The Rashtrakutas and their Times c15.s1.49

c15.s1.49

Purohita, who was since early times an important member of the ministry, (65) seems to have ceased to belong to that body in the period we are studying. In the S'ilāhāra records he is differentiated from Mantrins and Amātyas, (66) and in the Nitivākyāmṛta (67) and Gahadwala records from the mantrins. (68) We do not possess any evidence about the Rāṣṭrakūṭa administration, but it is not improbable that here too he may have been an officer of the royal household rather than a member of the ministry. The place of the Purohita was taken in our period by an officer whose business it was to excercise general superintendence over religion and morality. Paṇḍita, the minister of morality and religion in the S'ukranīti, seems to embody the tradition of the Dhammamahāmātyas of Asoka, Samaṇa-mahāmātas of the Āndhras (69) and the Vinayasthitisthāpakas (70) of the Guptas. The tradition was continued in the north by the Chedis, one of whose records mentions Dharmapradhāna in addition to Mahāpurohita. (71) The office existed under the early Rāṣṭrakūṭa ruler Nannarāja in 708 A.D., (72) and the officer bore the significant title of Dharmāṅkus'a. It is not unlikely that the descendants of Nannarāja may have continued the office when they rose to the imperial position in the Deccan. One may be reasonably certain that at least under kings like Amoghavarsha I and Amoghavarsha III, who were more interested in matters.