Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c44.86

c44.86

§ 323. Charters of grant made by kings in the Gupta period are countersigned by one of the ministers, the *Sāndhi-vigrahika*. According to Bṛihaspati a document of gift should obtain the endorsement *jñātammayā* or "noted by me" from the office of the Sāndhi-vigrahika. Bṛihaspati's law code was a work of the period and this provision is of importance. It shows that the charters which bear the name of that minister or his office were really noted by his department. This procedure throws light on the constitutional position of the ministers in that period. Even a humble gift had to be sanctioned by the ministry and it was sanctioned on their behalf by the Sāndhi-vigrahika who apparently had to consider whether the gift was right from the point of view of the foreign department. Donees might be outsiders come in the kingdom. They might be enemy spies; the foreign office, therefore, was the first authority to sanction or to reject the gift which would be passed as a matter of course by the other members of the government. The charters bear the countersignature of the officer or his assistant who passed it last. He is called Dūṭaka or 'despatcher'. The copper plate grant made by king Hastin¹ in the year corresponding to 510 A.C. is first sanctioned by Mahā-Sāndhi-vigrahika Vīdhudatta and finally passed by the senior minister of army, Mahābalā-