janapadas - on forming self contained units of people

We have seen artha means livelihood of the people in the very beginning of this blog. So, with the introduction given in last post - http://sastra-artha.blogspot.in/2013/06/adhyaksha-pracarah-centralising.html let us get into how to build manageable chunks of administrative units within the territory.

A minimum of 100 households and a maximum of 500 households is the limit for a janapada. A janapada will largely consist of common-men who can cultivate the land and live on individual professions (vRttis) . Each such settlement (village) should have a natural boundary like a stream etc., The entry/exit points should be properly guarded and ideally there should at least be a distance of 3/4 mile.

A group of ten janapadas is controlled as samgrahaNam. Establish a kArvATika in 200 janapadas. Establish a drONamukham with 400 janapadas and the largest administrative unit is 800 janapadas called as sthAnIyam.

Land:
Some amount of land should be reserved for brahmaNas (learned, wise men) in each administrative unit so that the overall well-being of the unit is overseen by them.

Some amount of land should be reserved to the state officials but only be given without the the ability to sell that land. It can only be used / cultivated by the official while carrying out the state duties through his lifetime. Their heir's can't inherit the government's land.

When government gives some land to someone which is already suitable for cultivation it should be given only for a period of officer's life time. Whereas the land is made cultivatable by someone, government should give the complete rights to those who put the effort in initially preparing the land.

Taxes:
Government should also collect the taxes. When needed some concessions given to the regular tax payers depending on situation. Similarly, as needed, penalty need to be levied on tax collection.

Collected taxes should be used for developing land and water transportation for trade and commerce to flourish. There should be different footpaths, pathways for civil transport and commercial transport vehicles.

Basic Laws:
It is a householder's duty to take care of his household i.e, women, children and elderly people. If anyone neglecting his householder's duty and not performing his profession, he need to be subjected to suitable punishment.

A group of elderly people in each janapada should take care of the properties of widows, minors. Government should provide support to people who are suffering from ailments and diseases.

No one should be allowed to take up sannyasa (giving up of householder's duties) before he establishes a proper livelihood his dependents. Only after attaining retirement age, one is allowed to take up vAnaprastha or sannyasa.

No groups are allowed to be formed for carrying out common activities without the notice of government. All the welfare activities should be done in the supervision of the government only.

Last, but not least, the entertainment (like dancers, singers, actors) should not disturb the professions and setup of the janapada both by content of the art and duration of their shows!

My Notes:

The essence of such a janapada which is an integrated unit with governance, economy and legislation built into it inherently gives equal importance to all the professions along with the equal opportunity to each individual to attain perfection and excellence while performing one's own duty.


This post tries hard to summarize a very difficult topic called "janapada nivESa" of second book of artha SAstra.