Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c14.s3.97

c14.s3.97

¹ The empire, as already stated, was divided into a number of provinces (*diśā*, *deśa* etc). Each province seems to have been further subdivided into *āhālas* or districts under regular civil administration, and *koṭṭa-vishayas* or territories surrounding forts (Hultzsch. p. xl). Each civil administrative division had a *pura* or *nagara* (city) and a rural part called *janapada* which consisted of *grāmas* or villages. An important official in each *janapada* was the *Rājūka*. The designations *Prādeśika* and *Rāṭhika* possibly suggest the existence of territorial units styled *pradeśa* and *raṭṭha* or *rāshtra*.