Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s4.62

c19.s4.62

The big empires of North Western India were split up into vast satrapies and smaller provinces ruled by *Mahākshatrapas* and *Kshatrapas*. The satrapies as well as the kingdoms outside the limits of the Scythian Empire, were divided into districts called *Rāshṭra*, *Āhāra*, *Janapada*, *Deśa* or *Vishaya*. We do not as yet hear of the organisation into *Bhuktis* (*lit.* allotments, administrative divisions) so widely prevalent in Post-Scythian times. *Rāshṭra*, *Āhāra* (or *Hāra*) and *Janapada* seem to have been synonymous terms in this age, as is proved by the case of the *Sātahani-raṭṭha* (*rāshṭra*) or *Sātavāhanihāra* which is styled a *janapada* in the Myakadoni Inscription. The chief officer in a *Rāshṭra* or *Āhāra* was the *Rāshṭrapati*, *Rāshṭrika* (*Rathika*) or *Amātya*. The *Amātya Suviśākha*, for instance, governed *Surāshṭra* under the *Mahākshatrapa Rudradāman*. The *Amātyas Vishṇupālita, Śyāmaka*, and *Śiva-skanda-datta* successively governed the *Āhāra* or district of Govardhana (Nāsik) in the time of Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi and Pulumāyi, while the neighbouring *Āhāra* of Māmāla (Poona District) was under an *Amātya* whose name ended in—Gupta. In the Far South the chief officer of the *Āhāra* seems to have been called ‘*Vyāpṛita*.’¹ The *Janapadas*, particularly those on vulnerable frontiers, were sometimes placed under the charge of military governors (*Strategos, Mahāsenāpati, Mahādaṇḍanāyaka*, etc.). The *Janapada* of *Sātavāhani-hāra* was, for instance, under the *Mahāsenāpati* Skandanāga.² Part of Eastern Mālwa seems to have been governed by a Saka *Mahādaṇḍanāyaka* shortly before its annexation by the Imperial Guptas and portions of the Indian borderland, were governed by a line of *Strategoi* (Aspavarman, Sasa)³ under Azes and Gondophernes.