Kautilya devotes a full chapter to the rules of the Nagarak
i.e. city superintendent . His chief
duty was maintenance of law and order.
Megasthenese account of the system : 6 committees of five members each ,and their
functions; 1st – Industrial Arts 2nd – Entertainment of
Foreigners, 3rd – Registration of Births and Deaths, 4th
– Trade and Commerce, 5th – public sale of manufactured goods ,and 6th
– Collection of taxes on the articles sold (1/10th of purchase
price).
Economy
The state controlled almost all economic activities.
Tax collected from peasants varied from ¼ to 1/6 of the
produce.
The state also provided irrigation facilities (Setubandha )
and charged water –tax.
Tolls state also levied on commodities brought to town for
sale and they were collected at gate.
The state enjoyed monopoly in mining, forest, salt , sale of
liquor, manufacture of arms etc.
Sohgaura (Gorakhpur district , U.P.) copper plate
inscription and Mahasthana (Bogara district ,Bangladesh ) inscription deal with
the relief measures to be adopted during a famine.
Important ports : Bharukachch/ Bharoch and Supara (Western
coast), Tamralipti I nBengal (Eastern coast).
During Mauryan period , the punch – Marked coins (mostly of silver were the common units of transactions.
Society
Kautilya /Chanakya / Vishnugupta is not as right on the
Varna system as the earlier Smriti writers.
Kautilya ‘s Arthashatra’ looked upon the Shudras as an Aryan
community which his distinguished fro
mMalechha or non- Aryan community.
Reduction of gap between the Vaishyas (most of whom were now
concentrating on trade though others
continued cultivation ) and the Shudras (quite a few of whom were now
agriculturists and others being
artisans).
Mangasthenese states that Indian society was divided into 7
classes: 1. Philosophers 2. Farmers3. Soldiers
4. Herdsmen 5. Artisans 6. Magistrates 7. Councillors . The ‘classes’ mentioned above appear to have
been economic than social.
Though Megasthenese states that there were no slavery In India;
yet, according to Indian sources , slavery was a recognized institution during
Mauryan reign. It appears that Megasthenese was thinking of slavery in full
legal sense as it existed in the West.
Women occupied a high position and freedom in the Mauryan
Society According to Kautilya , women were permitted to have a divorce or remarry. Women were employed as personal
body –guards of the king spies and in other diverse jobs.