History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c12.6

v1.c12.6

The grāma or village formed the backbone of the country and its administration and had fixed sites and boundaries For the villages remained undisturbed in the internecine wars that were constantly going on and found no difficulty in transferring their allegiance to any new king or any new power. The important towns no doubt suffered in the wars waged and were frequently devastated entirely. But the villages were undisturbed and remained self-contained in their administration, having their hereditary headmen and head registrars corresponding to the Patels and the Patwaris of modern days. From the Harsha-Charita it appears that the former's name was अक्षपलिक. and the latter's name was करणिक़. Karana is obviously the register of tenancies in the village and the Patawari is still called in the south करणम् and करणिक़ and Kulakarana in the Deccan also means the same thing. The word Patil is derived in my opinion from अक्षपटल which word occurs in Kautilya's Artha-Śāstra also (page 62) and which there plainly means an office building for keeping records (अक्षपटलमध्यक्ष:प्रत्यङ्मुखमुदङ्मुखं वा विभक्तोस्थाननिबंधपुस्तकस्थाने कारयेत). It seems clear from this that there were record offices or government offices so to speak in every village. In fact ग्रामाक्षपटल would mean something like the Chavdi of a Deccan village, where government work is ordinarily done and the man in charge of it was called ग्रामाक्षपलिक. He is thus clearly the headman of the village, and had a right to present nazar to the kings as described by Bāṇa. (H. C. 274) तत्रस्थस्य चास्य ग्रामाक्षपलिक: सकलकरणपरिकर: करोतु देवो दिवसग्रहणमथैवावन्ध्यशासन:शासनानामित्यभिधाय वृषाङ्कामभिनवघटितां हाटक मयीं मुद्रां समुपनिन्थे. The word Mahākshapatalika occurs in a grant of Dharasena dated A. D. 512, see Corp. Ins. III p. 180, and indicates that there was a chief revenue or record officer for the whole state. In this way the ordered nature of the administration is testified to by the maintenance of records in every vlllage, town, chief town and the capital. Hiuen Tsang also states that regular records were maintained in each kingdom. The ग्रामाक्षपलिक is, therefore, the parent of the modern Patel and was the chief government official in each village. This village officer is also mentioned in another inscription ( Corp. Ins. III p. 257 ) where the word अन्यग्रामाक्षपलाधिकृत occurs and indicates the appointment of the officer in every village.