State and Government in Ancient India c23.s6.18

c23.s6.18

The governors of the Maṇḍalas were sometimes royal princes, sometimes senior officers and sometimes also defeated kings, who had promised to become loyal and were kept under strict control. Maṇḍala governors had their own armies and courts. In the course of time, their posts tended to become hereditary and then they could not be distinguished from feudatory governors. Each of them had to entertain an imperial representative at his court, who acted like the Resident or the Political Agent under the British rule. He saw to it that the feudal chief entertained no treasonous ambitions and sent military contingents to help the emperor in his military undertakings. In order to keep himself in touch with the events and trends at the imperial capital, the feudatory governor also used to keep his own representative in the court of the emperor. He was required to be personally present to offer his greetings, presents and loyalty on the occasions like the coronation, marriage or the birth of a son or a daughter.