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93. NALADĀMA, THE WEAVER
After Cānakya had succeeded in terminating the rules of Nandas and put Candragupta on the throne, his anxiety was to gain a firm grip over the administrative machinery of the state to ensure law and order. The chief of the police had joined hands with the friends of the earlier regime who used to rob the city with the connivance of the police force. Cănakya clearly saw the need to appoint a new police chief and he was now on the look out for a suitable man. He once disguised himself as an ascetic and wandered down the roads of the city. He even visited some of the houses there. One such house was that of Naladāma a weaver. When Cănakya arrived in his house, the weaver was busy ferretting out bugs from the crevices in the wall as his house was infested with bugs. As he saw them he caught hold of them and burnt them. Cānakya asked him why he was burning them. Naladāma replied that if he did not completely destroy them they would grow again and attack him and his son. Canakya felt that he had found the right man to become the chief of the police force; he knew his job.
When Naladāma was appointed to the post, he managed to get all the known thieves around together and said that he would be one of them in plundering the city. Many others also joined him. Naladāma was quick enough to finish all of them together as he was with the bugs.
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