Indian Epigraphy c16.s3.2

c16.s3.2

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).