India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.12

c12.s1.12

In actual practice also, the alliance of a Kshatriya king with a Brāhmaṇa prime-minister or chancellor was the prevailing political arrangement from about the Śaiśunāga period to the reign of Aśoka. The names of some of the great ministers were as well-known as those of the rulers; for example, we find mention of Varshakāra, chief minister of Ajātaśatru, Dīrgha Chārayāṇa of king Viḍūḍabha of Kosala, Yaugandharāyaṇa of Udayana, Chāṇakya of Chandragupta and also Bindusāra, Rādhagupta of Aśoka, Piśuna of Pālaka of Avanti (*Artha. Comm.*), Bharata Rohaka of Chaṇḍa Pradyota, Āchārya Ghoṭamukha of Aṁśumān of Avanti (Bhagvaddatta, *History of India*, p. 258), Kaṇiṅka Bhārdvāja of Parantapa, king of Kosala (*Artha. Comm.*), and Bābhravya of king Brahmadatta of Pañchāla (*Matsya Purāṇa*, XXI.30). As Jayaswal has observed, the system of noting historically the Prime Ministers' name occurs as a marked feature in Buddhist records (*Imperial History of India*, p. 17). All these ministers occupied positions of the highest responsibility in the administration and were bound by constitutional ties to the king whose policies they directed so completely.