India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c12.s1.34

c12.s1.34

*ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS*—Pāṇini mentions government servants of several grades who appear to have been organized into a Civil Service. The term *āyukta* was a general term for government servants (II.3.40) engaged in routine work (*āsevā*). Kauṭilya refers to *āyukta purushas* of a king (*Arth.* I.15, p. 27), and so do the *Jātakas* (*yuttakapurisā rāño*, *Jāt.*, V.14). When they were assigned special jobs they were called *niyukta* after their assignments (*Tatra niyuktaḥ*, IV.4.69). As examples of *niyukta* officers, the *Kāśikā* mentions *Koshṭhāgārika*, store-keeper employed in the royal storehouses (*Agārāntāt-ṭhan*, IV.4.70), who according to Kauṭilya was of the grade of a superintendent. Other special officers whose names ended in *agāra* were *Devāgārika* for temples, and *Bhāṇḍāgarika* for stores (*Kāśikā* on IV.4.70). These must have been officers known from olden times (cf. also Kauṭilya). Personal attendants, such as *chhatradhāra*, bearer of the royal umbrella, *tūṇīdhāra*, bearer of the quiver of arrows, and *bhṛiṅgāradhāra*, bearer of the king's spittoon, were of the *niyukta* class (*Aṇi niyukte*, VI.2.75).