihar and Bengal, 8. Shipping tolls, 72-8. Sibyrtios, satrap of Arachosia, 141. Siddapura, rock inscription at, 194-5.
Sigalla, city, 14. Silver, working in, for manufacture
in, 111.

55;
of

charges
articles

Slaughter-houses, restrictions on, 66-8. Slaves, kinds of, 97 ; exemptions from slavery, 97 ; selling or

(1) wilds Safigha, the, 212-18 ; or corporations, 212, (2) Order founded by Gautama, 208, 212. SmnidhMr* dtttfc of, 48-4, 48.
*

Sarmanes, the, a class of philo~~ sophers, 145 ff.

mortgaging of, 97-8 ; property of, 98 ; redemption of, 98-9 ; protection of, 99-100, 189; Arrian on, 164 ; Strabo on, 164. Smith, Vincent, Early History of India. 185; AMka, the Bud" dhitt Emperor of Indie, 187 ; translation of Second Minor Rock Edict, 195; on the
rajufau, 209. Snakes,,exorcization of, 114.
Soldiers,

Uh, Aiokft
'

pillar at, descrip$

tion off 228-4, 282

*of, 225.

dimensions
rock
in*

on,

as*eram (Sahasram),
scriptlofi At, 194*

pay of, 78-9; Arrian 154; Diodoms on, 148, 154; Megasthenes on, 154; Stxaboon,144.

nation, virited

by
Sons, kinds of, 95-0,

Index
Sflpara, rock inscription at, 187*

847
of,

Su6ga dynasty, kings

281

Sophists, Arrian on, 148-9. Sovereignty, seven elements of, 182. Spies, selection of, 88 ; duties of, 83-9 ; use of, in prevention and detection of crime, 66, 114-16, in suppression of sedition, 181, in diplomacy, 184; disguises 114-15 ; as agent* proof,
vocateurs,

duration of, 281* duties Superintendents,

115;

methods em-

ployed, 115-16.

Spinning and weaving, 64. Spooner, D. B., on origin of the

Maurya family, 20 ; on wooden buildings at Kumrahar, 178; on fragments of pillars at Patna, 288. Stables, royal, 78-4. State development, the King's duties for, 40 ft. constitution States, circle of, of, 188. Stein, Otto, on authorship and date of the Arthatdstra, 80 ;
on army
1

of: armoury, 58-60; cattle, 78; chariots, 75 ; city, 85-7, 11$ ; courtesans, 68-71 ; cultivation of Crown lands, 65-6; elephants, 74-5 ; forest produce, 58; gold and silver, 55-6; horses, 78-4 ; infantry, 75-9 ; 66 ; intoxicating liquor, measures of time and space, 61 ; metals, 52 ; mines, 52 ; mint, 52; passports, 79; pastures, 79-80 ; revenue, 48-4 ; (land) revenue, 80-8 ; trade, 117 ; (private) trade, 112; (royal) trade, 57-8 ; salt, 54 ; shipping, 72-8, 168-4 ; slaughter-houses, 66-8 ; spinning and weaving, 64-5 ; storehouse, 56-7 ; tolls, 61-4 ; treasury, 48-4, 48-52 ; weights and measures, 61 ; Arrian on, 150; Strata's and Arthafdstra's accounts com-

classification,

79

Indian cultivators, 158; ancient Indian towns, 155 ; the Agoranomi, 160 ; on Pft^ali* putra, 175 ; on judicial functions of the King, 181. Stobaeus, on Indian manners, 167. Storehouse, use of, 56 ; distribution of rations, 57. Strata, on Alexander's Indian campaign, 8-4, 6; on dimensions of India, 7 ; on early intercourse with India by sea, 10 ; on Indian castes, 148-8 ;

military corporations, 77

on on on on

pared, 160-4. Supervisors of village-accountants, 80-1. Suspension, as a means of torture, 120. Suspicious characters, list of, 116-17. Synod, the Great, 148.

Tamalites, town, 18, 14, 17, 207

Tftmralipti, 14.

Tambapftnini (Tambapanni) territory, visited by Asoka's mis* sionaries, 219 ; Tftmraparni

on government and laws, 157on land surveys, 157, 65 161-2, 208; on military corporations, 158 ; on duties of superintendents, 158-64; his accounts compared with the ArthaMstra, 160-5 ; on manners and customs, 166 ff. ; on the
;

Tftmluk
ites,

river, 220. Tfiinralipti,

town, 15.

