Indian Epigraphy c16.s3.136

c16.s3.136

Many other official designations are known from inscriptions. The lists of addressees of the kind quoted above is not found in the charters of the Imperial Gaṅgas of Orissa. But some of their grants are stated to have been made in the presence of a number of officers. Thus the second set of the Puri plates of Narasiṁha IV (1378-1402 A.D.) records grants which were made in the presence of certain officers enjoying the designations Pātra, Mahāpātra, Sandhivigraha or Sāndhivigrahika, Dvāraparīkṣā, Mahāsenāpati, Puro-Śrīkaraṇa, Vāhinīpati, Senādhyakṣa, Buḍhāleṅkā and Bhitara-Bhaṇḍāra-adhikārī.¹ Among these, Pātra indicates a minister and Mahāpātra a minister of a higher rank. Sanskrit Parīkṣaka is given here as Parīkṣā (Oḍiyā Parichā) meaning superintendent or governor. Dvāraparīkṣā was probably the old Pratihāra or gate-keeper of the king's chamber, palace or city.² Śrīkaraṇa indicates a scribe or scribe-accountant and may be compared to Śrīkaraṇādhipa or Śrīkaraṇaprabhu, the designation of Hemādri who superintended the business connected with the drawing up of documents in the service of Yādava Mahādeva and Rāmacandra.³ Puro prefixed to it is difficult to understand. It may be Sanskrit Paura, 'pertaining to a city or the capital' or puras indicating the front rank the person in question held among the officers of his class. The second alternative is preferable since it is probably the same as the first part of the Orissan official designations like Paṭṭa-Nāyaka. Bhitarabhaṇḍāra-adhikārī is Oḍiyā for Sanskrit Abhyantarabhaṇḍārādhikārin, officer in charge of the inner store-house or treasury (i.e. one inside the palace or the harem).' Buḍhāleṅkā is an Oḍiyā designation indicating 'the chief servant', comparable with the Mahāpādamūlika of the Ramganj plate. Similar other official designations in the regional languages are found in the medieval epigraphs of different parts of the country, although most of the official designations were in Sanskrit or at least of Sanskrit origin.