State and Government in Ancient India c23.s1.9

c23.s1.9

The general machinery of the provincial, district and town administrations remained the same. The foreign rulers changed the designations or titles of some offices; thus the provincial governor was called Kshatrapa or Mahākshtrapa under the Śakas and the Kushānas, the district officer probably as *meridarh* and the military commandant as *strategos* under the Greeks. These designations however did not become popular in India, for the foreign rulers themselves were being rapidly Indianised. Rudradāman, the 3rd ruler of the Śaka house in Western India, took pride in his ability to write elegant and chaste Sanskrit.