The Rashtrakutas and their Times c16.s1: Vishayapatis
The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times c16.s1
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Vishayapatis
c16.s1.1
District officers were a replica on a smaller scale of the Rāṣṭrapatis. We have seen just now how even small Tahsil or Taluka officers had to be suppressed by military force when grown insubordinate; it is, therefore, clear that all the officers like the district, subdivisional and Taluka officers had some military forces under their command. Some of the district officers or *Vishayapatis* enjoyed the feudatory status like the provincial governors; thus Kundama-rāja, the governor of Kuntala vishaya in 1019 A.D., was a *mahāmaṇḍales'vara* entitled to the Pañcamahāśabdas.¹⁵ Whether all the district officers enjoyed this status is doubtful.
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¹⁰ I. A., XII, p. 225.
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¹¹ E. I., XV, p. 130.
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¹² E. I., VII, p. 214.
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¹³ See E. I., VI, p. 102, and VII, p. 214.
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¹⁴ Ante pp. 159-60.
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¹⁵ I. A., V, p. 17.
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Vishayapatis exercised considerable revenue powers, since they are invariably mentioned in the copper plates among the officers requested not to disturb the possession of the donees of the lands or villages granted. They must have been obviously responsible to the provincial governors or to the central government for the revenue of their districts. Remission of taxes by subordinate officers required their sanction in order to be operative,¹⁶ but it is not clear whether they had not themselves to refer the matter to their superiors before passing their own orders on the point. In the Gupta administration the Vishayapatis had the power to sell the waste lands situated within their own jurisdiction on behalf of the central government; it is not known whether the Rāṣṭrakūṭas had permitted them similar powers. The administration was highly centralised, and it would be no wonder if we discover a record proving that no such powers were delegated to them.
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¹⁶ Kunihalimalli inscription, E. I., XVI, p. 280.
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Vishayapatis were associated with a council of *Vishaya-mahattaras* in their administrative work. This body consisted of the notables of the district and its probable nature and powers have been already discussed on an earlier occasion.¹⁷
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¹⁷ *Ante*, pp. 159-60.
Linked texts (6)
- Mayidavōlu plates, time of Śiva-Skandavarman, year 10 — Prakrit
- Indian Antiquary
- Nidagundi inscription of the time of Amōghavarsha I —About A.D. 874-75 — Kannada
- Garra plates of Trailokyavarman, plate II — Sanskrit
- Damodarpur copper-plate inscription of the time of Kumāragupta I (Plate No. 1), year 124 — Sanskrit
- No. CXXXII. Hatti-Mattur inscription of the temple of Bhōgēśvara — Kannada