Part 6: Administration and Administrative Officials

The king governed his state with the help of administrative officials. For the purpose of making the administration efficient, the entire state was divided into a number of administrative units. King Prabhākaravardhana’s kingdom was divided like a united kingdom. Certain administrative units mentioned in the Harṣacarita are as follows:

1 Grāma:

The smallest unit of the administration was known as grāma.^[1] The chief officer of the village was designated as grāmini^[2] (i.e., the leader of the village). Bāṇa mentions the various names of grāma^[3] in the Harṣacarita, where in Bāṇa halted and which were encountered during his transit to the royal palace (rājadvāra) to meet Harṣa. Again, we find the description of grāma, when emperor Harṣa went to conquer (daṇḍayātrā).^[4] The village headman was known as mahattara. According to the Arthaśāstra, there are two classes of village officials, the headman or grāmika and village elder or grāmavṛddha.^[5] In the Daśakumāracarita^[6] too there are descriptions about the janapada mahattara. Again, we can find the description of the śastragrāma in the Harṣacarita, when Bāna describes the qualities of the minister Siṃhanāda that he was the store-keeper of the arms of the king Harṣa.^[7] Again, the small village was termed with the word palli.^[8] The śavarasenāpati Bhūkampa was the foremost among all the small villages.^[9]

2 Agrahārika:

Agrahāra was an administrative unit and was typically a Hindu institution in Gupta times. The agrahāra were given to the learned brāhmaṇas (known as agrahārika).

“The agrahārikas enjoyed some privileges, such as free labour personal besides a tax called uparikara. The agrahāra grant was made chiefly for religious purposes.”^[10]

It is found in the Harṣacarita, when Harṣa was in his march, that he was welcomed by the inhabitants of agrahāra with curd, molasses and sugar.^[11] Harṣa granted to the brāhmaṇas one hundred villages with one thousand halas roughly equal to one thousand acres on the eve of the setting out on a military expedition.^[12]

3 Janapada:

The word deśa is used as synonym of janapada, w hich implies a vast community. It is said by D.C.Sircar says—

“The terms such as deśa, maṇḍal and viṣaya were sometimes employed to indicate a kingdom or territory instead of a district .”^[13]

Description of janapada is found in several times in the Harṣacarita, which implies the different meaning of the word . When emperor Harṣa went to conquer, the description of janapada^[14] is found where the word janapada implies the village community. Again Bāṇabhaṭṭta mentions the word to indicate city,^[15] sometimes country^[16] too.

According to P. V. Kane—

“janapada means a country.”^[17]

According to Saṅketa Commentary—

“It means capital.”^[18]

Neeta Sharma mentions that it was to imply both country and city.^[19] Bāṇa mentions that every janapada had different customs, food habits, rights etc.^[20]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Harṣacarita,VI.p.105

[2]:

Gautamadharmasūtra, XXVIII,44

[3]:

[a] śanaiḥ…atikramya mallakūṭanāmānaṃ grāmamagāt, Harṣacarita,II.p.26 [b]….athāpare …bhāgiraṭḥīṃ yaṣṭhigṛhakanāmni vanagrāmake niśāmanayat, Ibid.

[4]:

ityabhinandya …..sīmnāṃ grāmāṇāṃ śatamadāddvijebhyaḥ, Ibid.,VII.p.109

[5]:

Arthaśāstra,II.35,48

[6]:

Daśakumāracarita III.p.77

[7]:

sīmāntadṛścā śastragrāmasya…., Harṣacarita,VI.p.100

[8]:

Ibid.,VIII.p.126

[9]:

…sarva pallīpatināṃ prāgraharaḥ śavarasenāpatibhūkampa…, Ibid.

[10]:

In Post Gupta Polity, Singh, Ganesh Prasad, p. 83

[11]:

mārgagrāmanirgatairāgraharikajālmaiḥ…. kumbhaiḥ… …..dadhiguḍakhaṇḍakusumakaraṇḍairdhanaghaṭitapeṭakaiḥ….., Harṣacarita,VII. p.113

[12]:

….ityabhinandya manasā mahānimittaṃ tatsīrasahasrasaṃmitasīmnāṃ grāmāṇāṃ satamadāddvijebhyaḥ, Ibid.,VII. p.109

[13]:

Indian Epigraphy, Sirkar, D.C., p. 341

[14]:

kvacidanarapatidarśanakutūhaladubhayataḥ prajāvitapradhāvitagrāmeyakajanapadam, Harṣacarita,VII.p.113

[15]:

sthāṇvīśvarākhyo janapadaviśeṣaḥ, Ibid.,III. p.43

[16]:

…śrikanṭḥonāma janapadaḥ, Ibid.

[17]:

Ibid., p. 330

[18]:

Ibid.,p. 164

[19]:

Bāṇabhaṭṭa-A Literary Study, Sharma, Neeta, p. 52

[20]:

idṛśāḥ khalu lokasvabhāvāḥ pratigrāmaṃ pratinagaraṃ prativiṣayaṃ….bhinnā veśaścākārāścāhāraśca….vyavahārāśca janapadānām, Harṣacarita,VI.p.105