Indian Epigraphy c16.s3.59

c16.s3.59

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