Mauryan Administration

Mauryan Administration

Though Chandragupta was a great warrior, he was also an accomplished administrator. Kautilya's Arthashastra and Megasthenes' Indika give us a fair idea of administration during his region.,

Centralised Administration


A council of ministers ~ss~ted the. king. According, to Kautjtya,cUSg'l!e~eign.ty i~ Possible~only .withassisttll1ce. U The ministers were consulted, regarding the state-affairs ,from time to time. All of them were !lppointed by the king on, merit and could also be disrwssed,J,y him., Each"ministerj had free ..access' t{),theckingbut in policy matters they, advised the king as, a body.

The Mauryan administration was carried on by an, organised/efficient.:and 'highlycentra1ised bure"aucracy.: Important functionaries Were called 'til'thas. According 'tO'the Arthashasfra, 27 adhyakshas (superintendei'its)were apPo.inted by the state to regulate economic actiVities.

ProVincial' Administration The Matlryan empir~ wa.s, divided into a number of provind!s. In each proVince' there was a governor or viceroy,whb was\sometimes a prince of royal blood. The princes,when app6intedasviceroys were called kurnar-maharnatrasrwhile the-Test oHheviceroys'were known as rnaharnatras: The;;, number of, ptovinceSduring' Chandragup'ta'$periddfis'nord~ar but A:soka definitely had
arleasf' fOili-provmces-'i:litectly ruled by 'the king.

These provmcesiWere:rMagadhai'withcits capitaLat.Pataliputra, the North-westerni Erbvince;'1witqji~j, capital at Ta'xila, the Western' ~.rQvin.ce[withdtS cagital aMJjjail1j and the Southern Brovince ,with its capitaL 'at,Swarnagiri,"There >was.also. the Kalinga with its capitat. aboTosalL ,The rnahamqtras. were assistediby fu~yuta'(taxlcollector). rajukn~(.revenue collector) andc'sfhaniksr(disb:iot-.officers)hllie provinces were further div\ded Into' JiiStr!€tSf The, village waS' the smallest unit10f administration>andwas placedrunderan ,o.fficer known as grlJ(nika-. 1.0 ":Imp' n.-' ;;;"Ci,tj 1\' "W t
9,;11Municipab,Administmtion: G'ity',radministrati°I1; was Iookeclalftetqin iits, iIlrinutest.detail. Ihere", was , ,a- committee ofJ'thirt}}lmeinbers fo~ carryingronthe~daykto.-dayvadmin~ istration of the city.

The committee was(divided/lnto;six boards,of five;m~mbers each:; One beard looked, after the art\> andccrafts;Nmothel'laftelGforeigners, arthird. after the registration of births and deaths;(i\ifourths-afterftade .and commerce;>ia fifthafteg Il'\¥lUfactured'artide()in the town, and, the sixth aftert,hehcollection of sales. tax an' the sold goqds at therateofrlylO'of.t1'i.e selling"price. Each ,part of theocity was. placed,under'the., supervision, ofa sthanika, c' ,Rev~nue ,Administrationn1pere were different sources of state revenues during the Mauryan rule: cities (durga), rural"areas {ra,shtra), mines (khan), xeadand traffic. (vanikpatha), pastures. (vraja),"plantatioris (setu),.and forests (vana).