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526 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
afforded a field for co-operation between kings and villagers. Liders' Ins., Nos., 1332 to 1338, speak of a Goshthi which was headed by the Rajan, and which counted among its officials the son of a village headman.
A less pleasing feature of ancient Indian polity in the Scythian, as in other times, was the employment of spies, particularly of the "Samcharamtakas," or wandering emissaries, whose functions are described with gruesome details in the Arthasustra. The evidence of foreign witnesses in Maurya and Gupta periods seems, however, to suggest that political morality did not actually sink so low as a study of the Arthasastra would lead us to think. Vatsyayana probably voices the real feelings of his countrymen when he says that every single maxim for which there is provision in a theoretical treatise need not be followed in actual practice, because theoretical manuals have to be comprehensive, but practical application should have a limited range. No sane man will think of eating dog's flesh simply because its flavour, tonic power, dressing, etc., are discussed in medical reatises.
Na sastramastitye tavat prayoge karanam bhavet sāstrārthān vyāpino vidyāt prayogāmstvekadeśikān rasa-virya vipākā hi śvamāṁsasyāpi vaidyake kirtita iti tat kim syad bhakshaniyam vichakshanaih.
