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Indian Epigraphy c16.s3: 3. Official Designations

Indian Epigraphy c16.s3

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3. Official Designations

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In the inscriptions of Aśoka, the highest class of officers in the Maurya administration is called the *Mahāmātra*.³ The *Mahāmātras* were employed in various capacities such as the administrators or judicial officers of a city (*Nagara-vyavahārika*), the superintendent in charge of the matters concerning the ladies of the royal household (*Strīyadhyakṣa*), officers in charge of the bordering districts of the empire (*Anta-Mahāmātra*), etc.¹ Aśoka created a big department of religious affairs, which was conducted by certain officers of this class called *Dharma-Mahāmātra*.² The *Dūtas*³ or envoys possibly belonged to the class of *Mahāmātras*. Other high officers mentioned in Aśoka's records are the *Prādeśika*, *Rajjuka* and *Rāṣṭrika*⁴ who were all styled *yukta*⁵ or officer and were probably the governor of a group of districts, of a single district, and of the sub-division of a district respectively. It is difficult to say whether some of these officers belonged to the *Mahāmātra* rank.

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³ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 46, 49, (note 4), 72-73. *Mahāmātra* as the designation of a high officer is rarely found in later epigraphs. In later times, it is known to have been used to indicate the driver of elephants (cf. *The Classical Age*, p. 193) possibly because for a time the officer in charge of the royal elephant corps enjoyed the designation more or less exclusively. The designation entered into Greek administrative vocabulary as *Mamātrai* meaning ‘commanders or rulers among Indians.’ (Tarn, *The Greeks in Bactria and India*, p. 377, note 5; *Ind. Cult.*, Vol. VIII p. 408).

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¹ Select Inscriptions, pp. 34, 41, 55-56, etc. The *Strīyadhakṣa-mahāmātra* was the same as the *Antaḥpur-adhyakṣa* of the inscriptions of the Cālukyas of Kalyāṇa (Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part i, p. 451). The eunuchs guarding the royal harem apparently served under this officer. Cf. Gopalakrishnamacharya Volume, pp. 438 ff. The *Antamahāmātras* may also be regarded as officers stationed at outposts on the borders of the empire in order to deal with the peoples beyond the borders.

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² Select Inscriptions, pp. 23-24, 34, 66.

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³ Ibid., p. 37, text line 10.

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⁴ Ibid., pp. 20, 53, 59-60, 66. The official designation *Rajjuka* is rarely found in later records possibly in the sense of 'a surveyor' (cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIV, p. 54 and note). Megasthenes seems to refer to the *Rajjukas* as the *Agronomoi* who collected taxes of land, measured the land and superintended the irrigation works. They are the *Rajjugrāhak-āmātya* of the Jātakas. See Raychaudhuri, Pol. His. Anc. Ind., 1938, pp. 241, 262-63.

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⁵ Select Inscriptions, p. 20, note 2. Some scholars regard *yukta* used in Aśokan records as the designation of a class of officers like *Āyukta*.

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A class of high functionaries under Aśoka is merely referred to as 'the officer' (*Puruṣa*) probably meaning special agents of the king.⁶ Among minor officers, mention is made of the reporters (*Prativedaka*) and scribes (*Lipikara*).⁷ The officers in charge of the royal cattle and pasture lands (*Vraja-bhūmika*)⁸ appear to have belonged to a higher class.

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⁶ Ibid., p. 55, 59.

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⁷ Ibid., pp. 25, 40.

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⁸ Ibid., p. 34.

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In the epigraphic and numismatic records of the Indo-Greek and Scytho-Parthian age, mention is made of the *Meridarkhes*⁹ (meaning, 'a district officer') and *Strategos*,¹⁰ literally meaning ‘commander of forces’ but enjoying the status of the governor of a province.¹ In the epigraphs of the Scytho-Parthians and Kuṣāṇas, we have reference to the *Kṣatrapa* and *Mahākṣatrapa*,² both derived from old Persian *Kṣathra-pāvan* meaning ‘a provincial governor’, and also to *Daṇḍanāyaka* and *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka*.³

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⁹ Ibid., p. 109 (*Meridarkha*).

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¹⁰ Ibid., p. 111, note 1 (*Stratega*).

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¹ The Age of Imperial Unity, p. 129. A feudatory of the Indo-Greek king Menander as well as his successor enjoyed the Prakrit title *Apracarāja* (Sanskrit *Apratyagrāja*), ‘one having no equal or rival’ (ibid., p. 103).

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² Ibid., pp. 112, 114-15, 118-20, 131, 133, etc.

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³ Ibid., p. 138, *Proc. IHC*, 1958, Trivandrum, p. 63. The popularity of the designation *Daṇḍanāyaka* in Kuṣāṇa administration may tempt one to regard it as a translation of Greek *Strategos*. But, in that case, it would be the only title of foreign origin that became popular in South India. It may be noticed that other official designations of foreign origin such as *Gañjavara*, *Pilupati*, *Divrapati*, *Sarabhaṅga*, etc., are found in the records of the northern regions of India and did not become popular in the South. See *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXV, pp. 95ff. Of course it may be said that the administration of the Śakas of Western India influenced to some extent the western areas of the Deccan and that the Ābhīra king Vasuṣeṇa of the North-Western Deccan conquered as far as the Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, whose Nagarjunikonda inscription of the year 30 [probably of the Ābhīra era of 248 A.D.] mentions an officer enjoying the designations *Mahāgrāmika*, *Mahātalavara* and *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka* (ibid., Vol. XXXIV, pp. 197 ff.). But the fact cannot be ignored that a *Daṇḍanāyaka-Balādhikṛta* is mentioned in the Gunji (Raigarh District, Madhya Pradesh) inscription of about the first century A.D. (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVII, pp. 48 ff.; *JAS*, Letters, Vol. XIX, pp. 59 ff.).

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In the inscriptions of the Śaka rulers of Western India and of the Sātavāhanas of the Deccan, we have reference to officers like the *Amātya*⁴ (in the capacity of the governor of a district or province), *Senāpati* (‘leader of forces’)⁵, *Mahāsenāpati*⁶, *Matisaciva* (‘counsellor’), *Karmasaciva* (‘administrator’)⁷, *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka*⁸ (‘the great commander of forces’), *Gañjavara* (‘treasurer or store-keeper’)⁹, etc. Early Sātavāhana inscriptions mention the official designation *Mahāraṭhin*¹⁰ which is proabably the same as the Rāṣṭrika of the inscriptions of Aśoka and the Rāṣṭriya or Rāṣṭrīya of a Śaka inscription.¹ Originally, he was no doubt the governor of a territorial unit called Rāṣṭra. But sometimes the designation seems to have been used as a title of nobility. Among the royal officers of this age, inscriptions also mention Bhāṇḍāgārika (store-keeper or treasurer), Rāja-vaidya (physician to the king), Rāja-lipikara (the king's scribe), Pratīhāra-rakṣī (a female gate-keeper of the royal harem), etc.²

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⁴ Ibid., pp. 174, 192-93. Sometimes we have also *Rājāmātya* (Luder’s List, Nos. 1053, 1141) and also *Mahāmātya* (Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, p. 527, also called *Mahāpradhāna*). For an *Amātya* called *Sarvādhikārin*, see ibid., p. 527.

