Dharmadhikarana and Dharmadhikarin

Dharmadhikarana and Dharmadhikarin [dharmadhikaranam dharmadhikari ca] By Dr. D. C. Sircar; Calcutta University, Calcutta. / 445-450

[ atra lekhe 'dharmadhikarana ' 'dharmadhikarin ' ityetayoh sabdayostu- lanatmako vicarah prastutah | sabdakalpadrumakhya kosanusarena moniyara- viliyamakrtakosanusarena ca 'dharmadhikarana ' sabdo napumsakalinge prayuktah san 'vyavaharadarsanasthanam ' ityarthe varttate, pumlinge prayuktaca vyavaharavicara ke pravivakadau vartate, evam 'dharmadhikaranin ' iti sabdo'pi pradviva- kadau varttate | parantu, etayoh kosayormate 'dharmadhikarin ' iti sabdah, 'dharmadhyaksa ' iti sabdascapi pradvivake eva varttate | lekhaka mahodayasya mate sabdakalpadrumasya pumlimgavaci 'dharmadhikarana ' sabdastu matsyapurane ( 214 - 24 ) pathitasya 'dharmadhikaranin ' iti pathasyasuddharupah syat, 'dharmadhikarin ' sabdasca rajno danadharmavibhagadhyakse eva prayuktah srasit, na tu pradvivake | matsyapurane'pi tatraiva 'dharmadhikarinah karya jana danakara narah ' ityuktam, tatha dauvarikaih samaste ( dharmadhikarinah ) proktah | abhijnanasakuntale'pi dusyantah svatmanam dharmadhikare niyuktam prakhyapayati yena tapasvijanah svatmanam sanatha manyante | atah 'dharmadhikarin ' iti sabdo rajno 'danadharmavibhagadhyaksa ' ityartha eva grahyah | ayamevartho lekhakamahodayenatra sapramanam samarthitah | ] Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary (second edition, 1899) explains Dharm-adhikarana in the neuter as 'administration' or 'a court of justice' and in the masculine as 'a judge or magistrate', etc., and refers us to the Matsya Purana. It also explains Dharmadhikara as 'administration of laws' with reference to the Abhijnanasakuntala, while Dharmadhikarika is explained as 'an administrator of justice' or 'a judge' and Dharmadhyaksa as 'a judge', 'a magistrate,' 'a minister of justice', No distinction is therefore made between Dharmadhikarana and Dharm-adhikarika, though there is some evidence to show that there was a difference in the meanings of the two expressions. It seems that Monier-Williams' views were partly influenced by the Sabda-leal padruma (1822-58) which explains Dharm-adhilcarana as a court of law' (neuter) and 'a judge' (masculine). The first of the two meanings is supported in this work by quoting the following stanza of Katyayana as found in the Viramitrodaya. 24

446 puranam - PURANA [Vol. VI., No. 2 Dharmasastra-anusarena arthasastra-nirupanam | yatr adhikriyate sthane dharm-adhikaranam hi tat || Another stanza, apparently from the Matsya Purana, has also been quoted in the same connection, and the verse runs as followsPurus-antara-tattvajna pramsavas'=c=apy=a-lolupah | dharm-adhikarane karya jan-ahvanakara narah || "Those who are tall and not greedy and know the minds of others should be made callers of persons at the adhikarana or court of law." Unfortunately, it is difficult to understand why the caller of persons at the law-court was required to be capable of reading the minds of others and also free from greediness. It seems therefore that there is some error in the quotation of the second half of the verse. The Sabda-kal padruma further says that Dharm-adhikarana (masculine) or a judge is the same as Dharm-adhyaksa and quotes the following stanza from the Matsya Purana, Chapter 189, enumerating the qualifications of the officerSamah satrau ca mitre ca sarva-sastra visaradah | vipra-mukhyah kulinas' = ca Dharmadhikarano bhavet || "The Dharm-adhikarana (masculine) should be a prominent Brahmana of a respectable family, who is an adept in all the scriptures and is impartial to friend and foe". This is verse 24 of Chapter 215 in the printed texts of the Matsya-Purana, in which we usually get the reading Dharmadhikarani for Dharm-adhikarano, and that seems to be a better reading. Thus what has been said about Dharm-adhikarana in the Sabdakal padruma (and Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary) on the strength of the above-quoted stanza may be due to misreading, and the qualifications enumerated may relate to Dharm-adhikaranin and not to Dharm-adhikarana (masculine). It is however not our plea that Dharm-adhikarana cannot be used as a synonym of Dharm-adhikaranin. What we mean is that the views of the Sabdakal padruma and Monier-Williams' Dictionary

