State and Government in Ancient India c23.s2.t4.1

c23.s2.t4.1

The Guptas had a superior civil service, corresponding to the I. C. S. and I. A. S. of the modern times. The members of this service were known as Kumārāmātyas. Scholars had once thought that Kumārāmātyas were ministers to the princes of the blood-royal, but a careful analysis of the epigraphical evidence shows that such was not the case. Harisheṇa, the foreign minister of Samudragupta, and Śikharasvāmin and Pṛithivīsheṇa, the ministers of Kumāragupta I, were working directly under the emperors, but are still described as Kumārāmātyas. District officers in Puṇḍravardhana were styled as Kumārāmātyas; nay, sometimes they are seen to be the subordinates of Mahādaṇḍanāyakas also. It is clear that Kumārāmātyas worked sometimes as the district officers, sometimes as government secretaries and were often promoted to the posts of ministers and generals. They thus resembled the Amātyas of the Maurya and Sātavāhana administration who filled similar posts. Why the term Kumāra was prefixed to their designation in this period is difficult to understand. They were so called probably because they were Amātyas since their youth, i.e. since the time of joining service. They were thus members of a superior service since recruitment and corresponded to the officers of the I. C. S. and I. A. S. grades of the modern time. Seals refer to Yuvarājapadīya-Kumārāmātyas and Paramabhaṭṭārakapadīya-Kumārāmātyas; they seem to be the officers of this cadre attached to the office of the heir-apparent and the emperor. The designation Kumārāmātya became fairly popular; we find the officers of this designation existing in Kathiawar under the Maitrakas of Valabhī and in some local dynasties of Orissa¹.