The cost of civil and military administration even at the centre must have been enormous. The chief sources of revenue from villages mentioned in an inscription of Asoka are the bhaga and the bali. The bhaga was the king’s share of the produce of the soil, which was normally fixed at one- sixth though in special cases it was raised to one-fourth or reduced to one-eighth. Bali is explained by commentators as an extra impost levied on special tracts for the subsistence of certain officials. According to Greek writers, husbandmen paid, in addition to a fourth part of the produce of the soil, a land tribute because “all India is the property of the Crown and no private person is permitted to own land”.
A considerable part of the revenue was spent on the army. The artisans, too, according to Diodoros, received maintenancefrom the imperial exchequer. They made armour for the troops, and constructed implements for husbandmen and others. The services of some of them must have been requisitioned for the construction of the wooden ramparts and towers encircling the city of Pataliputra, and the splendid palaces which excelled in magnificence the stately regal edifices of Susa and Ecbatana. To them we owe also the splendid monoliths and other monuments of the time of Asoka.
Herdsmen and hunters received an allowance of grain from the state in return for clearing the land of wild beasts and fowls. Another clan which benefited from the royal bounty were the philosophers, among whom were included Brahmanas as well as Sramanas (ascetics). Vast sums were also spent for irrigation and other works of public utility. The most famous of the irrigation works of the early Maurya period is the Sudarsana lake of Kathiawar, constructed by Pushyagupta the Vaisya, an officer of the founder of the dynasty, and provided with supplemental channels by the Yavanaraja Tushaspha in the days of the emperor Asoka. Roads furnished with milestones had already been constructed by the officials of the first Maurya. These were provided with shady groves and wells by his famous grandson. The latter also built hospitals both for men and other living creatures.
For the efficient administration of their huge empire the Mauryas divided their dominions into provinces Map of Ashoka Empiresubdivided into districts called ahara, vishaya and perhaps also pradesa. Each of the provinces was placed under a viceroy or governor who was either a prince of the blood or an official of the crown. In one case, and perhaps in several others, the local ruler or administrator bore the title of raja, which is normally indicative of feudatory rank. 
The system of hereditary officials does not seem to have come into use in the early period, at least in the province of Surashtra or Kathiawar. The assumption of the title of raja by local rulers, and the grant of autonomy to the Rajukas in the days of Asoka, ultimately let loose centrifugal forces which must have helped in the dismemberment of the empire. In the early Maurya period, however, efficient control over the provincial governors was maintained in various ways. With the princely viceroys were associated a number of high officers (mahamatras) who received orders from the sovereign. The work of erring mahamatras in certain areas was supervised by special officers sent periodically from the metropolis. There was, besides, a host of secret emissaries of the central government (ephors, episkopoi, pativedakas) who enquired into and superintended all that went on in India and made reports to the emperor. Asoka gave special directions to the reporters that they were to report to him the affairs of the people at any time anywhere “while he was eating, in the harem, in the inner apartment, at the cow-pen, in the palanquin or in the park”.
It may be thought that the all-embracing activities of the Maurya imperial government left little room for popular initiative or self-government. Nevertheless it is a fact that autonomous communities did exist in Maurya India, and classical writers make distinct mention of self-governed cities. Important affairs of the metropolis itself were conducted by a commission of thirty members divided, like the governing body of the defence forces, into six boards of five members each. There was a small committee to look after each of the following departments, namely, the mechanical arts, foreign residents, registration of births and deaths, sales, exchanges, weights and measures, supervision of manufactured articles, and collection of tithes on sales. Officers in charge of the city (nagaradhyaksha, nigamapradhana) find mention in Indian literature. The Kautiliya Arthasastra says in the chapter dealing with the examination of government servants that each department shall be officered by several heads(bahumukhya), and that the adhyaksha, or chief executive officer of a department, shall carry on his work in company with four other officials. The Nagaraka or the Town Prefect, whose duties are described in a subsequent chapter, was a distinct official whose existence in the Maurya period is proved by the testimony of the Kalinga edicts of Asoka.
Administration in the Post-Maurya Period
In the post-Maurya period ideas of kingship changed, but a ruler still considered it to be his duty to please his people. The official machinery of the Asokan age continued to function at least in those parts of India which did not come under Greek and Scythian domination. The science of government (arthavidya) was now regularly studied and its influence is seen in epigraphic references to the education of princes, insistence on prescribed qualifications for appointment to high offices, classification of ministers, measures taken to secure the welfare of citizens both in urban and rural areas, and abstention from oppressive imposition of vexatious taxes like Kara (extra cess), Vishti (forced labour) and Pranaya (benevolence) in addition to the customary Bali (tribute), Sulka (duty), and Bhaga (king’s share of the produce).
Innovations in administration were, however, introduced in north-West India, the territory that was ruled by successive dynasties of conquerors. One of the most important changes related to the system of provincial government. The system of government by hereditary officials with the Persian title of Satrap was introduced in Taxila, Mathura, Ujjain and a few other places, and we have references even to functionaries with the Greek titles of meridarch and strategos. A body of counsellors (mati sachiva) seem to have been associated with some of the provincial rulers, but the rule of others was often of a purely military character. The influence of the system of military governors (Strategos) is clearly seen in the appointment by Satavahana kings of district officers styled mahasenapati.
In spite of the prevalence of military rule in certain areas the old self-governing institutions did not wholly perish. Town councils (nigama sabha) and officials styled nagarakshadarsa (city judges) we mentioned in several records and these correspond to the municipal commission and the nagala viyohalaka of the Maurya period. The affairs of the village continued to be controlled by the village functionaries led by the head-man. The village assembly afforded a field for co-operation between kings and villagers.
