History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s21.12

v3.c41.s21.12

The chief queen and the chief prince as also the physician, the astrologer and the Purohita or religious preceptor were persons of importance in every kingdom; but they were not ministers. The prime minister there was, but he was called Mantrin in some and Mahāmātya in others. The word Mantrin means counsellor and Amātya means a constant attendant. The foreign minister or Mahāsāndhivigrika is there, as also the chief revenue minister called Mahākshapaṭalika, a word substitued in Thana by Śrīkaraṇa or master of land register. The finances and treasury were under the Bhāndāgārika. The commander-in-chief was also there. In Bengal there was in addition the chief officer for elephants, the elephant arm in Bengal being maintained at great strength (in fact the kings of Bengal were called Gajapatis) and in other states there was the chief cavalry officer. It is curious to find no mention of the Chief Justice or chief judicial officer. Probably the king himself decided such cases as came to the highest court with the help of all these officers and assessors, as we will show later. The king was not bound to consult his ministers though he usually did so. In Thana, however, it seems that not only was he bound to consult them but that the signatures of consent of his five ministers were necessary for the validity of land grants and presumably of other state orders. This was a practice peculiar to the Śilāhāra kingdom of Thana. It shows the advanced nature of its administration, involving the doctrine of the reponsibility of ministers. Or perhaps it may be that Thana being originally subordinate to the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, important ministers were appointed from the imperial court and their consent was considered necessary to every important act and the practice continued even after the Śilāhāras became independent. This system, however, of mediæval ministry together with ministers' names entirely disappeared in Mahomedan times, so much so that when Hindu rule was revived under Śivaji, we have different names and functions assigned to ministers as we proceed to show in a note.