Indian Epigraphy c16.s3.61

c16.s3.61

The Mallasarul plate¹ of the time of Gopacandra, who ruled over considerable parts of Bengal about the middle of the 6th century, gives the list of the following officers in connection with a grant of land: *Kāntākṭika*, *Kumārāmātya*, *Cauroddharanika*, *Upaṅka*, *Audraṅgika*, *Agrahārika*, *Aurṇasthānika*, *Bhogapatika*, *Viṣayapati*, *Hiraṇyasāmudāyika*, *Pattalaka*, *Āvasathika* and *Devadroṇīsambaddha*. The *Kāntākṭika* seems to have informed the king about the progress made by officers in special undertakings. *Cauroddharaṇika* was a police officer reponsible for collecting fines for theft. The *Audraṅgika*, *Agrahārika* and *Aurṇa-sthānika* were apparently superintendents respectively of *Udraṅga*, *Agrahāra* (rent-free lands granted to Brāhmaṇas) and *Ūrṇasthāna* (wool factory). The word *udraṅga* is used in many records according to which the donee was entitled to enjoy the gift land together with *udraṅga*, possibly meaning the principal tax.² The *Bhogapatika* was probably the superintendent of *Bhogas* or *Jāgīrs*. The *Hiraṇyasāmudāyika* may have been the collector of taxes in cash (*hiraṇya*) and the *Pattalaka* the officer in charge of a territorial unit called *Pattalā*, while the *Āvasathika* was apparently superintendents of *Āvasathas* probably meaning colleges or *Dharmaśālās*.³ *Devadroṇīsambaddha* reminds us of the officer called *Devadroṇyadhikṛta*, taken to mean ‘a superintendent of the procession of idols’, in the Talesvar plate (6th century) of Dyutivarman.⁴