Indian Epigraphy c11.t8.11

c11.t8.11

The royal order regarding the grant of a village or land was not always issued by the king himself, but was often conveyed through an intermediary who was generally a high officer, sometimes even a prince. He is generally called Dūta or Dūtaka (literally ‘the messenger’) in North Indian records and Ājñā, Ājñapti or Ājñāpti (literally, ‘the order’) in the charters of South India. When the order emanated from the king himself, the fact is indicated in passages like ājñā svayam, ‘the order is [ from ] the donor himself’, sva-mukh-ājñā, ‘the order [is] from the [donor’s] own mouth’, etc. The words dūta, dūtaka, ājñā, ājñapti and ājñāpti are generally translated by the word ‘executor [of a grant]’,¹ though it is believed that the dignitary in question merely carried the king’s order relating to the grant to the officials by whom the charter was later drawn up and delivered to the donee.² The interpretation is supposed to be suggested by the passage sva-mukh-ājñayā utkīrṇam, ‘engraved at the verbal order of [the king] himself’, found in some records,³ and the passage svayam=ājñā noticed in certain charters is believed to mean the same thing.⁴ But, in some cases, the Dūtaka’s function is indicated by the expression praveśita suggesting that he also looked into the entry of the charter into the donee’s possession.⁵ It is also interesting to note in this connection that the Jethwai plates¹ (786 A. D.) represent Śaṅkhayya as the *Dūtaka*, but state at the same time that Vasudeva, the minister of foreign affairs, wrote the document at the order of the donatrix of the grant. It therefore appears that the *Dūtaka* was the real executor of the grant at least in some areas of the country in certain ages of history.