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⁵ *Select Inscriptions*, p. 176. There is also *Mahāsenāpati* (Luders’ List, Nos. 1124, 1146).

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⁶ *Select Inscriptions*, p. 204.

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⁷ Ibid., p. 174.

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⁸ Ibid., p. 181.

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⁹ Ibid., p. 119.

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¹⁰ Ibid., pp. 185, 187. I do not think it possible to take the designation as *Mahārathin* (cf. ibid., p. 195).

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¹ Select Inscriptions, pp. 53, 171.

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² Cf. Lüders' List, Nos. 1141, 1190-91, etc., 271, 1126. For Mahāmātra in later records, see No. 1144 and Ep.Ind., Vol. XXIV, p.276.

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That in later times official designations did not always indicate the same responsibility and may have indicated merely a rank in many cases is suggested by the mention of the Daṇḍanāyaka (sometimes modified to Daṇṇāyaka) and Mahādaṇḍanāyaka in the medieval records of the Kannaḍa area. Often he is the governor of a territory and, in some cases, the collector of particular taxes.³ In many cases, he enjoyed several other official designations at the same time, e.g. (1) Mahāsāmantādhipati and Mahāpradhāna; or (2) Mahāpradhāna, Antaḥpuravĕrgaḍĕ⁴ and Mahāpasāyita;⁵ or (3) Sarvādhikārin and Senāhati; or (4) Mahāpradhāna and Senāhati; or (5) Mahāpradhāna, Hĕri-(Mahā)sandhivigrahin and Manĕvĕrgaḍĕ (superintendent of the royal household); or (6) Mahāpradhāna, Hĕrisandhivigrahin, Senādhipati and Kaḍitavĕrgaḍĕ (superintendent of accounts and records);⁶ or (7) Mahāpradhāna, Antaḥpur-adhyakṣa, Hĕri-Lāṭa-Kannaḍa-sandhivigrahin (Sanskrit Mahā-Lāṭa-Karṇāṭa-sandhivigrahin) and Manĕvĕrgaḍĕ; or (8) Mahāsāmantādhipati, Mahā- pradhāna, Bhānasavēggaḍe (Sanskrit Mahānasādhyakṣa, ‘superintendent of the royal kitchen’) and Accupannāyadadhiṣṭhāyaka (superintendent of revenue from mints); or (9) Mahāpradhāna, Sarvādhikārin and Hiriya(Mahā)bhāṇḍārin, etc.¹ It is not known whether the different responsibilities associated with particular disignations were held by an officer at the same time; but it will be seen that a distinction is sometimes made between the Daṇḍanāyaka and the commander of the army (senā, sainya), the latter officer being often mentioned in these records as the Senāpati, Sainyādhikārin, Sainyapāla, Camūpati, Dala-adhikārin, Dalavāy, etc.² Sometimes military and civil designations are applied to the same person. Thus the inscriptions of the Yādavas of Devagiri describe the same officer as Mahāpradhāna (chief minister), Bāhattaraniyogādhipati (superintendent of appointments of the 72 kinds of officers), Paṭṭasāhanādhipati (chief officer in charge of the army) and Senāpati leader of forces).³ In one case, an officer called Mahāpradhāna and Bāhattara-niyogādhipati is described as the Sarvādhikārin (apparently, ‘governor’ or ‘chief administrator’) of Hagaṟaṭṭa-ge 300.⁴

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³ An officer is described as the Daṇḍanāyaka of the southern part of his master's kingdom and as governing many districts. See Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, p. 523.

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⁴ Sanskrit Antaḥpurādhyakṣa. The word vĕrgaḍĕ or vĕggaḍĕ is also found in the independent official designation as Pĕrgaḍĕ or Hĕggaḍĕ often given in Sanskrit as Adhikārin meaning a governor (Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 450, 485).

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⁵ The word pasāyita may be Sanskrit prasādita and the designation possibly indicated a Jāgīrdār of a particular type.

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⁶ For the Śānabhoga or village accountant, see ibid., p. 449.

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¹ Mahalingam, South Indian Polity, pp. 118-119; Bomb. Gaz. Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 443, 451-52, 501. Naganna-daṇṇāyaka is mentioned as the Prime Minister of a Vijayanagara king in the same record mentioning Cāmaṇapāla as the king’s Sarvasainyādhikārin. The designation Accupannāyadadhiṣṭhāyaka may be compared with Suṅkapannāyadadhiṣṭhāyaka in which suṅka stands for Sanskrit śulka (Bomb. Gaz., op. cit., p. 485), Lālakhaṇḍeyakāraradhiṣṭhāyaka, ‘superintendent of the revenue from Lāṭa’ (ibid., p. 487), etc.

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² Mahalingam, loc. cit. That there were various kinds of military officers is suggested by designations like Maṅyasamastasainyādhipati ‘leader of all the troops in the royal household’ (Bomb. Gaz., op. cit., p. 529).

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³ Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 520, 521. A feudatory of the Cālukyas of Kalyāṇa is called Mahāsāmanta, Sen-ādi-bāhattara-niyog-ādhiṣṭhāyaka, Mahāpradhāna, Sarvādhikārin, Mahāpasāyita and Daṇḍanāyaka (ibid., p. 485).

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⁴ Ibid., p. 521. That sometimes kings had in their service more than one person enjoying the same designation is suggested by the Lucknow Museum plate of Kirtipāla who is stated to have made a grant in the presence of all his Pātras apparently including (1) a Mahāpurohita-ṭhakkura (the head of the chief priests), (2) a Mahāpurohita (priest), (3) a Dharmādhikaraṇika (judge), (4) a Daivajñika (priest in charge of the shrine probably within the palace), (5) a Śaṅkhadhārin (conchshell-blower), (6) Paṇḍitas (i.e. court Pandits), (7) three Upādhyāyas (teachers), (8) one Daivajña (astrologer), (9) one Ṭhakkura (fief-holder?), (10) one Mahākṣapaṭalika (accountant and record-keeper), (11) one Aṣṭacargika (superintendent of eight departments?), (12) one Karaṇa-Kāyastha (scribe), (13) one Mahārthasāsanika (officer in charge of gifts?), and (14) one Mahāsādhanika (commander of forces). See Ep. Ind., Vol. VII, p. 97.

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The practice of addressing a number of officers in connection with grants of land gradually came into vogue and the lists of officers furnished in many of the copper-plate charters give us a clearer picture of the administrative set up of some of the kingdoms. Sometimes it was specifically stated that the address was meant for present and future officers and subordinates who were then and might be later associated with the gift land.¹ The earliest copper-plate grant giving such a list of officers is the Hirahadagalli plates² of Pallava Śivaskandavarman. The royal order in respect of a grant of land was addressed in this case to the following categories of the king’s subordinates: Rājakumāra, Senāpati, Rāṣṭrika, Māṇḍapika, Deśādhikṛta, Grāmāgrāmabhojaka, Vallava, Govallava, Amātya, Ārakṣādhikṛta, Gaulmika, Tairthika, Naiyogika and other servants like the Sañcaratka and Bhaṭamanuṣya.³ Of these, the Rājakumāras were of course princes of the royal blood and the Senāpati the commander of the royal forces. The Rāṣṭrika seems, as in the earlier inscriptions referred to above, the governor of an administrative or territorial unit called Rāṣṭra, while the Deśādhikṛta was likewise the ruler of a similar unit called Deśa. The Māṇḍapika was the officer in charge of the maṇḍapa or customs-house, called māṇḍavī in Marāṭhī and Gujarātī.⁴ Grāmāgrāmabhojaka refers to the Jāgīrdārs enjoying various rent-free villages in the kingdom. The Vallava and Govallava were respectively ‘the keeper of horses’ and ‘the keeper of cows.’ The Amātya was a minister or an administrative officer.⁵

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¹ Cf. expressions like vartamāna-bhaviṣyat°, yathā-kāla-bhāvī°, etc., and also samavetān or samupāgatān in the sense of ‘associated’ rather than ‘assembled.’ See above, pp 161 ff.