July, 1964] DHARMADHIKARANA AND DHARMADHIKARIN 447 may be based on the misreading of a word in the Matsya Purana, CCXV. 24. Moreover, the interpretation of Dharm-adhikarika (Dharmadhikarin) as the same as Dharm-adhyaksa, Dharm-adhikaranika (Dharm-adhikaranin) etc., in the sense of 'an administrator of justice' or 'a judge' does not appear to be quite accurate. In the Abhijnanasakuntala, Act I, King Dusyanta, in explaining his presence at Kanva's hermitage, represents himself to Sakuntala and her friends as an officer of the Paurava King who was employed in the dharm-adhikara and visited the holy forest inhabited by the hermits in order to know if the religious rights of the sages were being performed without hindrance, 'yah Pauravena rajna dharmadhikare niyuktah so = 'hama vighnakriyopalambhaya dharm-aranyam = idam =ayatah.'" On getting this information, a friend of Sakuntala observes that the presence of the officer there indeed provided the performers of religious rites with a protector-sa-natha idanim dharmacarinah. This would suggest that the Dharm-adhikarin, the same as dharm-adhikare niyukta of this text, was a superintendent of the Department of Religious Affairs rather than a judge. That the Dharm-adhikaranin (or Dharm-adhikarana; was different from the Dharm-adhikarin is clearly indicated by the Matsya Purana which not only deals with the qualifications of the two officers separately but even enumerates other officers in an intervening section. Thus we have the following lines in the Matsya Purana, CCXV. 24 ff.- Samah satrau ca mitre ca dharma-sastra-visaradah | Vipra-mukhyah kulinas =ca Dharmadhikarani (or no) bhavet || Karyastathavidhas = tatra dvija-mukhyah Sabhasadah || Sarva des-aksar-abhijnah sarva-sastra-visaradah | Lekhakah kathito rajnah sarv-adhikaranesu vai |! Sirs-opetan susampurnan = sama-sreni-gatan = saman | = antaran = vai likhed=yastu Lekhakah sa varah smrtah || Upaya-vakya-kusalah sarva-sastra-visaradah | bahv-artha-vakta c=alpena Lekhakah syannrpottama || Purus antara-tattvajnah pramsavas=c=apy=a-lolupah |

448 puranam -- PURANA [Vol. VI., No. 2 Dharm-adhikarinah karya jana danakara narah || Evamvidhas tatha karya rajna Dauvarika janah || = It will be seen that the qualifications of the dharm-adhikaranin (or dharm-adhikarana) are separated from those of the Dharm-adhikarin by the intervening description of the Sabhasad and Lekhaka, so that they have to be regarded as separate officers. We have noticed that the Sabdakalpadruma reads the line Dharmadhikarinah karya jana danakara narah as dharn-adhikarane karya jan-ahvanakara narah probably from a corrupt text of the Purana. It may be pointed out that the qualifications of the dharm adhikarin was the same as those of the Dauvarika, 'gate-keeper'. This, however, does not support the reading of the verse as quoted in the Sabdakal padruma, because the Dauvarika or pratihara, who was in charge of the gates of the royal palace or the capital or the cities and was often engaged in the collection of tolls, was not a petty official. The chief officer of this class, viz the Mahapratihara, was not far below the Prime Minister or Commander-in-chief in rank. The occurrence of the expression sarvasastra-visaradah in two different stanzas in the description of the Lekhaka may be a copyists' error or due to the fact that the Purana adopted the verses from two separate sources. The epithet danakara applied to the person qualified to become a Dharm-adhikarin suggests that he was in charge of the king's dana-dharma or charitees, while we have seen above that he was a superintendent in the Department of Religious Affairs. Thus the king's charities formed a branch of the said Department. But whether the officer had any judicial function like the Sadr-us-Sudur of the Muslim administration of medieval India is difficult to determine. The Sadr, whose function is understood as that of a civil judge, maintained the list of rent-free lands and the amounts of daily allowances to pious men, scholars and hermits, supervised the endowments created by the king and princes and saw that the money was rightly applied to the purposes for which the grants were made. He also noted the deaths of recipients and scrutinized the applications for fresh grants, and

