[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v4.c62.323 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.323 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.323 - **Language:** English ### [v4.c62.323](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v4.c62.323) Manu VII. 114 similarly observes that in the midst of two, three or five villages the king should place a central post of guards called 'gulma' and another called 'saṅgraha' in the midst of a hundred villages. Manu VII. 115-117, Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 7-14, Śānti 87.3ff, Agnipurāṇa 223. 1-4, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 61. 1-6, Mānasollāsa II. 2. 159-162 (p. 43) require the king to appoint a hierarchy of officers for one village, for groups of ten, twenty, hundred and thousand villages, who are to report what is wrong within their jurisdictions that they cannot themselves remedy to the officer next in grade above themselves and Manu VII. 120 prescribes that a minister of the king should supervise the doings and conflicts of all these officers. The Edicts of Aśoka show that he had to employ a hierarchy of officers such as the mahāmātras, the yuktas and rājukas for the administration of his vast empire. A similar administrative system seems to have been continued under the Gupta Emperors. From the Damodarpur, Baigram and other plates (E. I. XV. p. 113, E. I. XVII. pp. 345ff, E. I. XXI. p. 78) it appears that the Provincial Governors were appointed by the Gupta Emperor himself and were called \*uparika mahārāja\*, that either the Governors or Emperors appointed District officers (viṣayapati) who were often called Kumārāmātya, that the District officers were aided in their administrative work by a board of four advisers called nagara-śreṣṭhin (banker), sārthavāha (chief merchant), prathamakulika (chief of craft guilds) and prathama-kāyastha (chief secretary), that the District officer had his headquarters in a place called adhiṣṭhānā and had his several offices or courts (adhikaraṇas), and that in sales of lands revenue officers called \*pustapālas\* (keepers of records of rights) were consulted and had to report. In E. I. vol. XVII. pp. 345, 348 a copperplate of Kumāragupta I has ‘grāmāṣṭa-kulādhikaraṇam’ which means an office having jurisdiction over 8 villages. Manu VII. 119 says that the officer over 10 villages was to have as his salary a kula of land and kula is here said to mean (by Kullūka) as much land as is ploughed by two ploughs having six oxen yoked to each. The Vaijayantī on Viṣṇu Dh. S. III. 15 says ‘kulaṁ haladvaya-karṣaṇīyā bhūḥ’. Śukra (I. 191–192) states that the lord of one hundred \*grāmas\* is called sāmanta, an officer appointed by a king over one hundred villages is called anusāmanta, one over ten villages is called nāyaka (compare modern ‘\*naik\*’). Manu VII. 61 and 81, Yāj. I. 322, Kām. V. 75, Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 16–21, Viṣṇudharmottara II. 24. 48–49 say that the king should appoint as many \*adhyakṣas\* (superintendents) as are required for the several departments of the state, who are clever, honest and of good family. Kauṭilya¹⁸³ II. 9 prescribes ‘those who are possessed of the qualifications for amātyas (cited on p. 107 above) should be appointed, according to their abilities, as superintendents of the various departments and the king should constantly examine their work, since men are naturally fickle-minded and when appointed to do work exhibit like horses change of temper’. It is pointed out in works like the Viṣṇudharmasūtra III. 16–21 and the Viṣṇudharmottara II. 24. 48–49, Śānti 69. 29, that those who are highly devoted to dharma should be appointed to the ecclesiastical or judicial department, the brave ones to military work, those who are skilled to revenue work and those who are very trustworthy should be placed in charge of mines, salts, toll-gates, ferries, elephant forests. - [Previous: v4.c62.322.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v4.c62.322.3) - [Next: v4.c62.324](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v4.c62.324) - [Up: v4.c62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v4.c62) ## Linked texts (12) - [Agnipurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.agni.223.1) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya.2.9) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Vaiṣṇava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.visnu.3.7) — Viṣṇu, Sanskrit - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.7.61) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Yājñavalkyasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.yajnavalkya.1.322) — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.87.3) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.upa.vaisnava.visnudharmottara) — Sanskrit - [Baigram Charter of the Time of Kumāragupta I](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.east.bengal-charters.baigram-charter-of-the) — Sanskrit - [Dhanaidaha Plate, Year 113 GE](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.east.bengal-charters.dhanaidaha-plate-year-113-ge) — Sanskrit - [Kāmandakīya Nītisāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kamandaka_nitisara.5.75) — Kāmandaki, Sanskrit - [Mānasollāsa (Abhilaṣitārthacintāmaṇi)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.manasollasa) — Someśvara III, Sanskrit - [Sūḍi inscription of the reign of the Kalachurya Sankama](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.central.kalacuri.sudi-inscription-of-the-reign-of-the-kalachurya-sankama) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v4.c62.323](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v4.c62.323) · Pramāṇa