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² Select Inscriptions, pp. 437 ff. The order in respect of the Mayidavolu plates of Śivaskandavarman was issued to the Vyāpṛta who seems to have been the governor of the province of Andhrāpatha with his headquarters at Dhānyakaṭa (ibid., pp. 433 ff.). Like Yukta, Ayukta and Niyogin, Vyāpṛta essentially means ‘employed’ or ‘an employee’.

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³ See Suc. Sāt. L. Dec., p. 191. The Prakrit words in the record for Tairthika and Naiyogika are Tūthika and Neyika respectively. The second designation is found in some other early Pallava charters as Naiyyoka and Naiyogika.

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⁴ See Wilson’s Glossary, s. v. māṇḍavī.

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⁵ We have seen above that some Amātyas were governors of a district or province. Although the word is often used as a synonym of Mantrin or minister, Rāmavarman’s commentary on the Rāmāyaṇa, I. 7. 4, makes the following distinction between the two : amātya deś-ādi-kārya-nirvāhakā mantriṇo vyavahāra-draṣṭāra iti bhedaḥ (Ind. Cult., Vol. VIII, p. 121).

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The *Ārakṣādhikṛta* was either a magistrate looking after the watch over villages or towns, or an officer responsible for the protection of the king's person. The *Gaulmika* was in charge of a *gulma* or out-post,¹ and the *Tairthika* the officer in charge of a ferry or the ferries.² The designation *Naiyogika*, derived from *niyoga*, ‘an appointment’, may indicate officers in charge of small administrative units or offices. The *Sañcaratka* was a spy while the *Bhaṭamanuṣya* was apparently a constable, called *Pāik* (from Sanskrit *Padātika*, ‘foot-soldier’) or *Piāda* in many parts of North India.³ At the end of the Hirahadagalli plates, it is stated that the writer of the document was *Bhartṛśarman* who was the *Rahasyādhikṛta* (private secretary) and the *Bhojaka* (Jāgīrdār) of Kolivāla. The official designation *Rahasyādhikṛta* is noticed in several other records sometimes as *Rahasya*, *Rāhasika*, *Rahasiniyukta*, etc.¹ He seems to be the same as *Vaiśvāsika*, *Paramaviśvāsin* or *Mahāparamaviśvāsin* of other records.⁴

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¹ Cf. *Manusmṛti*, VII. 190.

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² The word *tirtha* in this designation may also be taken to mean ‘a holy place of pilgrimage’.

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³ See Wilson's Glossary, s. v. *Pāik* and *Piāda*. The second of these is a Persian word introduced by the Muhammadans. Cf. also *Barkandāz*.

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⁴ Cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, p. 17 and note 5; Vol. XXX, pp. 26, 275, etc.

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There is no such list of officials addressed in the few copper-plate grants of the Imperial Guptas so far discovered. But a number of official designations of the Gupta administration are known from their epigraphs and the records of their subordinates. *Hariṣeṇa*, author of the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, is called *Khādyatapākika* and *Sāndhivigrahika-Kumārāmātya-Mahādaṇḍanāyaka*, while his father was also a *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka*.⁵ The formation of the designation *Khādyatapākika* is obscure, and it may be a mistake for *Khādyatāpākika* meaning the superintendent of the preparation of the king's food. The *Sāndhivigrahika* was the minister of peace and war, i.e. of foreign affairs.¹ The *Kumārāmātya* was probably an *Amātya* enjoying the status of a prince of the royal blood.² We had occasion before to refer to the Gunaighar plate (507 A.D.) of Vainyagupta, which speaks of a feudatory ruler enjoying the designations *Mahārāja* and *Mahāsāmanta* side by side with *Mahāpratīhāra*, *Mahāpīlupati*, *Pañcādhikaraṇoparika*, *Pāṭyuparika* and *Purapāloparika*.³ Since the word *pratīhāra* means ‘a gate-keeper’, the *Mahāpratīhāra* may have been the superintendent of the troops in charge of the defence of the gates of the palace and capital and probably also of the king’s body-guards. He may also have been the officer attending on the king at the door of the royal bed chamber. In *Mahāpīlupati*, which means ‘the master of elephants’, the word *pīlu* is derived from Arabic and Persian *fīl* meaning ‘an elephant’. The popularity of this semi-foreign designation in Eastern India about the beginning of the 6th century A.D. cannot be explained unless it is believed that the Imperial Guptas adopted it from the Kuṣāṇas. *Pañcādhikaraṇoparika* seems to mean ‘the head of five administrative offices,’⁴ while *Pāṭyuparika* may be ‘the head of the department of accounts,’ the word *pāṭī* being known to mean ‘arithmetic’. *Purapāloparika* seems to mean ‘the chief amongst the governors of cities.’

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⁵ See ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 329; Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 505, 523 (the same officer is called here *Mahāpradhāna*, *Sarvādhikārin* and *Paramaviśvāsin* or *Mahāparamaviśvāsin*).

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⁶ Select Inscriptions, pp. 259-60.

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¹ Sometimes such an officer is mentioned in medieval records with reference to a particular territory, e.g., *Gauḍa-mahāsāndhivigrahika*, *Karṇāṭa-sandhivigrahin*, *Heṭi-Lāṭa-Karṇāṭa-sandhivigrahin*, *Heṭi-Lāṭa-sandhivigrahin* etc. See N. G. Majumdar, *Inscriptions of Bengal*, Vol. III, p. 138, etc.; *Bomb. Gaz.*, Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 451-52, 457-58.

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² The Karamdaṇḍa inscription of 436 A.D. mentions a *Kumārāmātya* who was also a *Mantrin*, but later became a *Mahābalādhikṛta*. His father was likewise a *Mantrin* and *Kumārāmātya*. Cf. *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 282-83. A similar designation is *Kumāramahāpātra* known from a medieval inscription of Orissa (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, p. 187).

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³ *Select Inscriptions*, p. 333; above, p. 343.

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⁴ This designation seems to be the same as *Pañcakaraṇoparika* applied to the *Dūtaka* of one of Śailodbhava Dharmarāja’s grants, who is also styled *Vaiśvāsika* (privy councillor) and *Bṛhadbhogin* (the principal *Jāgīrdār*). See *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIX. p. 40. For *Vaiśvāsika* in other records, cf. ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 329.

