The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c19.83

c19.83

Among the minor functionaries of state may be mentioned Adhikaraṇalekhakas or official recorders. Their duties were important enough to tempt others to offer bribes to them.⁵ There was a large secretariat of which the members called Diviras discharged specified functions in separate departments. The number of Diviras was increased or decreased by individual kings.⁶ Below the Diviras seem to have stood the Lekhakas, or clerks. The minor functionaries of state, as a whole, were called Kâyasthas.⁷ They do not yet form a caste; they are only a class by themselves. But later the class developed into a series of sub-castes which filled the minor ranks of government service under the Muslim rulers of medieval India.