The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c15.130

c15.130

Another fact which epigraphic testimony establishes beyond doubt is that officials were often chosen from the same families and that offices sometimes became hereditary under the suzerain as well as under the feudatories. In the Karmadaṇḍa Inscription of Kumāragupta of the year 436-37 A.D., Pṛthiviṣeṇa, the Kumārāmātya and subsequently the Mahābalādhikṛta of the king is the son of Śikharasvāmin who was the Kumārāmātya of Candragupta II.⁴ In another inscription a son succeeds his father in office.⁵ The sons of high officers could be well provided for at court. Hariṣeṇa, the author of the Praśasti on the Allāhābād Inscription and a favourite of the king, was the son of a Mahādaṇḍanāyaka.⁶ In an inscription of Mahārāja Hastin a Saṃdhivigrahika is the son of a Bhogika who himself was the son of a Bhogika.⁷