State and Government in Ancient India c23.s3.10

c23.s3.10

As usual, there was a well organised secretariat at the capital. The Inspector General of the Government Records figures in the Bansekhra plate as *Mahākshapaṭalādhṛita*. The superior civil service was probably manned by Kumārāmātyas, from whose cadre the district and secretariat officers and ministers were selected. The centre had its own inspecting officers. Its communications were carried by royal messengers, who are described as *dīrghādhvagas* in the *Harshacharit*. This work refers to an officer called *sarvagataḥ*;¹ he was probably a member of the secret service department, which figured so prominently in the Mauryan administration. It appears that most of the senior officers were paid not in cash but by assignments of lands, villages and cities. ‘Ministers of state and common officials,’ says Yuan Chwang, ‘all have their portion of land and are maintained by cities assigned to them’; government servants of the lower grades were paid in cash or land according to their work.² Harsha’s administration thus was the forerunner of the feudal system that became popular in northern India a little later.