Later Mauryas

Later Mauryas

Asoka’s death in 232 B.C. was followed by the division of
the Mauryan Empire into two parts – western and eastern. The
western part was ruled by Kunala, son of Asoka and the eastern
part by Dasaratha, one of the grand sons of Asoka. Due to the
Bactrian invasions, the western part of the empire collapsed. The
eastern part was intact under Samprati successor of Dasaratha. The
last Mauryan king was Brihatratha, who was assassinated by
Pushyamitra Sunga.

Mauryan Administration

Central Government

The ascendancy of the Mauryas had resulted in the triumph

of monarchy in India. Other systems like republics and oligarchies

that were prevalent in the pre-Mauryan India had collapsed. Although

Kautilya the foremost political theorist of ancient India supported

the monarchial form of government, he did not stand for royal

absolutism. He advocated that the king should take the advice of

his ministry in running the administration. Therefore, a council of

ministers called Mantriparishad assisted the king in administrativematters. It consisted of Purohita, Mahamantri, Senapati and

Yuvaraja. There were civil servants called Amatyas to look after

the day-to-day administration. These officers were similar to the

IAS officers of independent India. The method of selection of

Amatyas was elaborately given by Kautilya. Asoka appointed

Dhamma Mahamatras to supervise the spread of Dhamma. Thus

the Mauryan state had a well organized civil service.

Revenue Department

Samharta, the chief of the Revenue Department, was in charge

of the collection of all revenues of the empire. The revenues came from

land, irrigation, customs, shop tax, ferry tax, forests, mines and pastures,

license fee from craftsmen, and fines collected in the law courts. The

land revenue was normally fixed as one sixth of the produce. The main

items of expenditure of the state related to king and his household,

army, government servants, public works, poor relief, religion, etc.

Army

The Mauryan army was well organized and it was under the

control of Senapati. The salaries were paid in cash. Kautilya refers

to the salaries of different ranks of military officers. According to

Greek author Pliny, the Mauryan army consisted of six lakh infantry,

thirty thousand cavalry, nine thousand elephants and eight thousand

chariots. In addition to these four wings, there were the Navy and

Transport and Supply wings. Each wing was under the control of

Adyakshas or Superintendents. Megasthenes mentions six boards

of five members each to control the six wings of the military.