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We know from certain charters issued by the subordinate officers under the Gupta emperors that the Gupta viceroy or provincial governor was often called Uparika or Uparika-Mahārāja¹ and that the Ayuktaka was often the governor of a district (Viṣayapati) and that the Pustapāla or record-keeper was an important district officer.² In many cases, a district officer is referred to in the inscriptions as tad-Ayuktaka or tad-Viniyuktaka after the mention of the provincial governor in order to indicate that the said officer was employed by the viceroy and not directly by the crown.³ In later times, Tadāyuktaka and Tanniyuktaka or Tadviniyuktaka appear to have become stereotyped official designations to indicate certain grades of subordinates and assistants of a high officer.

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¹ In medieval records, the governoror viceroy was sometimes said to have been conducting the mudrā-vyāpāra, i.e. affairs associated with the royal seal. See Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIII, p. 71, etc.; above, p. 342.

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² Select Inscriptions, pp. 283-86, 324, 328.

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³ For Ayukta and his subordinate, sometimes we have Yuktaka and Upayuktaka. See Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 285, text line 56.

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In the Gupta inscriptions of the Bengal region, sale of government land for the creation of rent-free holdings is represented as having been conducted by a board of administration, called adhikaraṇa such as adhiṣṭhān-ādhikaraṇa (administrative board of the city), aṣṭakul-ādhikaraṇa (administrative board consisting of members from eight communities), etc. In many cases, such a board consisted of the Nagara-śreṣṭhin (literally, ‘the city banker’), Sārthavāha (literally ‘the tradesman’) Prathama-Kulika (literally, ‘the chief Kulika or astisan’) and Prathama-Kāyastha (literally, ‘the chief Kāyastha or scribe’). There is little doubt that they formed what is now called a Pañcāyat Board. Such four-member Pañcāyat Boards were called Cauthiyā in late medieval Rajasthan and were headed by the Nagar-Seṭh (Nagaraśreṣṭhin), the Paṭel (the village headman) and Paṭvārī (the accountant clerk) being two of the members: In early medieval inscriptions and literally works, the Cauthiyā is called Caturjātaka. Five-member administrative boards of the same kind are known from the early medieval epigraphic and literary records of Western India as Pañcakula.⁴

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⁴ See Proc. IHG, Ahmedabad, 1954, pp. 32 ff.; Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIII, p. 193; Vol. XXXIV, p. 142.

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The Mallasarul plate¹ of the time of Gopacandra, who ruled over considerable parts of Bengal about the middle of the 6th century, gives the list of the following officers in connection with a grant of land: *Kāntākṭika*, *Kumārāmātya*, *Cauroddharanika*, *Upaṅka*, *Audraṅgika*, *Agrahārika*, *Aurṇasthānika*, *Bhogapatika*, *Viṣayapati*, *Hiraṇyasāmudāyika*, *Pattalaka*, *Āvasathika* and *Devadroṇīsambaddha*. The *Kāntākṭika* seems to have informed the king about the progress made by officers in special undertakings. *Cauroddharaṇika* was a police officer reponsible for collecting fines for theft. The *Audraṅgika*, *Agrahārika* and *Aurṇa-sthānika* were apparently superintendents respectively of *Udraṅga*, *Agrahāra* (rent-free lands granted to Brāhmaṇas) and *Ūrṇasthāna* (wool factory). The word *udraṅga* is used in many records according to which the donee was entitled to enjoy the gift land together with *udraṅga*, possibly meaning the principal tax.² The *Bhogapatika* was probably the superintendent of *Bhogas* or *Jāgīrs*. The *Hiraṇyasāmudāyika* may have been the collector of taxes in cash (*hiraṇya*) and the *Pattalaka* the officer in charge of a territorial unit called *Pattalā*, while the *Āvasathika* was apparently superintendents of *Āvasathas* probably meaning colleges or *Dharmaśālās*.³ *Devadroṇīsambaddha* reminds us of the officer called *Devadroṇyadhikṛta*, taken to mean ‘a superintendent of the procession of idols’, in the Talesvar plate (6th century) of Dyutivarman.⁴

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¹ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 359 ff.

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² Cf. *CII*, Vol. III, p. 97 and note. The Tripura plate of Bhavadeva seems to use *udraṅgikṛtya* and *sodraṅgikṛtya* in the same sense (*JAS*, Letters, Vol. XVII, p. 94). This possibly means that *udraṅga* had to be paid by the donees of this grant for the gift land in question.

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³ The word *āvasathika* also means ‘one who keeps the domestic fire (*āvasathi*) burning with daily offering’ (D. Bhattacharya, *Halāyudha’s Brāhmaṇasarvasva*, p. xx) But the inscription in question seems to mean an official.

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⁴ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XIII, p. 117. But the expression *deva-droṇī* may possibly mean ‘temple property’. Cf. *Śrī-Somanāthadeva-droṇī-pratibaddha-Mahāyanā(jan-ā)ntaḥpāti°*, etc., in the Veraval inscription, line 12 (*Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XI, pp. 242-43; *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXIV, p. 147).

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The Bhamodra-Mohota plate⁵ (502 A.D.) of the Maitraka chief Droṇasiṃha of Kathiawar offers a small list mentioning the Āyukta, Viniyuktaka, Mahattara, Drāṅgika, Dhruvasthānādhikaraṇa, Cāṭa and Bhaṭa.¹ Of these, Mahattara may refer to the headmen of the villages,² although in South Indian records the expression seems to indicate the Mahājanas or heads of the families or communities, who constituted the village councils.³ Drāṅgika is derived from draṅga which is the same as udraṅga according to Sanskrit lexicons and appears to be the same as Audraṅgika discussed above. The Rājatarangiṇī uses the word draṅga in the sense of ‘a watch station’.⁴ If that meaning is applicable, Drāṅgika of the inscriptions may have been ‘the officer in charge of a watch station’. Dhruvasthānādhikaraṇa was the office of the Dhruvasthāna.⁵ The officer in its charge is no doubt the same as modern Dhruva of Kathiawar and Kachh meaning a person who superintended the collection of the royal share of the produce from the farmers on behalf of a Rājā.⁶ The same officer is sometimes called Dhruvādhikaraṇika, i.e. superintendent of the office of the Dhruva. The Cāṭa and Bhaṭa noticed here are a regular occurrence in the list of addressees in North Indian grants of the medieval age. Of the two, the Bhaṭa is no doubt the same as the Bhaṭamanuṣya known from certain South Indian epigraphs and referred to above. We are inclined to take Bhaṭa to mean a constable or a Pāik or Piāda, while the Cāṭa seems to have been the leader of a group of them. Cāṭa is also found in the form Caṭṭa and Cāda in later epigraphs and is apparently the same as the Cāḍ of modern Chamba where he was the head of a Pargana.¹ Since however the Cāṭa and Bhaṭa are mentioned in most of the epigraphic records as belonging to the lowest rank of royal servants, the meaning of Cād as prevalent at present in Chamba cannot be applied to Cāṭa in the early and medieval inscriptions. This is further suggested by the fact that the Vākāṭaka inscriptions generally mention Chātra (‘an umbrella-bearer’, a peon) instead of Cāṭa in association with Bhaṭa.² Sometimes we have Cāra (spy) instead of Cāṭa.³

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⁵ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 433 ff.

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¹ The charter of Viṣṇuṣeṇa of Kathiawar, dated 592 A.D., mentions a few more designations, one of them being Vailabdhika (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, p. 167). This desingation, derived from vilabdhi, seems to indicate the custodian of presents offered to the king or of stolen property recovered from thieves.

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² Cf. Wilson’s Glossary, s. v. Mahto, etc.

