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History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c20.s1.t1: Territorial Divisions

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c20.s1.t1

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Territorial Divisions

c20.s1.t1.1

For purposes of administration the kingdom was divided into numerous provinces. These provinces were usually called *bhukti*, as the Kānyakubjabhukti in the Barah copper plate;⁴ or *bhūmi*, as the Gurjaratrā-bhūmi in the Daulatpura charter;⁵ or *maṇḍala*, as the Saurāṣṭra maṇḍala in the Unā grant.⁶ According to the Barah copper plate, however, *maṇḍala* was the next lower unit after *bhukti*, and was not a synonymous term. The provinces were further subdivided into *Viṣayas* or districts. Among examples of them we find mention of Udumbara¹ and Dindavanaka.² The term *bhoga* also seems to have been used sometimes in the same sense, as we read of the Vamśapoṭakabhoga.³ The headquarters of a district were called *Adhiṣṭhāna* or *Pattana*.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, XIX, pp. 18, 19.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, V, pp. 211, 213.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, IX, pp. 3, 9.

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¹ *Ibid.*, XIX, pp. 18, 19.

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² *Ibid.*, V, pp. 211, 213.

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³ *Ibid.*, III, p. 266.

c20.s1.t1.8

The next unit in the descending scale was the *Agrahāra* or a modern *Tahsil*. We thus read of the Valākāgrahāra in the Barah copper-plate. In the Gahaḍavāla records, however, the term *Pattalā* is used in the same sense.

c20.s1.t1.9

Last came the *grāma* or village, which has been the most stable unit of administration in India from time immemorial. Furthermore, in some records the term *pāṭaka* appears; this, according to the lexicographer Hemacandra denoted one-half of a village.⁴ It may be pertinent to note that Kielhorn also explains it as “grāmaikadeśa” i.e., “the outlying portion of a village or a kind of hamlet which had a name of its own, but really belonged to a larger village.”⁵

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⁴ Cf. “Pāṭakas-tu tadardhe syāt (see *Abhidhāna-Cintāmaṇi*, Boehtlingk’s edition, p. 179).

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⁵ *Ind. Ant.*, XVIII, p. 135.

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