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HAKSHA'S GOVERNMENT 303 prisoners, wie are told, " are simply left to live or die, and are not counted among men/' The other punish- ments were more sanguinary than in the Gupta period: mutilation of the nose, ears, hands, or feet being in- flicted as the penalty of serious offences, and even for failure in filial piety; but this penalty was sometimes commuted for banishment. Minor offences were visited with fines. Ordeals by water, fire, weighment, or poison were much esteemed as efficient instruments for the ascertainment of truth and are described with approval by the Chinese pilgrim. Official records of public events were kept in every province by special officers, whose duty it was to reg- ister " good and evil events, with calamities and for- tunate occurrences." Such records were, no doubt, consulted by the writers of the great historical inscrip- tions, but no specimen of them has survived. Education evidently was diffused widely, especially among the Brahmans and numerous Buddhist monks, and learning was honoured by the government. King Harsha was not only a liberal patron of literary merit, but was himself an accomplished calligraphist and an author of reputation. Besides a grammatical work, three extant Sanskrit plays are ascribed to his pen, and there is no reason for hesitating to believe that he had at least a large share in their composition, for royal authors were not uncommon in ancient India. One of these plays, the Nagananda, which has an edi- fying Buddhist legend for its subject, is considered to rank among the best works of the Indian theatre, and