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State and Government in Ancient India c17.s3: District Administration

State and Government in Ancient India c17.s3

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District Administration

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The *vishaya* of our ancient records usually corresponded with the district of the modern administration, consisting of about a thousand to two thousand villages. This administrative unit was known as *āharaṇī* in Kāthiawār and *rāshtra* in M. P., Andhradeśa and Tamil country in the early centuries of the Christian era¹. The head of the *vishaya* was naturally called *vishayapati* or *vishayādhyaksha* in the Mauryan administration, since he is mentioned in Aśokan inscriptions immediately after the *rajjuka* and is also required to go on tour like him. *Sahasrādhipa* of the Smṛitis,² who was in charge of a thousand villages, is probably to be identified with him. The *nāḍu* was a smaller division in Tamil country, but the powers of its head were probably similar to those of a *vishayapati*.

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¹ *E. I.*, XVI. p. 18; *E. I.*, XXIV, p. 261; *I. A.*, V. p. 155

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² *Manu*, VII. 115; *Vishṇu*, III. 70 ff.

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The district officers like the modern collectors were responsible for maintaining law and order in their districts; they had also to supervise the collection of government taxes and revenues. They were naturally assisted by a large subordinate staff; the *yuktas*, *āyuktas*, *niyutas* and *vyāpṛitas* who are exhorted in numerous records³ not to disturb the peaceful enjoyment of alienated villages, were most probably the members of the subordinate revenue staff. Some of them were known as *gopas* in the Mauryan age⁴ and as *dhruvas* in Gujarat in the post-Gupta period.⁵

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³ *E. g.*, *C. I. I.*, III. p. 165; *I. A.* XIII. p. 15

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⁴ *Arthaśāstra*, Bk. II. Chap. 36

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⁵ *C. I. I.*, III. p. 105

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In order to maintain law and order, the *vishayapatis* used to have a small military force under them. The *daṇḍanāyakas*, who figure so frequently in inscriptions and seals, were probably the captains of the military units quartered in the different places to work under the orders of the district officers. The officers of the police department, known as *daṇḍapāśikas* or *choroddharanikas*, probably worked under the directions of the district officers. There is no definite information as to whether the different officers of the commerce, industry and forest departments were subject to the immediate general supervision of the *vishayapati*, though working under the direct orders of the heads of their respective department at the capital. Whether the *vishayapatis* exercised any judicial powers is also not known at present. It is, however, not unlikely that they may have presided over the district court.

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The popular element had a large voice in the district administration at least in the Gupta period. The chief banker, the chief merchant, the chief artisan and the chief Kāyastha (writer) figured prominently in the council, which helped the *vishayapati* of Koṭivarsha in Bengal in the 5th century A. D. It should not be, however, supposed that only the big business dominated the district administration; the persons mentioned above were only the prominent members of the district council, which consisted of a large number of other members as well. The Faridpur Plate III¹ shows that there were about 20 members in this body, some of whom like Kulasvāmin and Śubhadeva were Brāhmaṇas and some like Ghoshachandra and Guṇachandra probably non-Brāhmaṇas. Whether the council looked after the administration of the headquarter of the district alone or of all the territories included in the district is not known. Probably the latter was the case.

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¹ *I. A.*, 1912, pp. 195 ff.

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Unfortunately we have no information as to how the members of the district council were elected or selected. As far as the bankers and merchants were concerned, they were obviously represented on the council by the president of their guilds, as their designation *prathama-śreshṭhin* and *prathama-sārthavāha* would show. The same was the case with the writers’ class. As far as the remaining members of the council were concerned, we shall not be wrong in assuming that persons of different classes, who had by their age, experience and character, acquired a preeminent status, were coopted to the council by a general consensus of opinion. Most probably the district council was dominated by the urban interests, but probably a few members might have hailed from the rural areas.

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We get no detailed picture of the district council from pre-or post-Gupta records. But *vishayamahattaras* or members of the district council figure in a 6th century Vishṇukuṇḍin record from Andhradeśa¹ and a 9th century Rāshṭrakūṭa document from Gujarat.² We may not be, therefore, far wrong in assuming that they existed and functioned in the post-Gupta period as well, more or less on the lines similar to those obtaining at Koṭivarsha under the Guptas.

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¹ *J. A. H. R. S.*, VII. p. 17

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² *E. I.*, I. p. 55

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The district administration was well organised in the Gupta period. It had its own Records Office in charge of a *pustapāla* (record keeper), who kept accurate records of the dimensions and ownership of not only cultivated but also the waste lands, and also of house sites in towns and villages. Even when waste lands, the ownership of which was vested in the state, were to be sold, the sanction of the popular council was necessary. Some of the land-grant charters even bear the seals of the district administration.³ Sealings of the district administrations of Rājagṛiha and Gayā were found at Nālandā, showing that their communications to outsiders bore the impress of their official seals⁴. All business was transacted methodically; even when the *vishayapati* himself wanted to purchase some waste lands in order to gift it for religious purposes, he had to appear before the council and take its permission.⁵

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³ *I. A.*, 1910, p. 195; p. 204

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⁴ *M. A. S. I.*, No. 66. pp. 45. ff.

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⁵ *E. I.*, XXII. p. 54

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