The Rashtrakutas and their Times c18.s2.t1.1

c18.s2.t1.1

In ancient as in modern times the state was the owner of the mines in the realm. The expression *sahābhyantarasiddhi*, which occurs in most of our grants, transfers to the donees the state's right to the mineral wealth in the interior of the earth. *Vāchaspatya-bṛhadadhidhāna* and *S'abdārthachintāmaṇi* both give *nishpatti* or production as a synonym of *siddhi*; according to *Dharaṇi* the word also means *sampatti* or wealth. Macdonell and Apte state in their dictionaries that the word has also the sense of payment or recovery. *Abhyantarasiddhi* would, therefore, mean 'realisation of whatever is in the interior (of the soil)' or 'wealth in the interior (of the earth)' or 'recovery of whatever is in the interior (of the earth)' It is, therefore, clear that the meaning, which is here ascribed to this term for the first time, is the correct one and the expression proves that the state was the owner of the mines and minerals.