The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c10.81

c10.81

The Bhaṇḍâgârika or treasurer was an officer of the highest importance (IV, 43; V, 123; I, 248, 252). In the Nigrodha Jâtaka, some one predicts to his friends that on the next day one of them would be king, another Senâpati and he himself Bhaṇḍâgârika. The Bhaṇḍâgârika seems usually to have been a very rich man and is sometimes spoken of as possessed of 80 crores (I, 349, 466, etc.). The Rajjuka or rajjugâhaka amacca, ‘the rope-holding minister,’ seems to have been the surveyor of land (IV, 169). Next to him stood another survey-officer called doṇamâpaka or doṇa, one who measured with a dry rod (II, 367, 378). The heraññika was the keeper of the king’s purse (III, 193). The Sârathi was the charioteer (II, 377). The cashier, sword-bearer, keeper of the umbrella were some of the other officers (VI, 38 et seq.). The Dovârika is the chamberlain and belongs to the lowest rung of the ladder (II, 241 ; V, 250). In the Mâtanga Jâtaka, a dovârika’s duty is to thrash Candâlas and other vagabonds who wanted to peep at the palace, with sticks or bamboo-posts, catch them by the throat, and fling them on the ground (Fick, tr. Maitra, p. 156). In the Mahâpingala Jâtaka, a dovârika speaks of the king giving him eight blows on the head whenever he entered the palace (Fick, tr. Maitra, p. 156). The same title seems to have been borne by an officer whose duty was different. There is a dovârika who has to close the city-gate at night (II, 379).