Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/149

 HOME AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 119 capacity were required to control all the affairs of the city, and to keep in order the markets, temples, har- bours, and, generally speaking, all public works. The administration of the distant provinces was en- trusted to viceroys, probably, as a rule, members of the royal family. Chandragupta's brother-in-law was, as we have seen, governor of remote Kathiawar on the west- ern coast. The information concerning the viceroyalties being more complete for Asoka's reign than for that of Chandragupta, the subject will be referred to again when Asoka's system of administration is discussed. In accordance with the usual practice of Oriental monarchies, the court kept watch over the more remote functionaries by means of special agents, or " news- writers/' the akhbar navis of modern times, who are called " overseers " and " inspectors ' ' by the Greek authors, and are mentioned in the Asoka Edicts as the king's " men ' or " reporters." The duty of these officers was to superintend or oversee all that occurred in town or country, and to make private reports to the government. Arrian notes that similar officers were employed by the authorities of the independent nations as well as by the monarchical governments of India. They did not disdain to utilize as coadjutors the courte- sans of the camp and city, and these must have trans- mitted at times to their masters strange packets of scandalous gossip. Arrian 's informants assured him that the reports sent in were always true, and that no Indian could be accused of lying; but it is permissible to doubt the strict accuracy of this statement, although