Saving The Future - Chapter 14 The Royal Cour

1 day later.

Aariv was still asleep. It was 7 in the morning but people of this period did not have a tool to measure the exact time so for them it was already very late.

Durdhara(queen) was worried about Aariv as it had been a whole day since Aariv fell unconscious. Many talented doctors were called. But all of them gave the same diagnostic report that Aariv’s body was tired.

Chandragupta(emperor) was also very worried in the beginning but after getting assurity from Kautilya he calmed down a bit.

Aariv’s little brother was in very good health and was named Bindusara by Kautilya. He was named Bindusara because of the black dot mark on his forehead which was probably caused by the poison. Bindu means full stop/dot and hence he was named Bindusara.

Bindusara was calmly sleeping in his cradle, he was currently having a happy dream in which he saw warm golden lights. Unconsciously his body had remembered the feeling of when Aariv had treated him.

Everything aside, it was Juno who was having the worst time of her life, She was once again bored. Aariv was in deep sleep so she had no one to talk to. She was stuck watching Aariv’s mom worrying about him.

~WAKE UUUUUUUP YOU DUMMY~ She nagged.

~Ugh I guess I’ll watch a movie then~ She went on and started watching Batman 3020 in her mind.

…

It was the day of the Royal court where all the problems of the empire were heard. It didn’t matter if it was a state problem or a civil problem. All the cases were heard and judged by the emperor. There was a separate civil and criminal court established for the populace to solve their disputes or judge crimes.

But once in a while, some big cases were heard by the emperor personally.

The royal court presided over by the Emperor while the Prime minister acted as the conductor. The council of ministers was to be present at all court sessions.

The council of ministers was a group of people personally selected by the king to watch over some key aspects like Taxes and revenue, War, Agriculture, Trade, etc.

Chandragupta had appointed only 4 people in the council of ministers.

War Minister – General Karamveer Khatri

Revenue Minister -Acharya Shiras Dara

Trade and Commerce Minister – Acharya Subanu Lal

Agriculture Minister -Acharya Drishnu Palin

(Acharya is a prefix used to address a very knowledgable person)

All these ministers except the general came from the Ancient and prestigious Taxila University located in the northwest part of India.

The council of ministers also watched over other smaller industries by appointing state officials. These industries included Exchequer, Stores, Armoury, prisons, Accounts, Agriculture, Mines, Metals, Mint, Salt, Forests, Cattle, Pastures, Passports, Shipping, Ports, Trade-routes, Customs, Frontiers, Excise, Weights and Measures, Spinning and Weaving, Religious institutions, etc.

The empire was divided into provinces and these provinces were governed by a family member of the Emperor e.g princes, cousins, brothers, etc. but Chandragupta had no one so he had to appoint his most trusted men. Each province had its own council of ministers which worked under the central council of ministers in the capital Patliputra. These provincial councils were headed by a secretary who made sure that the system worked smoothly.

The whole empire worked like a big machine.

The royal court was held 5 days a week.

Today a serious discussion was about to go on in the court. It had been just 1 year since Chandragupta defeated the previous Nanda Dynasty and established the Mauryan dynasty. Many nearby local kings and tribes had not surrendered yet.

They were already facing revolts in many places but now they were facing a new threat from the northwest.

After the death of Alexander the Great, his empire was divided between his generals and highest-ranking officials. One of them was Seleucus I Nicator, he served as one of the generals under Alexander. He went on to establish the Seleucid dynasty, which stretched from Babylon(modern-day Iraq) to modern-day Pakistan and parts of northwest India.

While the King stayed in Seleucia, the capital of the Seleucid dynasty while he sent Satraps(Provincial governors) to rule over the provinces. These governors were acting very hostile and were trying to expand. They were trying to enter the Mauryan empire.

Chandragupta had yet to conquer the whole of India so he could not spare military strength to tackle them yet. He was more focused on the smaller kingdoms nearby. They gave these kingdoms the option that they could either submit and become subsidiary kindom of the Mauryan empire or fight to death.

His main goal was to create one big Unified India.

…

Inside the Great hall/Throne room, emperor Chandragupta was seated on his 300 Kilograms(661 pounds) throne which was made of gold.

His upper body was mostly naked but he was wearing a lot of jewelry made of gold and precious stones which covered his shoulders and his chest partially, his lower body was covered with a long piece of royal blue linen cloth tied to look like pants(Traditionally called Dhoti), on his head he was wearing a golden turban which was also decorated with gold, stones and peacock feathers. There was a pair of brown leather shoes decorated on his feet. A long red linen scarf with gold embroidary was fixed from his pants to his left shoulder and then wrapped around his right hand through the back.

The throne had roaring lion faces on the tips of both armrests giving a very domineering feeling, for comfort silk cushions were embedded on the backrest, seat, and armrests. The whole Throne was placed on a 4 feet high platform with steps which were made up of white marble.

The great hall was rectangular in shape,90 meters(295 feet) long and 60 meters(196 feet) wide, its ceiling was carved with gold showing many beautiful patterns, There were 6 big pillars supporting the ceiling, they were also carved with gold but also had royal blue color for outlines. The main entrance was from the south side of the hall, if one were to enter then the first thing they see would be the majestic emperor on the throne on the northernmost side of the hall.

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There were 5 more golden cushioned seats on the east and west side of the room. these seats were closer to the throne as they belonged to the council of ministers. the closest seat on the right side was reserved for the Prime Minister. The hall was further decorated with many red and blue silk curtains. A beautiful huge carpet covered the whole ground surface of the hall.

