State and Government in Ancient India c17.s5.5

c17.s5.5

We get more detailed information of the administration of ordinary towns from the Gupta period onwards. It was usually presided over by an officer of the central government usually called *purapāla*. If the town was the headquarters of a district, the district officer usually discharged this duty as well. If the town was also a fort, it used to have another imperial officer called *koṭṭapāla*, who had under him a number of commandants.¹ Very often the *purapālas* were themselves military captains, as was the case with ministers and district officers as well; thus Rudrapayya, who was the prefect of the town of Saravṭura in Karnāṭak, was a bodyguard of the Rāshtrakūṭa emperor Kṛishṇa III.² Mahādeva and Pātāladeva, the joint prefects of Badāmī under Jagadekamalla in 1140, were both *daṇḍanāyakas* or military captains. Sometimes, however, the *purapālas* were selected from among scholars as well, some of whom were interested in promoting the study of ‘the everlasting six systems of philosophy.’³ It is quite possible that they might have combined the literary qualifications with military ability as well.