The Age of the Imperial Guptas c6.6.2

c6.6.2

Vogel’s brilliant suggestion now enables us to translate it as “(The seal) of the office of the Kumārāmātya.”⁴ At the same place 28 seals were discovered of the next higher class of Kumārāmātyas. They were equal in rank to the Yuvarāja, or a prince of the royal family. The term pādīya was not translated by Dr. Vogel; it means “equal to.” Pāda is used often in the same sense as *kalpa*. *Guru-pāda* is the same as *guru-kalpa* and means “one equal in rank to a preceptor.” There is some difficulty in translating the word *Yuvarāja*, because in the next class of *Kumārāmātyas* we find the use of the term *Yuvarāja-bhaṭṭāraka*. Evidently there were two different classes of *Yuvarājas*. Ordinarily *Yuvarāja* means a heir-apparent, but the use of *Bhaṭṭāraka* along with *Yuvarāja* distinctly indicates two different classes. As there can be only one heir-apparent in a kingdom or empire, such a distinction can only mean that the younger princes of the royal family had also come to be styled *Yuvarājas*, while the real heir-apparent was styled *Yuvarāja-bhaṭṭāraka*. It is evident, therefore, that some of the *Kumārāmātyas* were held to be equal in rank to princes of the blood royal like the princes of the Roman Empire or even the Holy Roman Empire.