State and Government in Ancient India c23.s1.17

c23.s1.17

To return to territorial divisions, Rāshṭra or Deśa denoted the province and Āhāra or Vishaya the district. But sometimes these terms were used indiscriminately; thus *Sātavāhanī rāshṭra* was also called *Sātavāhanī-āhāra*. The chief officer over Rāshṭra was called Rāshṭrapati or Rāshṭrika; he belonged to the cadre of the Amātyas. Sometimes, however, he used to belong to the military cadre, as was the case with Mahādaṇḍanāyaka Sridhara, the governor of Mālwā under the Western Kshatrapas. The special designation of the district officers does not occur; they are referred to merely as Amātyas to whose cadre they belonged. Sometimes however they were military officers, as was the case with Sātavāhanī-Āhāra at the end of the Sātavāhana rule.¹ It may however be noted that the members of the Amātya cadre also supplied military and naval officers under the Mauryas. Probably a certain amount of military training was compulsory for all the members of the Amātya service.