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Duty of Chamberlain
Duties of a Chamberlain as mentioned in Chapter V of Book II in Arthashastra which mainly talks of the construction of the store houses, treasury houses and all the important buildings of the state, is mainly supervised by a particular person who attends to the king every time.

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Duties of a Chamberlain discusses about a person who attends to the king every time and shall be responsible in supervising the construction of the treasury house, trading house, house for storing grains, store house for forest products, armoury and the jail. Kautilya in Arthashastra takes full care to include every thing that makes the state more secured and enriched. For this reason he introduces the role of the Chamberlain who shall look after the construction of store houses. With the latest style of construction at the time of Maurya Empire, the Chamberlain supervises the construction of a strong palace for the king with a huge and strong underground basement above which there shall be large number of chambers with movable staircases, polished walls and floors made of small stones solemnly decorated with guardian deities.

Duties of chamberlain then include the construction of some important buildings of the state which includes the construction of treasury which should be as secured as necessary. The treasury built with a well designed basement, should be closed from all sides and the roof projecting with extensive opening with store house shall be built of bricks. Duties of a Chamberlain also look after the creation of other buildings which include construction of palacious mansions on the extreme boundaries of the kingdom which are made to keep substantial amount of treasury out of the danger of enemy and calamities; trading houses will be built in a quadrangle form with four sides enclosed with other buildings; store houses should be built with spacious rooms accompanied with a storehouse for forest products which will be separated with walls but both shall contain huge under ground spaces with armoury. Also a court and the office of ministers shall be built in another location. Along with a court, a jail with separate accommodation for men and women will be created which shall have all bathroom facilities and water resources.

Chamberlain will then invest his time in collection of gems, gold coins, food grains, other materials from the merchandise, raw materials and weapons. Quality has been the prime concern in such collections. Chamberlain along with the experts will verify the genuineness of gems, gold coins as well as food grains and anybody providing false or inferior material will be punished. The level of punishment will vary on the basis of quality. In such case of default both the deceiver and abettor will be punished severely.

The Chamberlain will also be responsible for providing punishment regarding misappropriation of money even from one to four aanas and loss of money in the treasury. The main intention is to exhibit power in order to frighten the robbers with even worse punishments. Lastly, the Chamberlain with his experience and history of last hundred years will always be in a position to say the exact amount of net balance after expenditure.

Thus, Duties of a Chamberlain play comprehensive part in the functioning of the state. He is the one who always serves his king and who always remain alert about the daily requirements of the kingdom.


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