Indian Epigraphy c16.s3.48

c16.s3.48

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.’