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³ The mahājana-sabhā is often mentioned in the records of the Kannaḍa area.

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⁴ VII. 1352; VIII. 1578, 2507, etc. Draṅga may be also taken to mean a station for revenue collection.

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⁵ This probably means the station for the collection of the dhruva or the fixed royal share of the produce.

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⁶ Cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, p. 168.

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¹ See Vogel, Antiquities of Chamba State, Part I, pp. 130-32.

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² See Select Inscriptions, pp. 414, 417, 422. For Chātra, cf. also Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, pp. 373-74.

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³ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVI, p. 199.

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Among other charters of West Indian rulers, mention may be made of the small list of addressees in the Kavi plates⁴ (736 A.D.) of the Gurjara king Jayabhaṭa III. The list consists of the Rājan, Sāmanta, Bhogika, Viṣayapati and Rāṣṭragrāma-mahattara. The Sāmanta was apparently a smaller feudatory than the Rājan. Bhogika, derived from bhoga, ‘a Jāgīr’, means a Jāgīrdār, while Bhogapati, found side by side with it in certain records, may be an officer in charge of Jāgīrs. Bhogika is the same as Bhogin of other records, to both of which the word bṛhat is sometimes prefixed. An early inscription from Orissa speaks of Amśabhadbhogika probably meaning ‘partner of a Jāgīr’.⁵ The last item includes Rāṣṭramahattara and Grāmamahattara who may be the same as the Rāṣṭrakūṭa and Grāmakūṭa of certain records of the rulers of Kannaḍa origin and were the headmen respectively of villages and of the groups of villages called Rāṣṭra. If the expression mahattara is taken to mean the head of a family or community, who was the member of the local council, we have to think of a Mahājana-sabhā for Rāṣṭra also.

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⁴ Ind. Ant., Vol. V, pp. 114 ff.

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⁵ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVIII, p. 329.

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The charters of the early medieval kings of South India generally do not contain any big list of addressees. Thus while the Ellora plates⁶ (742 A.D.) of Dantidurga are addressed to the Rājan, Sāmanta, Bhogika, Viṣayapati, Rāṣṭrakūṭa, Mahattara and Adhikārika, the Sanjan plates¹ (871 A.D.) of Amoghavarṣa I were addressed to the Rāṣṭrapati, Viṣayapati, Grāmakūṭa, Yuktaka or Āyuktaka, Niyukta, Adhikārika and Mahattara. In these, the Rāṣṭrakūṭa of the one is the same as the Rāṣṭrapati of the other. Niyukta is the same as Tanniyuktaka, etc., of other records. Adhikārika seems to be the same as the Niyogika or Naiyogika of the early Pallava inscriptions. The Viṣayapati was the ruler of a Viṣaya or district.

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⁶ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXV, pp. 25 ff.

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¹ Ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 235 ff.

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The Saindhava plates² from Ghumli offer a slightly bigger list of addressees, one of them being Vaikṣepika who may have been the dispatcher of messengers like the Preṣaṇika of other records.³ The word janapada is also used in the lists of addressees in these records possibly in the sense of Jānapada or the people of the countryside. Instead of the usual Cāṭa, these records use Cāra meaning ‘a spy’.

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² Ibid., Vol. XXVI, p. 199.

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³ Although the expression dūtapreṣaṇika occurring in many East Indian records is taken to indicate Dūta and Preṣaṇika, sometimes Dūta and Dūta-preṣaṇika are mentioned together in the list of officers (cf. N. G. Majumdar, Ins. Beng., Vol. III, p. 153, text lines 18-19).

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But from about the 8th century A.D.,⁴ the list of addressees was fairly big in the charters of the rulers of some of the North Indian monarchs. Thus the Khalimpur plate⁵ of Dharmapāla who flourished about the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century, is addressed to the following : Rājan, Rājanaka, Rājaputra, Rājāmātya, Senāpati, Viṣayapati, Bhogapati, Ṣaṣṭhādhikṛta, Daṇḍaśakti, Daṇḍapāśika, Caurodharaṇika, Dauḥsādhasādhanika, Dūta, Khola, Gamāgamika, Abhitvaramāṇa, Hasty aśvagomahiṣājīvīkādhyakṣa, Naukādhyakṣa, Balādhyakṣa, Tarika, Śaulkika, Gaulmika, Tadāyuktaka, Viniyuktaka, Cāṭa and Bhaṭa as well as the district officers like *Jyeṣṭhakāyastha*, *Mahā-mahattara*, *Mahattara*, *Dāśagrāmika* and *Viṣayavyavahārin* whose *Karaṇas* or offices are also specially mentioned.

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⁴ The addressees in the grants of Harṣa (606-47 A.D.) are not too many. Cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 211. The Deo-Baranark inscription of Jivitagupta II (about the second quarter of the 8th century A.D.) is one of the earliest records containing a big list which the Pālas appear to have imitated. See JAS, Letters, Vol. XI, pp. 73-74.

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⁵ Gauḍalekhamālā, pp. 9 ff.

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The *Rājanaka* was apparently a smaller feudatory than *Rājan*. *Rājaputra* is the same as *Rājakumāra* of the Hirahadagalli plates, although the intention here may be to refer to the sons of the feudatories since the following *Rājāmātya* possibly indicates the ministers or administrators of the subordinate rulers. *Senāpati* (leader of forces), *Viṣayapati* (ruler of a district) and *Bhogapati* (superintendent of *Jāgīrs*) have already been discussed above. It is however interesting to note that, in the present case, the *Senāpati* is distinguished from the *Balādhyakṣa*. We have to remember in this connection that, according to some authorities, the smallest leader of the forces of an Indian king was a *Pattika*, ten of whom served under a *Senāpati*, while the *Senānāyaka* or *Balādhyakṣa* led ten *Senāpatis*.¹ Thus the *Balādhyakṣa* was a higher officer than the *Senāpati*, while the *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka* was probably a still higher military officer or a governor. The *Ṣaṣṭhādhikṛta* was no doubt the collector of the king’s grain share from the farmer and was practically the same as the *Dhruvādhikaraṇika* or *Dhruvasthānādhikaraṇika* of the Kathiawar inscriptions. The designation shows that the king’s share was one sixth of the produce at least originally. The *Daṇḍaśakti* is apparently the *Daṇḍika* of later epigraphs and may have been a sort of police magistrate, while the *Daṇḍapāśika* was probably a smaller police officer. The expression *Daṇḍapāśika* still survives in Oḍiyā *Daṇḍuāsi* meaning ‘a village watchman’. *Dauḥsādhasādhanika* seems to have been a leader of expeditionary forces requisitioned on occasions of emergency. The word *sādhanika* forming a part of this designation is the same as Prakrit *Sāhaṇia* and means ‘the commander of an army’. The designation *Sādhanika* in a Paramāra inscription and *Mahāsādhanika* in Merutuṅga’s *Prabandhacintāmaṇi* are used to indicate a chieftain or military governor.¹ The *Dūta* (envoy) is distinguished from the *Abhitvaramāṇa* whose designation seems to mean a messenger or carrier of letters meant for quick delivery of the message, etc. *Khola*, also known from the Ramganj plate to be discussed below, is unintelligible if he was not a special type of messenger, while *Gamāgamika* seems to have been the officer regulating the entrance in and departure from towns. *Hastyaśvagomahiṣājīvikādhyakṣa* was no doubt the officer or officers in charge of the king’s elephants, horses, cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep and may be compared with *Vallava* and *Govallava* of the Hirahadagalli plates and the *Vrajabhūmika* of the inscriptions of Aśoka. The *Naukādhyakṣa* was probably the admiral in charge of the royal fleet. The *Tarika* (superintendent of a ferry or the ferries) is the same as the *Tairthika* of the Hirahadagalli plates and the *Tarapati* of later records, while the *Śaulkika* was the collector of *śulka* or customs, similar to the *Māṇḍapika* of the Hirahadagalli plates. *Jyeṣṭhakāyastha* was the chief scribe or the representative of the scribal class on a board of administration. Since *Mahattara* was the head of a village or community and the member of a *Pañcāyat*, the *Mahāmahattara* appears to have been the head of a group of villages or the chairman of its council of administration, while the *Dāśagrāmika* was similarly the head of a group of about ten villages, or the chairman of the administrative council of the group.¹ These officials were apparently similar to the *Grāmakūṭa*, *Rāṣṭrakūṭa* and *Deśādhikṛta* of South Indian records.

