The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c13.51

c13.51

The highest officials of the Mahâkṣatrapa seem to be divided into Matisacivas, counsellors or ministers on the one hand and Karmasacivas or executive officers on the other hand. Amâtya seems to be a general designation of high officers. One of the Amâtyas is a local governor. Amaca, another form of the same term, is the designation in the Nâsik Cave Inscriptions.¹ The Jûnâgaḍh Inscription shows that ministers sometimes dared to differ strongly from their master. When the dam of the lake Sudarśana burst, the ministers did not approve of the monarch’s plan to get it repaired. The breach, they held, was too enormous and the expense would be ruinous. The people clamoured in despair. Rudradâman then elected to spend a huge sum of money out of his own private fortune and reconstructed the dam thrice as strong both in length and breadth. The Mahâkṣatrapa prides himself on having accomplished the undertaking without resort to additional taxation and forced labour. Incidentally, it appears that new taxes were often imposed and forced labour exacted for public works. None the less, the care for irrigation is remarkable. An inscription of Rudrasena I also seems to commemorate the construction of a tank.² The Nâsik Cave Inscriptions prove that the state levied numerous taxes. Besides, the digging for salt, unless alienated, was a royal monopoly. The visitations of the police were unwelcome to the people, perhaps because they meant some financial exaction. A village, granted for charitable purposes, is to be free from the presence of policemen and the interference of district officers. On the other hand, kings and his relations often displayed unstinted generosity. Uṣavadâta, son-in-law of Nahapâna, gave sixteen villages to gods and Brâhmaṇas, fed 1,00,000 Brâhmaṇas all the year round, built four quadrangular rest-houses, constructed wells, tanks and gardens, established free ferries at many places, founded water-places, halls for meeting, etc. The tradition of religious toleration was maintained. Uṣavadâta dedicated the village of Karajika to the support of all ascetics, "without any distinction of sect or origin" who might keep the Varṣa at the caves at Valûraka. He is said to have given 32,000 stems of cocoanut trees at a village to the congregation of Carakas. It is interesting to note that the money set apart for the cave of ascetics was invested in the guilds at Govardhana—2,000 in a weavers' guild and 1,000 in another weavers' guild.¹