". July, 1964] DHARMADHIKARANA AND DHARMADHIKARIN 449 was sometimes empowered to try civil cases. The duty of the Chief Sadr, called Sadr-us-Sudur, Sadr-i-jahan or Sadr-ikul, was to appoint Sadrs in the provinces. The Mughal emperors distributed their charities through this officer who was their chief almoner in charge of the distribution of large sums of money during court ceremonius and in the month of Ramadan and also tried civil suits and heard appeals when empowered to do so." The Dharm-adhikarin, mentioned in some records, is apparently the same as Dharma-mahamatra of Asoka's edicts and Dharm-adhyaksa, Dharma-pradhana, Dharmakarmadhikarin, etc, of later inscriptions, though sometimes the word maha was prefixed to the official designations. The epithet dharmadhikar-arpita, applied to a royal officer in the Kamauli plate of Vaidyadeva, refers apparently to the same cfficer and reminds us of the expression dharmadhikar niyukta in the Abhijnanaiakuntala, Halayudha's Brahmanasarvasva describes the author as the recipient of the Dharm-adhikara from king Laksmanasena of Gauda and also as Dharn-adhyaksa, Maha-dharm-adhyaksa, Dharmakos-adhikarin, Dharm-agar-adhikarin, Dharm-adhikrta and Mahadharm-adhikarin, while his father is likewise described as Dharmadhyaksa and Dharm-adhikarika.. Narayan-opadhyaya's Parisistaprakasa speaks of the prosperity of the Brahmanas when the author's father was in charge of the dharm-adhikara." As seen above, dharm-adhikara means the Department of Religious Affairs, of which the king's charities formed a branch. meaning of the expression But there are a few cases where this does not appear to be quite suitable. In the Nalanda plate of Devapala, the illustrious Balavarman is stated to have served as the Duta 'in the dharm-adhikara in question'-dutyam sri- 1. See Wahed Husain, Administration of Justice during the Muslim Rule in India, pp. 64-65. 2. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIII, p. 151. 3. CII, Vol. I (1925), pp. 8 ff, etc. 4. Ep. Ind., Vol. XV, p. 283: CII, Vol. IV, pp. 326, 539, etc. 5. Maitreya, Gaudalekhamala, p. 136, line 68. 6. D. Bhattacharya, Halayudha's Brahmanasarvasva, pp. xviff, 7. Loc. cit.

450 puranam - PURANA [Vol. VI., No. 2 Balavarma vidadhe dharm-adhikare = 'smin. The use of the word. asmin in relation to dharm-adhikare would suggest that the particular grant of the king, of which Balavarman acted as the Dutaka, has been called here a dharm-adhikara or a subject relating to dharma (religious merit). Similarly, the passage yuktataya dharm-adhikara-buddhya vijnapitam in one of the Damodarpur inscriptions seems to mean that an application was properly made with the intention of dharmadhikara, i. e. for making a religious gift of the land purchased from the state. In both these cases, the expression dharm-adhikara appears to mean 'a ceremonial gift' which of course fell under the jurisdiction of the Department of Religious Affairs, also called dharm- adhi-kara. Although most writers excepting G. Buhler and D. Bhattacharya appear to have misunderstood the function of the Dharm-adhikarin, some of them have even added to the confusion. Thus P. V. Kane's statement that the Purohita's function came to be exercised by the Dharm-adhyaksa or dharmadhikaranika not only regards dharm-adhyaksa and Dharmadhikaranika as the same but even considers the purohita as identical with the same officer. We have seen above that the function of the Dharm-adhyaksa (Dharm-adhikarin) was not really the same as that of the Dharmadhikaranika, while the Purohita (Maha-purohita) and Dharm-adhyaksa (Maha-dharmadhyaksa) are known to occupy separate position in the list of royal officers in numerous inscriptions." V. V. Mirashi likewise regards the Maha-dharmahhikaranika or Mahapurohita as the head of the Religious Department." 1. Ep. Ind., Vol. XVII, p. 323. 2. Select Inscriptions, p. 339; Ep. Ind., Vol. XV, p. 143. 3. History of Bengal, Vol. I, ed. R. C. Majumdar, pp. 278, 281; B.C. Sen, Some Historical Aspects of the Inscriptions of Bengal, pp. 548, 551: etc. 4. History of Dharmasastra, Vol. III, p. 126. 5. cf. the grants of the Candras and Senas in N. G. Majumdar's Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III. 6. CII, Vol. IV, p. exlii.