A stand for audience and lesser officials were also made on the east and west side behind the pillars with separate door that leads straight to the outside of the palace. There was a guard rail made of white marble around the stand as to not let someone jump and attack the Emperor.

Behind the Throne was a big red-colored curtain on which a huge lion face was sewed with threads made of gold. Behind the curtain was the door reserved for Chandragupta’s entry and exit exclusively. The entire hall was guarded by 100 royal guards.

…

Today only 4 seats out of 5 were filled as General Karamveer had gone to stop revolts in the city of Ujjain.

Chandragupta looked at Acharya Kautilya, his prime minister and nodded.

Acharya Kautilya understood and stood up: “The royal court is in session.”

He said as he looked at the public and then took out a parchment on which today’s cases and matters were written.

“The first case concerns the farmer and the local tax collector of his village. A farmer named Suraj has claimed that the local tax collector Vishnu demanded 2 times more tax than the fixed amount from him for this season’s harvest. He also blames that the village’s elder council gave a biased decision and did not help him as he is from a lower cast.”

Kautilya looked at the tax collector in disdain; this was a classic case of high caste supressing lower castes. This thing happened on daily bases all over India, Although Chanakya belonged to the highest class of Brahmin(Priests) but he could still see the flaw in the system.

The cast system had existed for as long as they could remember so people couldn’t see themselves without it, which made it even more impossible to make any changes.

Basically the Indian cast system was divided into 4 stages.

1- Brahmin (the priests, Academicians)- Highest in social order, vegetarian. They considered touching shudras and the untouchables as corruption to their religion, if by mistake a brahmin touched them then he’d have to do rituals and ask gods for forgiveness. even the royal courts favored brahmins and punished shudras and untouchables, even if fault lied in the brahmin. People feared that they would get cursed if they upset a brahmin.

2- Kshatriya (warrior caste)- Most of the Kings and Generals were from this cast, ate both veg and non-veg.

3- Vaishya- Merchants and landowners.

4- Shudra- Manual laborers (Farmers, peasants)

but there was a 5th stage which no one talked about.

5- The Untouchables- Outcasts(slaves), street sweepers, toilet cleaners. (these were considered to be untouchables, if you touched them then you’d have to take a bath. they were not invited to any social events and whenever they entered a city or village they were forced to announce their arrival by making sound by smacking 2 wooden sticks).

The farmer Suraj belonged to the Shudra caste and the tax collector and village elders belonged to vaishya.

Chandragupta hated these kind of cases, but he could not do anything as the whole empire heavily relied on Brahmin caste for their ability of statesmanship and any wrong decision could ignite revoltes in this unstable period. But this didn’t mean that he wouldn’t do anything when wrongdoings happened in front of him.

Chandragupta spoke with a loud and heavy majestic voice” Tax collector Vishnu, did you bring your annual ledger?” He looked Vishnu straight in the eyes.

Vishnu’s legs started trembling as he tried to speak” ye…yes your majesty, I…I always keep it with me”

“Show it to me then” Chandragupta looked at Acharya Kautilya who took the ledger from tax collector Vishnu’s hands and gave it to him.

He opened the ledger and started reading it, soon he found problems with the accounts. The tax amount that was collected from the village was shown to be normal but when it was all added it showed less. He then looked at the tax collection of the previous season and again found some problems, and what angered him the most was that there were some names in the list who clearly belonged to Shudra caste(4th cast) and the amount of tax they paid was 2 times more than others.

“Suraj, do you have anything to say?” He asked the farmer.

Seeing that finally, someone was ready to hear his side of the story he teared up and started speaking “Your majesty, I am a small-time farmer who only has 3 acres of land which is just enough to keep my families stomachs barely full for 1 season after cutting taxes but if I was to pay 2 times taxes then…” He sobbed and continued “I’d rather commit suicide with my 2 sons and a wife than slowly let them die of hunger.”

After saying all this he just kept his head bowed in fear that he might offend the emperor.

Chandragupta looked at Suraj and felt bad for him, how helpless a man must feel to cry in front of people. He signaled at his servant and told them to give the man some water.

Then he looked at the criminal, the tax collector “You must be so proud of yourself right? Forcing families to starve to death, your pockets must be filled with gold right?”

Vishnu had his eyes lowered the whole time, he was regretting being so greedy but the damage was done.

Chandragupta looked at him in disgust: “Your ledgers have clear proof that you have been forcing some people to pay more taxes than normal and you also deceived the throne. For your crimes all your money and property shall be confiscated, as you do not have a wife so all of your money will be equally divided to the victim families that you looted, the land’s ownership will be given to Suraj for being brave and coming out to report this crime.

And you, my Tax collector, are sentenced to 5 years of rigorous labor in the mines.

The village elders clearly ignored the crime and supported the criminals for which they are fined 2 silver Panas each which is to be equally divided to all the victim families.”

(Pana is the name of currency, 1 gold pana=100 silver pana, 1 silver pana=100 bronz pana)

Listening to the punishment, Vishnu’s legs gave up and he fell down while farmer Suraj was thanking Chandragupta.

“Thank you your majesty, LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTYYYY” he excitedly started cheering.

*Sigh*

…

Meanwhile inside the queen’s room.

Aariv was in the cradle sleeping a moment ago but suddenly his body started twitching contineously like he was having an Epileptic seizures. Seeing this, Durdhara panicked and yelled to call a doctor.

Juno, who was happily watching her movie also panicked “WAAAKE UP AARIV!…WAKE UUUUP,”