The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c21.6.2

c21.6.2

The numerous Lekhakas formed the counterpart of Kāyasthas.² The eighteen Kārkhānās, and twelve Mahâls, altogether thirty departments which Śivâji organised, were designed, of course, primarily to meet the exigencies of the situation. But naturally they were based partly on old Marâṭhâ practice and on contemporary institutions in other parts of India. Their description in the Marâṭhâ chronicles reminds one as much of Abul Fazl’s Âin-i-Akbarī, the astounding Imperial Gazetteer of the Mughal Empire as of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra and the inscriptions which lie between the Gupta period and the last age of ancient India. They included Treasury, Cash, Jewellery, Harem, Agriculture, Liquor, Chariots, Mints, etc.¹ In the domain of local government the designation of the Marâṭhâ village officer, the Pâṭil, corresponded to the Paṭṭakila of the inscriptions which, in its turn, was akin to the Akṣapaṭalika or Mahâkṣapaṭalika which occurs so frequently in ancient epigraphic records. The Pâṭil answered also to the ancient Grâmâdhipati and, like him, performed some police, judicial and fiscal duties. The other Marâṭhâ village officer, Kulakarṇi, is reminiscent of the ancient Karaṇika. The dues levied from the people again recall the ancient inscriptions and are, in fact, more numerous than those mentioned in any single inscription of old. A list of twenty-two of them has been compiled from a Marâṭhī deed of sale.