Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s2.t2.6

c19.s2.t2.6

Vaijayantī (in North Kanara) and other places.¹ The imperial dominions were divided into administrative units called *āhāra* or *janapada* and placed under rulers who fell into two classes, *viz.*, (*a*) *amātyas* who were ordinary civil functionaries and (*b*) military governors and feudatories styled *mahāsenāpati*, *mahāraṭhi*, *mahābhoja*, and even *Rājan*. *Amātyas* are mentioned in connection with Aparānta (North Koṅkaṇ), Govardhana (Nāsik), Māmāḍ(l)a (Poona), Banavāsī (North Kanara) and Khaḍḍavali (Godāvarī region). *Mahāraṭhis* are found associated with Chitaldrug, Nānāghaṭ, Karle and Kanheri (in the North Koṅkaṇ). They intermarried with the imperial family (and at times adopted its nomenclature) and also with the Chuṭu, Kauśika and Vāsiashṭha² clans. The *Mahābhojas* had close relations with Chuṭu rulers of Banavāsī. *Mahāsenāpatis* are found in Nāsik in the days of Yajña Śrī and in Bellary in the time of a Pulumāyi. The rule of these military governors, some of whom belonged to the Kuśika³ family or were matrimonially connected with it, was very much in evidence in the last days of the Sātavāhana empire. Potentates with the title of *rājā* ruled in the Kolhapur region. The most notable among these were: Vāsiashṭhīputra Vilivāyakura, Māṭharīputra Śivalakura and Gautamīputra Vilivāyakura (II). The Vilivāyakura group cannot fail to remind one of Baleokouros of Hippokoura mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy (*c.* 150 A. D.)