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The Administration of Chandragupta Maurya
The Administration of Chandragupta Maurya
The Administration of Chandragupta Maurya
powerful monarchs. The legacy of that power continued. But, under new
conditions, Chandraguptas kingship had to rest on greater powers.
The kings of ancient India under Hindu polity enjoyed limited power. They
ruled in accordance with the principles of Dharma, social customs and
usages. They worked as the guardians of the Law, but were not the lawgivers themselves. But in Chandraguptas time monarchy assumed a new
character. According to Kautilya: Dharma, contract, custom and royal
decree are the four legs of law. Of these, each later item is of superior
validity to its predecessor. This means that the Kings order or decree
was above all other forms of Law.
The earlier kings before the Maurya era ruled over small kingdoms.
Chandragupta ruled over a vast empire. The empire contained many types
of people with different social customs and usages. It was necessary,
therefore, that the king should become the fountain-source of Law and of
the unity of administration. It was the size of the empire which made the
kingship of Chandragupta more powerful. The king was the centre of a
great administrative system, and was required to shoulder huge
responsibilities.
Though the king was absolute in power, yet he did not claim divinity like
the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt or even like Alexander the Great who asked
his generals and soldiers to believe that he was the son of the Greek God
Zeus. At the best, the Maurya monarch, especially Asoka, could claim
himself as Devanam-priya or the Beloved of the Gods.
With unlimited powers, the Maurya king nevertheless followed the moral
principle of ancient Indian kingship that In the happiness of his subjects
lies the happiness of the king; in their good is his own good, and not in
what is pleasing to him. He must find his pleasure in the pleasure of his
subjects.
The king, according to Kautilya, was the government itself. He appointed
his ministers, priests, officers and servants. The king was required to trust
nobody, and, therefore, he was to employ spies to know about the
conduct of the officers and of the people. The Maurya intelligence
department was thorough and efficient, with its network of secret
informers everywhere.
It is known both from Kautilya, and Megasthenes that the Maurya
administration paid highest attention to the safety of the person of the
king. Whenever the king went out of the palace, the routes of his journey
of
It was the work of the central government of discharge welfare duties for
the benefit of the unemployed, widows, destitute and orphans, and even
of musicians and dancers. There were elaborate functions for the
department of works and construction all over the empire.
The Army:
The Maurya Empire possessed a large army. In the days of Chandragupta,
it contained 6, 00,000 infantry, 30,000 horsemen, 36,000 men for
elephants, and 24,000 men for chariots. The total number of the fighting
force thus came to nearly 6, 90,000, besides many thousands of helpers
and attendants. The empire required this big army to maintain internal
peace and to face external threats.
This army required a sound system of management. Megasthenes, who
observed the Maurya military power from close quarters, left an account
of its administration. According to him, there was a War-Office or War
Council having 30 members, divided into 6 Boards of 5 members each.
The army was divided into six departments each under the control of one
Board. The six departments were (1) The Infantry, (2) The Cavalry, (3) The
War-Chariots, (4) The War-Elephants, (5) The War-Transport, and (6) The
Fleet.
From Kautilyas accounts it is known that the army was accompanied to
the battle fronts by troops of doctors and nurses with medicines, healing
oils, surgical instruments and bandages to treat the wounded and give
confidence to the fighting soldiers.
The Arthasastra mentions that the entire army worked under the control
of the Senapati or the commander-in-chief. This supreme commander was
required to be in possession of necessary military qualification to run the
army and conduct battles. There were other army officers of rank next to
the Senapati. Among them were the Prasasta, the Nayaka, and the
Mukhya.
In battles, the soldiers, elephants and horses were all protected by
defensive armour. The soldiers were arranged in squads of ten, companies
of hundred, and battalions of thousand men in each. The elephants and
chariots usually carried the archers. Various arms like big swords, spears
and javelins, and bows and arrows were used, besides some advanced
weapons like the Sataghni or the Slayer of a hundred.
The Judiciary:
Provincial Administration:
The extensive Maurya Empire was divided into some big provinces. The
administration of the provinces was placed either in hands of governors or
the princes of the royal house acting as viceroys, and called as Kumaras.
The exact number of the provinces at the time of Chandragupta is not
known. The Asokan Inscriptions refer to the headquarters of some
provinces. They were Kausambi, Ujjayini, Takshasila, Suvarnagiri, and
Tosali. Since Kalinga with its capital Tosali was the only territory conquered
by Asoka, it is most probable that except Tosali the other four places were
the provincial capitals of Chandraguptas empire.
It is also probable that there could have been some more provinces, but
not mentioned. The Junagadh Inscription of Rudradaman mentions that
Saurashtra was governed by Pushyagupta as a Rashtriya under
Chandragupta Maurya. That area could have been an administrative unit
like a proving.
The Maurya province was administered by several classes of officials.
Among them were the Pradesikas. Some historians regard them as
revenue officers with police functions. According to some others, they
were in charge of the divisions of a province. Some even regard them as
provincial governors.
It is obvious that provinces were administered according to the directions
from the centre. By the time of Asoka, the provincial administration
became more elaborate for the welfare of the people.
The provinces were divided into districts or Janapadas, having their
administrative officers.
The Village Administration:
The Indian villages from time immemorial managed their internal affairs in
a smooth and orderly manner. At the time of Chandragupta the same
traditional village system continued. Every village had a headman named
usually as the Gramika. He was assisted by the village elders in looking to
the disputes among villagers and keeping peace in the village. They
enjoyed the confidence of the people because of their impartiality and
devotion to truthful deeds. The village headman was not an officer of the
government, but was the chosen leader of the villagers. A number of
villages also formed themselves into groups under a superior headman
His victory over Seleukos Nikator proved the superiority of the Indian army
under him over the armies of the West. He was the rare Indian monarch to
rule over territories outside the geographical frontiers of India which he so
defended and organised that his successors ruled over them without
threat to their power
By giving India a strong dynasty, he opened a new era in the annals of his
country. It was an era of greatness and glory, marked with the high tide of
political and cultural resurgence.
The legacies left by this first Indian emperor influenced the future in a
substantial way. To unite India in the Maurya way became the political goal
of succeeding empire-builders and their dynasties in times of
disintegration and decay.
More than two thousand years after Chandragupta Maurya, when the
Western Orientalists in nineteenth century identified his name with the
name Sandrocottus of the description of the Western classical historians
and writers, the imagination of the educated Indian youth was stirred to a
sense of pride at the heroic deeds of Indias earliest great emperor. The
history of his greatness inspired patriotism and nationalism in the mind of
the modern Indians in an age of foreign domination when India was
gaining national consciousness to shake off the alien yoke.
Accounts of Megasthenes on Indian People:
The Greek ambassador Megasthenes had many words of praise for the
Indian people in general. He saw the population divided into seven
classes, with the philosophers forming the highest class and enjoying the
highest honour, though small in their number. He saw the Indian ascetics
who live in the forests on leaves of trees and wild fruits and wear
garments made from the bark of the trees. They do not also marry. These
people among the philosopher class were the most honoured and
respected.
The Indians laid great emphasis on truth and virtue. Theft was rare in the
society. The people lived a simple and happy life. They did not drink liquor
except in religious sacrifices.
Megasthenes appreciated the simplicity of the laws of India. The people
very seldom went to the law courts.
The general condition of the people was prosperous. They used costly and
comfortable dresses. They wanted to appear handsome and beautiful.