The Rashtrakutas and their Times c15.s1.68

c15.s1.68

Pratinidhi is the only minister mentioned by Sukra whom we miss in our epigraphical records. His function was to act for the king and S'ukra gives him a status inferior only to that of the heir-apparent.⁷⁸ His absence in our records may be due to the fact that kings of our period were accustomed to attend to the administration either themselves or through their heir-apparents, but not through a Pratinidhi. Palitana plates of S'ilāditya, dated 574 A.D.⁷⁹ mention an officer called Rājasthānīya, immediately after Rājaputra and before Amātya; he may, therefore, be possibly occupying the position of the Pratinidhi of S'ukra. The Antroli-Chharoli plates of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Karkka,⁸⁰ however, use the term Rājasthānīya to denote royal officers of a very low grade. It would, therefore, appear that Pratinidhi or Rājasthānīya was not a usual member of the ministry in our period. It may be pointed out that among the writers on political science only S'ukra includes him in the ministry.