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178
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
· PE IV). The office of the Rajjukas had been in existence before Asoka, but he invested them with greater authority. They were granted independence in the administration of Law and Justice (PE IV).
The unit of administration in the Kautilya scheme? was the Janapada or province, which normally consisted of atleast 800 villages, with 100 to 500 families (kulaśatāvarain panchasatakulaparam) in each village. If the normal family (kula), which was a joint family, be regarded as consisting of 10 members, the total population, under each provincial administration, would be nearly 40 lacs. The Rajjukas or provincial Governors under Asok a are stated to have been placed over many hundreds of thousand of souls' (PE IV).
According to Kautilya, the provincial defences were well organised under the Maurya system of Government. The approaches to the provinces were protected by frontier pickets under the Warden of Frontiers called Antapālas,3 while, the interior was protected and policed by special staff recruited from Sabaras, Pulindas, Chāņdālas, Foresters and Deer-trappers.
The head of the provincial administration, in Kautilya scheme, was the Samāhartā--the Collector General," who controlled a number of district collectors in his province (Janapada). Each province was, in fact, divided into four districts (Samāhartâ chaturdhu janapadan vibhaj ya), each of which was placed under an officer called the Stlānika,
1. Arthaśāstra, II, 1. 2. Mookerji, CGMT, p. 92. 3. Original :-Janapada-dva rünyaitapilūdhishthitāni sthipayet. 4. Arthaśāstra, II, 3; Qtd, Mookarji, CGMT, pp. 92-93. 5. Arthaśāstra, I, 1. 6. Ibid, II, 35.
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