Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c14.s3.128

c14.s3.128

³ Cf. *Karaṇika*, Officer-in-Charge of Documents or Accounts (IHQ, 1935, 586). In inscriptions of the seventh century A.D. the word *karaṇa* stood for *Adhikaraṇa* (Departmental or District Secretariat). *Prabāsi*, 1350 B.S. *Srāvaṇa*, 394. In Mbh. ii. 5, 34, *Kāranika* has, according to the commentary, the sense of a teacher. In the text itself the officers in question instruct the Kumāras and have to be *dharme sarvaśāstreshu kovidāḥ*, implying that their duties included among other things, those relating to Dharma (law, justice?).