The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c17.200

c17.200

Yuan Chwang also remarks that Pulakesin, confident of his martial strength, treated the neighbouring countries with contempt.¹ It appears that the grand titles, while certainly in vogue in the Deccan, were not yet applied there with the uniformity which obtained in the north. Perhaps the titles originated in the North; it is in the northern Gupta Inscriptions that they are first met with in abundance. Thence they were adopted in the Deccan and it was not until some time that they became universal. The Yekkeri and Chiplun Inscriptions as well as the Aihole Inscription² present the usual officers, including Viṣayapatis, and the usual fiscal system. The Aihole Inscription also brings to view an hereditary army corps. In the Arang Plate of Bhīmasena II of the year 601 A.D. appears a line of hereditary Mahārājas.³ A grant of Raṇagraha of the year 640 A.D. shows a Bhogika acting as Dūtaka.⁴ In the Nausari Plates of Sryasrava (671 A.D.) āhāra is the subdivision of a Viṣaya.⁵ In the Chandalur Plates of Sarvalokasraya (673 A.D.), appears a line of hereditary Mahārājas. Naiyogika, a term which does not seem to occur in the northern inscriptions, is the title applied to some officers. The Dūtaka is called Ājñapti.⁶ The Navalakhi Plates of the year 605-6 A.D. from Jūnāgaḍh in Kāṭhiāwāḍ mention officers of northern designations—Ayuktakas, Viniyuktakas, Kumārāmātyas, Dūtakas, Caṭas, Bhaṭas, etc. Here Divirapati seems to be a chief clerk, a sort of departmental secretary.⁷ It was during this period that a great feudatory title, Pañcamahāśabda, came into vogue in the south. It is rarely met with in the north but in the succeeding centuries it is fairly common in the Deccan. It is almost always applied to feudatories. It signifies that its holder was entitled to the use of five great sounds—musical instruments. Fleet points out that according to the Lingâyata Vivecacintâmaṇi these sounds refer to Śṛiṅga or horn, Tammaṭa or tambour, Śaṅkha or conch-shell, Bherî or kettle-drum and Jayaghaṇṭâ or gong.¹ The privilege of using these instruments in courts or processions seems to have been conferred by the suzerain on big feudatories who won high favour at his hands, though, like all titles in ancient India, it tended to become hereditary.