Indian Epigraphy c16.s3.18

c16.s3.18

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