The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c15.19.4

c15.19.4

The Khoh Copper-plate Inscription of the Mahârâja Saṃkṣobha records that the Mahârâja Hastin was placed in charge of eighteen forest chiefships.⁴ The grant of Jayabhaṭa II mentions Sâmantas in the same breath with Bhogikas and Viṣayapatis who are undoubtedly government officers.⁵ The line between officers of state and feudatories sometimes grows faint and official and feudatory titles are indiscriminately applied to many personages.⁶ From another inscription it appears that boundary pillars were sometimes set up to mark off the territories of different feudatories.⁷ The king often entered into matrimonial relations with feudatories as with ministers.⁸ The feudatories sometimes attended upon the king. The Kahaum Stone Pillar Inscription of the year 460-61 A.D. speaks of the tranquil reign of Skandagupta whose hall of audience (Upasthânabhûmi) was shaken by the wind caused by the falling down (in the act of performing obeisance) of the heads of a hundred Nripatis or feudatory rulers.⁹ In the language of etiquette the relations between the suzerain and the vassal are summed up in the expression Pâdânudhyâta, “meditating on the feet of—,” which emphasises reverence and obedience. The same term is used to typify the attitude of a Mahârâja or Mahârâjâdhirâja towards his parents, preceptors or other superiors.¹ In almost all of the numerous “perpetual,” “eternal” grants of villages recorded in the inscriptions, the inhabitants concerned are commanded to obey the grantees.