History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c15.3

c15.3

*Administration.*—In the numerous copper-plate charters that have been discovered from time to time by the officers of the Government Epigraphy Department and by the labours of private scholars we obtain excellent glimpses of certain aspects of Pallava polity. From the earliest of these, namely, the Hirahadagalli copper-plates issued from the capital Kāñchīpuram we learn that already in the middle of the third century there prevailed a system of administration with the king at the top and the provincial governors and several departmental ministers in charge of parks, public baths, forests, reminding us in several details of the Mauryan and in some respects the Gupta administration. From the grant of the king made at his palace office in the head-quarters in Kāñchīpura addressed to the provincial Viceroy at Amarāvati ¹ and several others which were issued in the following periods it is evident that during the early Pallava days the empire of the Pallavas was not unlike those of modern times divided into bigger and smaller divisions for the government of which officers of the state were appointed. The heads of departments were selected from among the members of the royal family such as the younger sons and distinguished members of the army. In Toṇḍamaṇḍalam the distinct division ² into twenty-four koṭṭams appears to have been introduced in an earlier period retained unaltered during the age of the Pallavas as we find them commonly figure in their inscriptions. The Rāṣṭras which appear to be the equivalent of the maṇḍala were thus parcelled out into the hands of the viceroys called Viṣayikas while the smaller divisions such as the Koṣṭakas (koṭṭam) and Grāmas, were placed in charge of dēśatikadas and vapittas. The ministers and rahasyādikadas (privy councillors) were examined and consulted on state matters by the sovereign. Royal orders such as the one embodied in the Hiraḣaḍagalli plates were drawn by the king's private secretary. It is also learned from the early documents that there were officers in charge of the customs and the places or offices where they were collected were called maṇḍapa and the officers who were entrusted with the collection of the customs were known as maṇḍapis. There were also during this period special officers posted at bathing pools and tanks whose chief duties consisted in looking after the convenience of the bathers and their safety. They are called in this record as Tirthikas (Superintendents of bathing places). The persons mentioned by the name of the Gumikas who are taken by some scholars as captains appear to have been officers in charge of forests, a fact which shows that there was something like a forest department. The term neyka which resembles the Sanskrit name Nāyaka probably stands for the military officer whose status was next to those of Sēnāpatis or Commanders of the army. All these clearly indicate an elaborate system of governmental organization which as already indicated above resemble the North Indian ¹ rather than any southern system of administration that we know of.