The Rashtrakutas and their Times c16.s3.1

c16.s3.1

In the Rāṣṭrakūṭa period the cities and towns were in charge of prefects who were designated as purapatis or nagarapatis. These officers are rarely referred to in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa copper plate grants, but they are almost invariably mentioned in the grants of the Śilāhāras, who were the Konkan feudatories of the imperial power.³⁰ Military captains were often appointed to the posts; thus Rudrapayya, who was the prefect of Saravatura or modern Soratur in Karnatak, was one of the body-guards of the emperor Kṛṣṇa III.³¹ Mahādeva and Pātāladeva, the joint prefects of Badami under Jagadekamalla in 1140, were both of them Daṇḍanāyakas or military officers. Sometimes learned men also were appointed to these posts; the 12 officers in charge of Teridal in S. M. C. are described in 1123 A.D. as promoting the everlasting six systems of philosophy.³² One expects active interest in art or philosophy from men of letters rather than from military generals. Kuppeya, a governor of Soratur under Amoghavarsha I, was a Mahāsāmanta; it would, therefore, appear that some of these town prefects enjoyed the dignity and status of feudatories, as was the case with some of the Rāṣṭrapatis and Viṣayapatis.