The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c15.139.1

c15.139.1

The system of administration which prevailed under the Imperial Guptas persisted throughout the days of the decline of the empire and also after its fall. Here and there were some variations in titles and administrative details but the framework remained exactly the same. A few of the important inscriptions of the interval between the Guptas and the Vardhanas may be passed in rapid review. The Khoh Copper Plate Inscription shows how offices might rotate in the same families. The father and grandfather of the Mahâsandhivigrahika had been Bhogikas. The grandfather is also given the title of Amâtya or minister. Here are two Dûtakas, one of them being the Mahâbalâdhikṛita.⁴ Another inscription of the same feudatory, of the year 533-34 A.D., mentions the usual offices and fiscal arrangements. Like others, it emphasises that the inhabitants should obey the grantees.⁵ The Betul Plates of Saṃkṣobha, of the year 518-19 A.D., from the modern Central Provinces show a line of hereditary Parivrâjaka Mahârâjas, who owed allegiance to Guptas, exercising overlordship over a number of forest chiefships. One of the Mahârâjas prides himself on establishing the Varṇâśramadharma.¹ In the Mandasor Stone Inscription of Yaśodharman, the members of a single family occupy several high offices and one of them constructs a large well for popular use.