DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53502#0044
36
Kau^ilya ArthaAastra
struct roads and to see that at every ten stadia there
was a mile-column indicating the distance (fr. 34).
The A. refers to various officers maintaining roads in
town and country, but it nowhere mentions milestones.
The town officials of Megasthenes (fr.,34) may be
compared to the Nagaraka or City magistrate with his
subordinates and other officers of state in the A. (II,
36), but the former, 30 in all, consist of boards of
five persons without a president and are said to co-
operate, whereas the latter are independent each in
his own department without any such co-operation.
It is true that the boards of five show an external
similarity as to their number with the modern village
Panchayats of India, but these village or caste com-
mittees are entirely private institutions consisting of
‘elected members whose office is honorary. The
second board of Five, which has the care of strangers,
has no counterpart in the A., though the latter work
has some rules on the subject of foreign traders, their
rights and their supervision. The third board which
consists of those engaged in the registration of births
and deaths, has been compared by R. Mookerji with
K.’s Sthanikas and Gopas who carry on census opera-
tions, but the Sthanikas confine themselves to ascer-
taining the number of families and of heads in each
family in their respective districts. The fourth board
superintend trade and commerce and inspect wei-
ghts and measures, seeing that fruit is sold according
to gauged weights, ... That Greek term
has been identified by Sir V. Smith with K.’s Abhi-
jfianamudra, but that identification, as shown by Dr.
O. Stein, cannot stand as the Sanskrit term refers to
official, stamps or marks on merchandise. The fifth
Kau^ilya ArthaAastra
struct roads and to see that at every ten stadia there
was a mile-column indicating the distance (fr. 34).
The A. refers to various officers maintaining roads in
town and country, but it nowhere mentions milestones.
The town officials of Megasthenes (fr.,34) may be
compared to the Nagaraka or City magistrate with his
subordinates and other officers of state in the A. (II,
36), but the former, 30 in all, consist of boards of
five persons without a president and are said to co-
operate, whereas the latter are independent each in
his own department without any such co-operation.
It is true that the boards of five show an external
similarity as to their number with the modern village
Panchayats of India, but these village or caste com-
mittees are entirely private institutions consisting of
‘elected members whose office is honorary. The
second board of Five, which has the care of strangers,
has no counterpart in the A., though the latter work
has some rules on the subject of foreign traders, their
rights and their supervision. The third board which
consists of those engaged in the registration of births
and deaths, has been compared by R. Mookerji with
K.’s Sthanikas and Gopas who carry on census opera-
tions, but the Sthanikas confine themselves to ascer-
taining the number of families and of heads in each
family in their respective districts. The fourth board
superintend trade and commerce and inspect wei-
ghts and measures, seeing that fruit is sold according
to gauged weights, ... That Greek term
has been identified by Sir V. Smith with K.’s Abhi-
jfianamudra, but that identification, as shown by Dr.
O. Stein, cannot stand as the Sanskrit term refers to
official, stamps or marks on merchandise. The fifth