five lines on ashoka's administration

Dear Student,

The administration of Ashoka Empire is as follows:

  • The area around Pataliputra was under the direct control of the emperor.The officials were appointed to collect taxes from farmers, herders, crafts persons and traders, who lived in villages and towns in the area.
  • Officials also punished those who disobeyed the ruler’s orders. Many of these officials were given salaries. Messengers and spy system was kept to watch on the officials. And of course the emperor supervised them all, with the help of members of the royal family, and senior ministers.
  • There were areas or provinces were ruled from a provincial capital such as Taxila or Ujjain. Although there was some amount of control from Pataliputra, and royal princes were often sent as governors, local customs and rules were probably followed.
  • Besides, there were vast areas between these centres where the Mauryas tried to control roads and rivers, which were important for transport, and to collect whatever resources were available as tax and tribute.

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Kautilyas Arthashastra and Megasthenes Indica are the two important sources to know about the Mauryan administration. The features of the administration are as follows:-

  1. The most powerful person was the king , but he made his decisions only after consulting his ministers. He also travelled extensively to gain a first- hand account of what is happening.
  2. He even appointed several officers to collect taxes and keep an account of them.
  3. The tax money was even used in building and maintaining roads, wells, rest houses, and the army
  4. The empire was divided into four provinces and provinces were further divided into districts and districts into villages.
  5. Officers gathered tax, worked as judjes and kept records.
  6. There was an espionge system and spies were perhaps used for getting information from faraway places.
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