In the Mauryan administration, the officer in charge of the cavalry (horses) was called the:

In the Mauryan administration, the "Ashwadhyaksha" was the superintendent in charge of horses and the cavalry.

About the Ashwadhyaksha:

• "Ashwa" means horse, and "adhyaksha" means superintendent or head.
• He was responsible for the breeding, training, feeding and care of horses, and for the cavalry wing of the army.
• He kept records of the horses, their breed, age and quality.
• The Arthashastra describes the different breeds of horses, their training, and their food.

The Mauryan army:

• According to the Arthashastra and Greek writers, the Mauryan army had four main wings ("chaturanga"), plus others:
• Infantry (patti), cavalry (ashwa), elephants (hasti) and chariots (ratha).
• Navy (nau) and transport (commissariat) were also mentioned by Megasthenes.

Superintendents of the army wings:

• "Pattyadhyaksha": head of the infantry.
• "Ashwadhyaksha": head of the cavalry.
• "Hastyadhyaksha": head of the elephants.
• "Rathadhyaksha": head of the chariots.
• "Navadhyaksha": head of ships (boats).

The size of the army:

According to Greek and Roman writers such as Pliny, Chandragupta Maurya's army had 6,00,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry and 9,000 elephants.

The adhyakshas:

The Arthashastra lists many superintendents (adhyakshas) in charge of different departments, such as mines, metals, the mint, salt, gold, the treasury, forests, weapons, weights and measures, textiles, ports, cattle and passports.

This shows the highly organised nature of the Mauryan state.

Why not the other options?

• ✗The Hastyadhyaksha was in charge of elephants.
• ✗The Rathadhyaksha was in charge of chariots.
• ✗The Pattyadhyaksha was in charge of infantry.