Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 2.djvu/124

88 88

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[EooK IV.

A.D. -

Tlie king's daily life.

Division of kingdom into mili- tary and civil dis- tricts.

apartment for the purpose of taking food. This ftxvourite employment must have lost much of its reli.sh from the precautions deemed necessary. " Let him," it is said, " eat lawful aliment, prepared by servants attached to his person, who know the difference of times and are incapable of perfidy, after it has been proved innocent, and hallowed by texts of the Veda repulsive of poison. Together with all his food let him swallow such medical substances as resist venom ; and let him constantly wear with attention such gems as are known to repel it. Let his females, well tried and attentive, their dress and ornaments having been examined (lest, says the commentator, some weapon should be con- cealed in them), do him humble service with fans, water, and perfumes." These precautions were not confined to the time of taking meals, for it is immediately added, " thus let him take diligent care, when he goes out in a carriage, or on horseback, when he lies down to rest, when he sits, when he takes food, when he bathes, anoints his body, and puts on all his habiliments." After eating, and '• having idled a reasonable time " in the recesses of the palace among his women, public affairs again occupy his attention, and he comes forth completely dressed, to "review his armed men, with all their elephants, horses, and cars, their accoutrements, and weapons." The mode of spending the remainder of the day is thus described : " At sunset, having performed his religious duty, let him privately, but well armed, in his interior apartment, hear what has been done by his reporters and emissaries ; then having dismissed those informers, and returning to another secret chamber, let him go, attended by women, to the inmost recess of his mansion, to his evening meal ; then, having a second time eaten a little, and having been recreated with musical strains, let him take rest early, and rise refreshed from his labour." The king's day, as now described, has left several intervals not filled up, and it is therefore necessary to mention, that any leisure which may remain to him, and more especially at noon, or at midnight, when "his fatigues have ceased and his cares are dispersed," he is enjoined to employ partly on his private affairs, such as the marriage of his daughters, the education of his sons, and the behaviour of his women in the private apartment, and partly in meditating alone, or holding converse with his ministers on important questions of ethics and policy.

For administrative purposes the whole kingdom is portioned out into mili- tary and civil districts. Over two, three, five, or a hundred of the military dis- tricts, according to their extent, is ])laced a body of guards, commanded by an approved ofiicer. The management of the civil districts being rather more complicated is more fully detailed. Ascending by a regularly graduated scale, the officers are ranked as follows: — "A lord of one town with its district, a lord of ten towns, a lord of twenty, a lord of a hundred, and a lord of a thousand." Each of these, beginning with the lowest, is enjoined to report on the state of his district to his immediate superior ; and in this way the actual condition of all tlie districts throughout the country being made knDwn, the