Indian Epigraphy c16.s4.54

c16.s4.54

Apart from the fact that words like *deśa*, *maṇḍala*, *viṣaya*, etc., were sometimes employed to indicate a kingdom or territory instead of a district of it, it is often difficult to determine which one indicated a district and which one its subdivision, even when the expressions are used in the restricted sense and the areas refer to a particular region of the country. Thus, in the early medieval inscriptions of Bengal, we have reference to several *Maṇḍalas* and *Viṣayas* forming parts of the *Bhukti* or province of Puṇḍravardhana. Among these, there were : (1) Vyāghrataṭi-maṇḍala in which Mahantāprakāśa-viṣaya was included; (2) Samataṭa-maṇḍala in which Paranāyi-viṣaya was included; (3) Sthālikkaṭa-viṣaya in which Āmraṣaṇḍikā-maṇḍala and Uḍragrāma-maṇḍala were included; (4) Koṭivarṣa-viṣaya in which Gokalikā-maṇḍala and Halāvarta-maṇḍala were included; (5) Khāḍī-viṣaya which was also called Khāḍī-maṇḍala.¹ It will be seen from these instances that in some cases a *Maṇḍala* included a *Viṣaya* and in others a *Viṣaya* included a *Maṇḍala*, while, in a third group of cases, the same district was called sometimes a *Maṇḍala* and sometimes a *Viṣaya*. A number of *Vīthis* are known to have formed parts of Kaṅkagrāma-bhukti about the borders of Bihar and Bengal; but in the neighbouring Vardhamāna-bhukti the *Vīthis* were included in *Maṇḍalas*.² According to the Ghughrahati plate³ of Samācāradeva, the *Uparika* or provincial governor in charge of Suvarṇa-vīthī was the immediate superior of the *Viṣayapati*, i.e. the governor of the *Viṣaya* or district called Vāraka-maṇḍala. Sometimes we have names like Daṇḍabhukti-maṇḍala⁴ showing that Daṇḍa was originally the name of a *Bhukti* and later that of a *Maṇḍala*.