State and Government in Ancient India c23.s1.6

c23.s1.6

The powers of the king were on the increase ; there was no revival of a popular assembly like the *samiti* of the Vedic period. In the centre, the power was vested in the king and the ministry, the latter being responsible only to the former. Ministers were known as *matisachivas* and *karmasachivas* under Rudradāman I. Among the specific ministers only the treasurer known as *Koshṭhtāgārika* or *Bhāṇḍāgārika*, figures in our records.¹ Others of course must have existed, though they do not figure in our records. The secretariat continued to function as in the earlier period and used to serve as the link between the Central Government on the one hand and Provincial and District administrations on the other. It received the reports from the latter, and after considering them, used to communicate to them the decisions of the former.