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¹ Cf. Kullūka’s commentary on the *Manusmṛti*, VII. 189. The *Pattika* led the smallest division of an army called a *Patti* which consisted of one chariot, one elephant, three horsemen and five foot-soldiers. The word *patti* also means ‘a foot-soldier’. In Kashmir, the Commander-in-chief was called ‘the lord of *kampana*’ (*Rājatarangiṇī*, VII. 154, 267, 365, 399, 579, etc.) and another commander was called the lord of the *dvāra* or gate’ (ibid., verses 216, 223, 364, etc.). The latter seems to have guarded the passes leading to the heart of the Kashmir valley. Sometimes an officer was stated to have been appointed the *Senāpati* (apparently, ‘a military governor’) over a particular district (Bhandarkar’s List, No. 245).

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¹ See *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXII, pp. 141-42. The designation *Mahāsādhanika* may be compared with *Paṭṭasāhaṇādhipati* of South Indian records, sometimes called *Senāpati* separately (Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, p. 520). *Sādhanika*, derived from *sādhana* or an army, is the same as the modern family name Sāhni. *Sāhaṇi* occurring in a Rajasthan inscription has been supposed to indicate ‘the master of the royal stables’ (Bhandarkar’s List, No. 395). See also designations like *Gajasāhiṇi*, i.e. *Gajasādhanika* or leader of the elephant corps (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVII, p. 310). For *Sāhaṇi* or *Sāhiṇi* in the inscriptions of the Kannada-speaking area, cf. Kundangar, *Inscriptions of Northern Karnatak and Kolhapur*, p. 139, No. 16, etc.

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¹ The *Manusmṛti* (VII, 115-19) mentions the heads of one village, ten villages, a hundred villages and one thousand villages. The Tripura plate of Bhavadeva was addressed to the *Viṣayapatis* and the *Karaṇikas* (scribes or *Paṭvāris*) and *Daśagrāmikas* (*JAS*, Letters, Vol. XVII, p. 93).

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The above list may be compared with that in the Manahali plate of Madanapāla (*c.* 1143-61 A.D.) who was one of the latest rulers of the Pāla family. In this list, we have *Rājan*, *Rājanyaka*, *Rājaputra*, *Rājāmātya*, *Mahāsāndhivigrahika*, *Mahākṣapaṭalika*, *Mahāsāmanta*, *Mahāsenāpati*., *Mahāpratihāra*, *Dauḥsādhasādhanika*, *Mahākumārāmātya Rājasthānīya* and *Uparika*, *Cauroddharaṇika*, *Dāṇḍika*, *Dāṇḍapāśika*, *Śaunika*, *Kṣetrapa*, *Prāntapāla*, *Koṭṭapāla*, *Aṅgarakṣa*, *Taḍāyuktaka*, *Viniyuktaka*, *Hastyaśoṣṭranabalavyāpṛtaka*, *Kiśoravaḍāvagomahiṣājīkādhyakṣa*, *Dūta*, *Preṣaṇika*, *Gamāgamika*, *Abhitvaramāṇa*, *Viṣayapati*, *Grāmapati*, *Tarika*, *Śaulkika*, *Gaulmika*, *Gauḍa*, *Mālava*, *Coḍa*, *Khasa*, *Hūṇa*, *Kulika*, *Karṇāṭa*, *Cāṭa* and *Bhaṭṭa*. There are some new designations in this list while a few of them are found in slightly modified form. *Mahāsāndhivigrahika* is found in earlier inscriptions though not in the Khalimpur plate. The prefix *mahā*, which was probably used to distinguish the chief officer in a particular group, has been added to some of the designations found without it in the Khalimpur plate and earlier inscriptions. The *Mahākṣapaṭalika* was the keeper of records according to some but the chief accountant according to others, though he seems to have acted in both the capacities at least in some parts of the country. Amongst the new designations, the *Rājasthānīya* seems to be a subordinate ruler according to the *Subodhikā* commentary on the *Kalpasūtra* quoted above, though the designation is no doubt the same as the *Rājasthānādhikāra* mentioned in the *Rājatarangiṇī*² as one of the highest judicial officers of ancient Kashmir. But the explanation of the *Lokaprakāśa* that the *Rājasthānīya* was ‘one who carries out the object of protecting the subjects and shelters them'¹ and the Mandasor inscription² of Yaśodharman Viṣṇuvardhana representing a viceroy of the king as a *Rājasthānīya* appear to support the *Subodhikā*, although different functions may have been attached to the designation in different regions and ages. The *Śaunika* was apparently the superintendent of slaughter-houses and the sale of meat and the *Kṣetrapa* the superintendent of the lands of the king's Khās Mahāl. The *Prāntapāla* was the warden of the marches and the *Koṭṭapāla* the governor of a fort.³ The *Aṅgarakṣa* was the king's body-guard. Instead of the *Hastyaśvoṣṭragomahiṣājāvikādhyakṣa* of the Khalimpur plate, we have here *Hastyaśvoṣṭranubalavyāpṛtaka* (i.e. the military officers in charge of the elephant and camel corps and the navy) and *Kiśoravaḍavāgomahiṣājāvikādhyakṣa* (superintendent or superintendents of the young mares, cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep). As indicated above, the *Preṣaṇika* may have been the officer in charge of the despatch of messengers. The peoples of Gauḍa and other countries mentioned in the record appear to refer to the mercenary soldiers of various regions serving in the armies of the Pāla emperors. Among the peoples, the Kulikas appear to be the same as the Kulyas of the Purāṇas, who may probably be identified with the people of Kulait in the upper valley of the Ravi.

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² See VII. 601; VIII. 181, 573, 1046, etc.

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¹ *Ind. Ant.* Vol. V, p. 207; cf *CII*, Vol. III. p. 137, note. Fleet prefers to call him a political agent or regent.

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² *Select Inscriptions*, p. 390, verse 19.

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³ Cf. the later *Kotwāl* generally regarded as a Persian word meaning 'the chief officer of police for a city or town, a superintendent of the markets' (Wilson's Glossary). The commnander of a fort seems to be called *Viśiṣa* (a word of uncertain derivation) in certain early medieval records of the central areas of India (cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXX, p. 89).

