State and Government in Ancient India c15.21

c15.21

The evidence of the Dharmaśāstra and the Nītiśāstra, however, shows that the *ratnins* did not disappear without leaving a more effective body to discharge their functions; this was the council of ministers, variously described as *mantrins*, *sachivas* and *amātyas*.³ We have shown already how the ministry was regarded as indispensable for good government by our constitutional thinkers and the available evidence shows that it functioned in historic times in most of our states. In the earliest historical dynasty of Magadha, Vassakāra figures as the premier of Ajātaśatru;¹ his contemporary in Kośsala, king Prasenajit, relied upon the advice of his ministers Mṛigadhara and Śrīvṛidha in carrying out important schemes.² The Jātakas frequently refer to ministers.³ The Mauryas and the Śuṅgas had a regular council of ministers known as *Mantri-parishad*, which figures both in inscriptions and literature.⁴ The Śaka rulers of Western India ruled with the assistance of a council of *mati-sachivas* (councillors) and *karma-sachivas* (administrative heads of departments)⁵. *Mantrins* (ministers) figure frequently in the Gupta inscriptions. The ministers under the Maukharis wielded great power, for it was their council which offered the Maukhari crown to Harsha, when the last Maukhari king died suddenly without leaving an issue.⁶ Ministry was a regular feature of the medieval Hindu dynasties as well. Mahāpradhāna (prime - minister) Purushottamadeva figures in one record of the Paramāra king Yaśovarman.⁷ Mahāmātyas (chief ministers) figure in almost all land grants of the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, and *mantrins* (ministers) in those of the Gāhadawālas of U. P. Mahāmātya (chief minister) usually heads the list of the officers mentioned in the grants of the Chāhamānas of Nadol⁸. Several ministerial families are mentioned in the records of the Chandellas of Mahobā.⁹ The *Rājatarangiṇī* shows how ministers played a very important part in the administration of Kashmir. The same was the case with the Rāshtrakūṭa, the Chālukya and the Śilāhāra adminstrations of the Deccan, as shown by a number of their records. One Yādava grant states how it was made by the king after previous consultation wth the ministry.¹ The Deccan records further show that ministers often enjoyed the status of the feudatories and were granted the coveted title of *mahāsāmantas* and *mahā-maṇḍaleśvaras*.