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Digitized by Google 1 68 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. Women were regarded as dependent on their male relations ; — this Manu emphatically declares. But nevertheless women were honored in their families, res- pected by their relations, held in esteem by the society in which they lived. And this will appear not only from the rules of Manu but from the general tone of all Sanscrit literature. " The Acharya (teacher) is ten times more venerable than the Upadyaya (sub-teacher), the father a hundred times more than the teacher, but the mother a thousand times more than the father. II, 145.* "Women must be honored and adorned by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law, who desire their own welfare. "Where women are honored, there the gods are pleased ; but where they are not honored, no sacred rite yields reward. " Where female relations live in grief, the family soon wholly perishes ; but that family where they are not unhappy, ever prospers ". Ill, 55 to 57. On the other hand, we have as clear an enunciation of women's duties. * In childhood a female must be subject to her father ; in youth to her husband ; when her lord is dead, to her sons ; a woman must never be independent. " She must not seek to separate herself from her • See Vol. II, p. 89. Digitized by Google CHAP. X.] DOMESTIC LIFE, &C. 169 father, husband, or sons. By leaving them she would make both her own and her husband's family contempt- ible. " She must always be cheerful, clever in the manage- ment of her household affairs, careful in cleaning her utensils, and economical in expenditure. " Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother, with her father's permission, she shall obey as long as she lives, and when he is dead, she must not insult his memory. " Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be con- stantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife. " No sacrifice, no vow, no fast, must be performed by women apart from their husbands ; if a wife obeys her husband, she will for that reason alone be exalted in heaven. V. 148 to 151, & 154 & 155. Digitized by Google CHAPTER XL CIVIL AND MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. As we have seen before, Houen Tsang gives us an interesting picture of the court of Siladitya II, Emperor of Northern India, at a great assemblage of a religious character at which kings of twenty different countries with their courtiers and retainers were present. Manu gives us a humbler, but no less interesting picture of the daily duties and the private life of kings. To protect his subjects, to deal impartial justice, and to punish the wrong-doer were the essential duties of a king, and the very existence of society depended on the performance of these duties (VII, 2, 16 to 35). Drinking, dice, women, and hunting were said to be the most pernicious faults of kings (VII, 50). The king rose in the last watch of the night, and having performed personal purification, and offered oblations to the fire, he entered the hall of audience in the morning. There he gratified all subjects who came to see him, and having dismissed them, he took counsel with his ministers in a lonely place, unobserved by the public (VII, 145 to 147). When the consultation was over, the king took his customary exercise, bathed and entered the inner apartments in order to take his Digitized by Google CHAP. XI.] ADMINISTRATION. IJl meals. The food was prepared by faithful servants hallowed by sacred texts that destroyed poison, and well tried females served him with fans, water, and per- fumes. The carefulness which is enjoined in the mat- ter of food, is enjoined also in respect of the king's car- riages, bed, seat, bath, toilet and ornaments, and shews that the risk of death by poison or treachery was guarded against in the ordinary arrangements in a king's house- hold (VII, 216 to 220). After taking his meals the king passed some time with his wives in the inner apartments ; but in the afternoon he issued again in his robes of state and in- spected his fighting men, his chariots, animals, weapons, and accoutrements. And then having performed his twilight devotions, he gave audience to his secret spies, and heard secret reports collected for his information. After this he entered his inner apartments again and had his supper. Then after refreshing himself by the sound of music, he retired to rest (VII, 221 to 225). This is a rational routine of daily life, and was generally followed by Hindu kings, as we learn from various Sanscrit dramas and tales. When we speak of Hindu kings generally, we do not, it must be remem- bered, speak of great emperors like Asoka, Vikramaditya or Siladitya, but of humbler kings who reigned in their little kingdoms, from the Punjab to Bengal. According to Houen Tsang's accounts, such kingdoms were gen- erally petty ones, and there were several such kingdoms Digitized by Google 172 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. in the modern province of Bengal, as we have seen be- fore. The king of such a kingdom, if he was a man of vigour and intelligence, had a hold over the adminis- tration of his kingdom, knew his principal officers and checked their work, kept his little army in trim order, amassed wealth and beautified his capital. On die other hand, if he was a weak man, as he too often was, his ministers and officers served their own ends, revenue fell into arrear, the army was disorganized, and the country probably suffered defeat and humiliation at the hands of a neighbouring king. Such petty rivalries and wars were not infrequent, but beyond the temporary humiliation of a king, and the payment of a ransom perhaps, they did little harm to the country at large. Wars in India caused less harassment to the people at large than wars anywhere else in the world. Houen Tsang's account of the way in which adminis- tration was carried on is brief and clear. " As the ad- ministration of the country is conducted on benign principles, the executive is simple. * * The private demesnes of the crown are divided into four principal parts ; the first is for carrying out the affairs of state and providing sacrificial offerings ; the second is for providing subsidies for the ministers and chief officers of state ; the third is for rewarding men of distinguish- ed ability, and the fourth is for charity to religious bodies, whereby the field of merit is cultivated. In this way the taxes on the people are light, and the personal Digitized by Google CHAP. XI.l ADMINISTRATION. 173 service required of them is moderate. Each one keeps his own worldly goods in peace, and all till the ground for their subsistence. Those who cultivate the royal estates pay a sixth part of the produce as tribute. The merchants who engage in commerce come and go in carrying out their transactions. The river passages and the road barriers are open on payment of a small toll. When the public works require it, labour is ex- acted but paid for. The payment is in strict proportion to the work done. " The military guard the frontiers, or go out to pun- ish the refractory. They also mount guard at night round the palace. The soldiers are levied according to the requirements of the service ; they are promised certain payments and are publicly enrolled. The governors, ministers, magistrates and officials have each a portion of land consigned to them for their personal support." It will be seen from the above that, according to the ancient custom of India, all the officials were paid by as- signments of land. What Houen Tsang calls the king's private estates and demesnes was probably the entire kingdom except such villages and lands which were given away in perpetuity to private persons, to temples or monasteries, and such other lands or provinces which were assigned to officials. All the expenses of the state in peace and war, and those of the royal house- hold, were defrayed from the proceeds of the king's lands, and of taxes. Digitized by Google 174 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV The king was of course assisted in his work of ad- ministration by his ministers, — seven or eight ministers according to Manu, — versed in sciences, skilled in the use of weapons, and descended from noble and well tried families. Such ministers advised the king in matters of peace and war, revenue and religious gifts. The king also employed suitable persons for the collec- tion of revenue, and in mines, manufactories and store- houses ; and he employed an ambassador " who under- stands hints, and the expression of the face and gestures 99 for carrying on negociations (VII, 54 to 63). For the protection of villages and towns separate officers were appointed. The king appointed a lord over each village, lords of ten villages, lords of twenty villages, lords of a hundred villages and lords of a thousand villages, and it was their duty to check crime and protect the villagers. Similarly each town had its superintendent of all affairs who personally inspected the work of all officials and got secret information about their behaviour. " For the servants of the king who are appointed to protect the people generally become knaves who seize the property of others ; let him protect his subjects against such men" (VII, 115 to 123). This is a bitter invective against the rapacity of officers ; but few adminis- trative officers of the present day will consider the invective too strong for the modern protectors of the people,— the police officers,— each entrusted with the Digitized by Google CHAP. XL] ADMINISTRATION. 175 charge of an extensive Thana with a population of fifty to a hundred thousand or more !