State and Government in Ancient India c15.84

c15.84

The Foreign Minister was to be well versed in the fourfold policy of *sāma* (conciliation), *dāma* (appeasement), *daṇḍa* (war), and *bheda* (causing dissentions in the enemy's camp).² Numerous inscriptions show that he was also usually in charge of drafting the copper plate charters, granting lands and villages to Brāhmaṇas, temples and monasteries. This appears rather strange, but when we remember that the charters had usually to describe the genealogy of the dynasty with the exploits and achievements of each ruler, one can at once realise that the Foreign Minister was the best person to draft the texts of the grants. It is interesting to note that there is an agreement in this respect between the epigraphical practice and the dicta of contemporary Smṛitis; an anonymous text quoted in the *Mitāksharā*, expressly states that the *sandhivigrahakārī* should draft the copper-plate charters.³