The Rashtrakutas and their Times c7.s1.116

c7.s1.116

The Raṭhis and the Mahāraṭhis were, as we have seen above, small local rulers. The Hindu imperial theory and practice were generally against the policy of annexation, as will be shown in Chapter XII, Section B; the local chiefs were often converted into district officers and vice versa, according to the changes in the political situation. The terms Raṭhika, Rāṣṭriya, Rāṣṭrapati and Rāṣṭrakūṭa were used to denote local chiefs, district officers, and big landlords. From the Girnar inscription of Rudradāman we learn that the Mauryan governor in Kathiawar was styled Rāṣṭriya. From the Hirahadagalli grant of S’ivaskandavarman we find that district officers were known as Raṭhikas.⁵⁷ Numerous Vengi records show that the term Rāṣṭrakūṭa denoted important landlords in Andhra country during our period.⁵⁸ A number of Gurjara and Valabhi plates show that Rāṣṭrapati was the title of the district governor.⁵⁹ In the recently published Naravana plates of Vikramāditya II,⁶⁰ Govindarāja, who is called Rāṣṭrakūṭa in the record, may have been either a district officer or a big landlord, who wielded a fair amount of influence with the Cālukya emperor.