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A similar comparison may likewise be made between the list of addressees in the charters of Lalitaśūra (middle of the 9th century) and Padmaṭa (middle of the 10th century), both of the Kumaun-Garhwal region.

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Lalitaśūra's charters are addressed to the following subordinates and officers : *Rājan*, *Rājanaka*, *Rājaputra*, *Rājāmātya*, *Sāmanta*, *Mahāsāmanta*, *Ṭhakkura*, *Mahāmanuṣya*, *Mahā- kārtākṛtika, Mahāpratīhāra, Mahādaṇḍanāyaka, Mahārājapramā-tāra, Śarabhaṅga, Kumārāmātya, Uparika, Duḥsādhyasādhanika, Dāśāparādhika, Cauroddharaṇika, Śaulkika, Gaulmika Tadā-yuktaka, Viniyuktaka, Paṭṭakāpacārika, Āsedhabhaṅgādhikṛta, Hastya-śvaśtrabalavyāpṛtaka, Dūta, Preṣaṇika, Dāṇḍika, Dāṇḍapāśika. Gamāgamin, Khāḍgika, Abhitvaramāṇaka, Rājasthānīya, Viṣayapati Bhogapati, Tarapati, Aśvapati, Khaṇḍarakṣa, Pratisūrika Sthānā-dhikṛta, Vartmapāla, Koṭṭapāla, Ghaṭṭapāla, Kṣetrapāla, Prāntapāla, Kiśoravaḍavāgomiṣyadhikṛta, Bhaṭṭa, Mahattama, Ābhīra, Vaṇik, Śreṣṭhin, such peoples as the Khaśa, Kirāta, Draviḍa, Kaliṅga, Gauḍa, Hūṇa, Uḍra, Meda, Andhra and Cāṇḍāla, and such servants as Cāṭa and Bhaṭa.¹

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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXI, pp. 282-83. The mention of the Andhras along with the Meda and Cāṇḍāla in many medieval records appears to refer to the low class people of the present Telugu-speaking area, who migrated to the territories in question and worked as sweepers, etc. For another suggestion, see IHQ, Vol. XVI, pp. 560 ff.

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The list has some new items not found in the Pāla grants discussed above. Rājan and Rājanaka have been distinguished from Sāmanta and Mahāsāmanta probably belonging to slightly lower grades of feudatories. Among the new entries, Ṭhakkura and Mahāmanuṣya are difficult to explain, but may mean noblemen and the chief attendant. Mahārājapramātāra is the same as Pramātṛ or Pramātāra of some records,² and may have been the king’s counsellor on judicial matters. The function of the Śarabhaṅga cannot be determined; but the designation seems to be derived from Persian Sarhang, ‘a commander’, later modified in India to Sāreṅg.³ Duḥsādhyasādhanika is the same as Dauḥsādhasādhanika of the Pāla charters. The Dāśāparādhika was probably the judge dealing with the ten offences including theft, murder, adultery, use of abusive language to others, desire to do wrong, tenacity for doing wrong, etc. The Paṭṭakāpacārika was the officer investigating offences against the royal edicts and charters, while the Āsedhabhaṅgādhikṛta was the officer in charge of the prevention of flight from prison or legal restraint. The *Khādgika*, literally ‘swordsman’, was probably the palace guard. *Tarapati* (superintendent of a ferry or the ferries) was the same as *Tarika* or *Tairthika* of other inscriptions. In *Khaṇḍarakṣa*, sometimes found as *Khaḍgarakṣa*, the word *khaṇḍa* is the same as Bengali *khaṇḍa* and Oriya *khaṇḍa*, ‘a heavy sword’, and the expression means ‘the king’s sword-bearer’, or a body-guard of the king,¹ since *Khādgika*, possibly meaning ‘a palace guard’, is mentioned separately. *Pratīsūrika* is difficult to interpret, but may have been the superintendent of gladitorial combats. The *Sthānādhikṛta* (modern *Thānādār*)² was the officer in charge of a police or military outpost similar to the *Gaulmika*. The *Vartmapāla* was the superintendent of roads and the *Ghaṭṭapāla* the superintendent of landing places on the river banks or of passes. Both these may have been customs officers. The *Kṣetrapāla* is the same as the *Kṣetrapa* of other epigraphs. In *Kiśoravaḍavāgomahiṣyadhikṛta*, *mahiṣī* in the feminine has been used instead of *mahiṣa* in the masculine. The *Mahattama* is apparently the same as the *Mahattara* of other epigraphs. The list includes the *Abhīras* (cowherds), *Vaṇiks* (merchants) and *Śreṣṭhins* (bankers or foremen of guilds).

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² See ibid., Vol. IV, p. 211; Vol. XXVI, p. 199. He may have also been the superintendent of the measurement of the royal share of grains.

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³ For Sarhang, see Wilson’s Glossary. The word occurs as Sarāṅgha (a military governor) in the Hatun inscription (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, p. 228). See ibid., Vol. XXXIV, pp. 95 ff.

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¹ Cf. the Khaṇḍāit community of Orissa (Wilson’s Glossary, s.v.).

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² Cf. Wilson’s Glossary, s.v.

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Padmaṭa’s grant was similarly addressed to the *Rājan*, *Rājanaka*, *Rājaputra*, *Rājāmātya*, *Sāmanta*, *Mahāsāmanta*, *Mahākārtākṛtika*, *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka*, *Mahāpratīhāra*, *Mahāsāmantādhipati*, *Mahārājapramātāra*, *Śarabhaṅga*, *Kumārāmātya*, *Uparika*, *Duḥsādhyasādhanika*, *Dāśāparādhika*, *Cauroddharaṇika*, *Śaulkika*, *Gaulmika*, *Tadāyuktaka*, *Viniyuktaka*, *Paṭṭakāpacārika*, *Āsedhabhaṅgādhikṛta*, *Hastyaśvoṣṭrabalavyāpṛtaka*, *Dūta*, *Preṣaṇika*, *Dāṇḍika*, *Dāṇḍapāśika*, *Viṣayavyāpṛtaka*, *Gamāgamika*, *Khādgika*, *Abhitvaramāṇaka*, *Rājasthānīya*, *Viṣayapati*, *Bhogapati*, *Kāṇḍapati*, *Tarapati*, *Aśvapati*, *Khaṇḍarakṣa*, *Sthānādhikṛta*, *Vartmapāla*, *Ghaṭṭapāla*, *Kṣetrapāla*, *Prāntapāla*, *Ṭhakkura*, *Mahāmanusya*, *Kiśoravaḍavāgomahiṣyadhikṛta*, *Bhaṭṭa*, *Mahattama*, *Abhīra*, *Vaṇik* and *Śreṣṭhin*, the peoples including *Khaśa*, *Kirāta*, *Draviḍa*, *Kaliṅga*, Gauḍa, Hūṇa, Uḍra, Meda, Andhra and Caṇḍāla as well as Cāṭa, Bhaṭa and other servants.¹

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI p. 289.

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In this list, *Mahāsāmantādhipati* is a more dignified title than *Mahāsāmanta*. *Viṣayavyāpṛtaka* is distinguished from the *Viṣayapati* or ruler of a district and may have been an officer associated with the administration of a district. In *Kāṇḍapati*, the word *kāṇḍa* seems to mean ‘an arrow’. The designation may therefore refer to an officer in charge of the armoury. The *Aśvapati* seems to have been the keeper of horses or the leader of the cavalry while the *Bhaṭṭa* was apparently ‘a minstrel’.