Tftmralipti, town, 10

Tftmluk, 15 ; Buddhist sanghftrftmas at, 221. Tftmraparni, river, 220.

14

Tamal-

Taprobane, island (Ceylon), 5. Tftrftn&tha, Thibetan monk, 24-5,

185.

at P&taliputra, 176-7, 179; on Bindusftra, 184; on Bactrian conquest of Northern

court
India, 285.

Stratagem, four kinds

SWpa,

definition

of, 46. of, 228 ;

Taxation, 8O-6, ei passim. Thomas, F. W. on the Maurya empire, 25. Threats, penalties for, 107. Tiberius, Roman emperor, 8.
Tigers,

Sftnohi,

228-80;

at at Bharhut,

methods of, for, killing, 114.

:

and

280-1. Succession, rules of, 95-6* 8$dra9> duties of, 189. Suhma nation^ 18. Suicide, 119.

Timber-forests

Timogenes
Titles to 106.

of

S4*
Tolls,

Ind&z

on safes of goods, 0-1 ; as sown* of royal i<ifimue 1 ; on fabrics, on cattle, ; 2 ; on foods, 63 ; on immovable property, 61 ; on imported
goods,

meaning of term, 218-14/

UatkOna, f eoundl room,

nation,

181.

62

rates

of,

collection of,

08-4 i 6a
of, <H,

for

avoiding payment
ferry, 72-8.

1W

18;

oommenial

remission of, on pedal foods, 64; oa intoxicating^**, 66;

inscription,

Topra pt&ar

201-3;

dimensions of pittar, 225 j account of its removal to Delhi,

products of, 11,107* Vatopeditoanuscript, 11-18. Vespaoiaa, Roman emperor, 2. Village accountants, 80, 110. Villagea, boundaries of, 89 ; formation of, 89 ; population of, regulations of, 41-2.

W;

Torture, a* a meant of eliciting confession, 119; persons exmpt Dram, 120; kinds of, as punishment for 1*0-1; homicide, 12$. Koaaia,20*. ftosala,city,? Tosalei f Tosali, 266. Tosali, ttty, 205;? Ptotemy's

Visnugupta : 9tt Katifillya. Vi*pupurdna t 20; quoted, 29.

rules concerning, 182 If. ; engines : fixed, 59 ; movable, 89. Warriow, Arrian on Indian, 149-50.

War,

Washeraneo, regulatiotis relatin

to, 111,

Tosalei, 206-7
site of, 206-7.

authorities

on

Water-tube torture, 120.

Wattets, on the three Buddhist pure foods, 215-18 ; on 9 * 'gradual' and instantaneous teaching, 116-17.

Town-planning, 48. Trade, as a source of revenue, 57-8; private, prevention of fraud in, 112-18 ; weights and measures, 112; false deserip* tion of goods, 112 ; adulteration of goods, 112; licences for buying goods, 118 ; profits
allowed, 118. Traders, profits allowed to, 118 ; Strmbo on, 144, Treason, death as penalty for, Ittk Treasure trove, regulations oon<*rmng, 111-12. Treasury, the, means of replenishment of, 81-*, 1*2, by Trespass, fines tor, 108;
cattle, 108. Tribe*, forest, 211
;

Weapons, description of, 59, 184 manufacture of, 59-60. Weavers, rales concerning, 111,
^Veaving
*

Weights and measures, regulations oonoeming, 61 ; fines for

toaoBumciesof, 112.

iw Spinning*

Whipping, as a means of torture,

120.

atavikas,

Witchcraft, wries tsoncerning, 129. Witnesses, ad|uration of, 1O5-8, Wounding, punishments for, 126. Writing, fitdiaa, Strabo on, 187-8 $ materials, barks as, 168; leaves urtiMi on, as, 168; Quintus 168.

211.

Turaraaya =* Ptolemy Phiiadel. phos of Egypt, territories of,

visited brAioka'

-*-

Yona

visited territories, Afafea's missionaries, 220-1.

by

219.

Printed in England at the Oxford University Vness