State and Government in Ancient India c23.s1.2

c23.s1.2

We do not possess detailed information about the different kingdoms that flourished in India from *c.* 200 B. C. to 300 A. D., and so can give only a very imperfect picture of their administration. There were a number of Indian dynasties ruling at this time like the Ailas, the Śuṅgas, the Kaṇvas and the Sātavāhanas; there were also foreign houses like those of the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and the Kushāṇas. But the administrative structure of the latter did not differ in any vital and important points from that of the former. Foreign rulers came under the powerful influence of the Indian political thought; Rudradāman, the 3rd ruler of the Scythian house of Western India had assiduously studied the Indian science of polity (*arthavidyā*); he asserts that his officials were possessing the necessary qualifications of *amātyas* (*amātyaguṇas*) and is proud to point out that he had refrained from the imposition of benevolences *praṇaya*) and forced labour (*vishṭi*). It is clear that though a foreigner, Rudradāman had completely assimilated Indian political theories and was anxious that his administrative structure should conform to the traditional Indian type.