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Among the records from the north-western parts of India, we may refer to the Sungal plate² of king Vidagdha of Chamba, who flourished about the first half of the 11th century A.D. The charter is communicated to the *Rājan*, *Rājānaka*, *Rājaputra*, *Rājāmātya*, *Rājasthānīya*, *Pramātṛ*, *Sarobhaṅga* (*Śarabhaṅga*), *Kumārāmātya*, *Uparika*, *Viṣayapati*, *Nihelapati*, *Kṣetrapa*, *Prāntapāla*, *Hastyaśvoṣṭrabalavyāpṛtaka*, *Dūta*, *Gamāgamika*, *Abhitvaramāṇa*, *Khaśa*, *Kulika*, *Śaulkika*, *Gaulmika*, *Khaṇḍarakṣa* (sometimes called *Khaḍgarakṣa*), *Tarapatika*, *Chatracchāyika*, *Veṭakila*, *Virayātrika*, *Cauroddharaṇika*, *Dāṇḍika*, *Dāṇḍapāśika*, *Bhogapati*, *Viniyuktāka*, *Bhāgika*, *Bhogika*, *Cāṭa*, *Bhaṭa*, etc., and the householders and country people including the Brāhmaṇas at the top down to the Medas, Andhrakas, Dhīvaras (fishermen) and Caṇḍālas. *Nihelapati* is found as *Nihilapati* in the Nirmand plate.³ But the meaning is uncertain. The *Chatracchāyika* was the king’s parasol-bearer and the *Veṭakila* probably the betel-bearer of the king. The latter officer is called *Vārgulika* in the early medieval inscriptions from Orissa.⁴ The *Bhāgika* was probably the collector of the king’s share of the grains from the farmers and was the same as the *Ṣaṣṭhādhikṛta* and *Dhruvādhikaraṇika* or *Dhruvasthānādhikaraṇika* of other inscriptions.

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² Vogel, *Antiquities of Chamba State*, Part I, p. 166.

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³ *CII*, Vol. III, pp. 289, 291.

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⁴ Cf. Bhandarkar’s List, Nos. 1497, 1500.

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The charters of the Bhauma-Kara dynasty of Orissa generally have two small lists of addressees making a distinction between the officers of the kingdom and those of the district in which the gift land was situated. Thus the Santiragrāma grant¹ of queen Daṇḍimahādevī includes the *Mahāsāmanta*, *Rājasatka*, *Rājaputra*, *Kumārāmātya*, *Auparika*, *Viṣayapati*, *Tadāyuktaka*, *Dāṇḍapāśika* and *Sthānāntarika* in the first list and, in the second, the *Mahāmahattara*, *Bṛhadbhogin*, *Pustakapāla* and *Kūṭakolasa*, to whose *adhikaraṇas* or offices the royal order is stated to have been addressed.

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¹ See *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIX, p. 85.

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Among these, *Rājasatka* literally means ‘those belonging to the *Rājan*’ and may be the same as *Rājāmātya* of other records, meaning the subordinates of the feudatories. *Auparika* is of course the same as *Uparika* of earlier epigraphs. The *Sthānāntarika*, derived from *sthāna* or *sthān-āntara* may have been a particular type of *Sthānādhikṛta* or *Thānādār*. *Bṛhadbhogin* is a more dignified form of *Bhogika* (*Jāgīrdār*)² while *Pustakapāla*, called *Pustapāla* in earlier records of Eastern India, was a keeper of records. The expression *Kūṭakolasa*, not found outside Orissa, cannot be explained.

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² An earlier inscription from Orissa mentions *Amśabṛhadbhogin* probably meaning ‘the partner of a *Jāgīr*’ (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 329-30).

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The Terundia plate³ of Śubhākara II, a predecessor of Daṇḍimahādevī, has: *Mahāsāmanta*, *Mahārāja*, *Rājaputra*, *Antaraṅga*, *Kumārāmātya*, *Uparika*, *Viṣayapati*, *Tadāyuktaka*, *Dāṇḍapāśika*, *Sthānāntarika* and other dependants like *Cāṭa*, *Bhaṭa* and *Vallabha* in the first list and the offices of the *Mahāmahattara*, *Bṛhadbhogin*, *Pustapāla*, *Kuṭakolasa*, etc., in the other. In these, *Antaraṅga* seems to be the king’s personal physician or private secretary⁴ and *Vallabha* a courtier.

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, pp. 215-16.

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⁴ Cf. *Ind. Cult.*, Vol. I, pp. 684 ff. There is an instance of the same physician being called both *Antaraṅga* and *Rāja-vaidya* (court physician). Some scholars interpret *Antaraṅga* as the privy councillor.

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The Madhainagar plate⁵ of Lakṣmaṇasena (1179-1206 A. D.) has the following list: *Rājan*, *Rājanyaka*, *Rājñī*, *Rāṇaka*, Rājaputra, Rājāmātya, Mahāpurohita, Mahādharmādhyakṣa, Mahāsandhivigrahika, Mahāsenāpati, Mahāmudrādhikṛta, Antaraṅga, Bṛhaduparika, Mahākṣapaṭalika, Mahāpratīhāra, Mahābhogika, Mahāpīlupati, Mahāgaṇastha, Dauḥsādhika, Cauroddharaṇika, Naubalahastyaśvagomahiṣājīvīkādivyāpṛtaka, Gaulmika, Daṇḍapāśika, Daṇḍanāyaka, Viṣayapati and Caṭṭa and Bhaṭṭa.

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⁵ Majumdar, *Ins. Beng.*, Vol. III, p. 111.

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In this list, Rājñī, probably meaning the queens of the subordinate rulers, has been added, and Rājanyaka and Rāṇaka, though the second is derived from the first, are distinguished. The Mahāpurohita was the chief priest and the Mahādharmādhyakṣa the superintendent of religious affairs. The Mahāmudrādhikṛta may have been the keeper of the royal seal, although it may be noted that a viceroy is sometimes described in medieval records as mudrāvyāpārān=paripanthayati, ‘is conducting the affairs of the seal.’¹ Bṛhaduparika is a dignified form of Uparika comparable to Bṛhadbhogika of some records. The Mahāgaṇastha was probably the head of a gaṇa, i.e. guild or corporation, or the royal agent supervising the work of such guilds. Dauḥsādhika is the same as Dauḥsādhasādhanika or Duḥsādhyasādhanika of other epigraphs. In Naubalahastyaśvagomahiṣājīvīkādivyāpṛtaka, the word uṣṭra is omitted and the designation seems to refer to certain military and civil officers in charge of the royal navy and cattle. The expression looks like a combination of Hastyaśvanaubalavyāpṛtaka and Hastyaśvoṣṭragomahiṣājīvīkādivyāpṛtaka of earlier records. Caṭṭa and Bhaṭṭa are different spellings of the words Cāṭa and Bhaṭa. Bhaṭṭa used here in the sense of Bhaṭa should not be confused with Bhaṭṭa in the Pandukeswar plate of Padmaṭa, in which Bhaṭa is separately mentioned.

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