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THE MAURYA MINISTERS
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the character of the Amatyas who were employed in ordinary departments. All kinds of administrative measures were preceded by consultation with three or four of them.2 In works of emergency (atyayike karye) they were summoned along with the Mantriparishad.3 They exercised a certain amount of control over the Imperial Princes. They accompanied the king to the battle-field, and gave encouragement to the troops. Kautilya was evidently one of those Mantrins. Another minister (or Pradeshtri ?) was apparently Maniyatappo, a Jațilian, who helped the king to "confer the blessings of peace on the country by extirpating marauders who were like unto thorns."6 That there were at times more than one Mantrin is proved by the use of the plural Mantrinah.
In addition to the Mantrins there was the Mantriparishad, i.e., Assembly of Counsellors or Council of Ministers. The existence of the Parishad as an important element of the Maurya constitution is proved by the third and sixth Rock Edicts of Asoka." The members of the Mantriparishad were not identical with the Mantrins. In several passages of Kautilya's Arthasastra the Mantrins are sharply distinguished from the Mantriparishad. The latter evidently occupied an inferior position. Their salary was only 12,000 panas, whereas the salary of a Mantrin was 48,000. They do not appear to have been consulted on ordinary occasions, but were summoned
1 Ibid, p. 16.
2 Ibid, pp. 26, 28.
3 Ibid, p. 29 Cf. Aśoka's Rock Edict VI.
4 Ibid, p. 333.
5 Ibid, p. 368. Cf. the Udayagiri Inscription of Śaba.
6 Turnour's Mahāvamsa, p. xlii.
The evidence is late.
7 Note also Pliny's reference to noble and rich Indians who sit in council with the king (Monahan, The Early History of Bengal, 148); cf. Mbh. iii, 127. 8. Amatyaparshad; xii, 320, 139 Amatya Samiti.
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8 Cf. pp. 20, 29, 247.
O. P. 90-36.
