The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c20.142

c20.142

The Kalbhan Jaina Inscription from the Sampgaum Tāluka of the Belgaum district of the modern Bombay Presidency belonging to the 11th century A.D. throws some additional light on feudatories. A Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara who paid homage as usual to a Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja Parameśvara, had been duly invested with the five Mahāśabdas. His capital is called the best of cities. He had been decorated with the binding on of the Koṅguṇi fillet of rulership (Paṭṭabandha); he was entitled to be heralded in public by the sounds of the victorious drum of a Śāsanadevi; he had for an ornament the banner of a bunch of feathers; he was governing the Gaṅgavāḍi Ninety-six thousand.³ In the Gadag Inscription of Vira-Ballāla II, of the year 1192 A.D., Jagaddeva, probably a feudatory of the Western Cālukya king Vikramāditya VI, is called a Saptāṅga. Elsewhere he is designated a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara. It appears that Saptāṅga was now one of the new feudal titles.⁴