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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
ADMINISTRATION The chief among these ministers was called Mahāmantrin (Chief Counsellor). He was the right-hand man of the king and wielded a great power. We have no information about the Mahāmantrins of the early kings such as the Kalachuris, the Gurjaras, the Sēndrakas and the Chālukyas; for, no grants made by them have yet come to light. For the later period, however, we have some inscriptions recording their construction of religious and charitable works, from which we can glean some information about their abilities and achievements. The kalachuri king Yuvarājadēva I had an able Counsellor named Bhākamiśra, who was a Brahmana of the Bharadvaja gotra.1 He was very learned and pious. His son Sōmēśvara, who served Laksmanaraja II, is highly eulogised in the Kāritalāi inscription. We are told that once when the palanquin of the Mahāmatrin was about to fall owing to the exhaustion of the bearer, the king Lakshmanarāja himself put his shoulder to it.2 This plainly indicates in what high esteem the king held him. The Mahāmātya who was next in rank was also a very influential minister.3 He was probably in charge of the adminstration of the State. From the Rewa inscription we know of a highly cultured and valiant Kayastha family which served the Kalachuris of Tripuri for several generations. Its founder was Gōllāka, also known as Gauda, who was the Amātya of Yuvarājadēva I.14 The Mahādhyakasha, who is mentioned in some records, was the General superintendent of Adminstration.5 Sometimes a Sarvādhikārin was appointed and invested with supreme powers of direction and administration.6 The Mahāpratīhāra was also an important officer.7 He was in constant attendance on the king. he ushered people into the royal presence and communicated royal orders to the officers concerned.8
The Rājaguru, though not included among the ministers, exercised a great influence in the court of the Kalachuri kings. He was consulted in important matters and was often entrusted with various kinds of work befitting his position.9
The earliest records included here, viz., the grants of the Māhārajas of Khandesh,
do not mention any royal officers Specifically. They refer to them in general terms as
Ayuktakas.10 Kumārāmātya, Uparika, Dāndika
and Dandapāsika, besides those in charge of elephants, horses and men, as well as chatas
and bhatas.11 The mention of the first two officers is noteworthy; for, till now they were
known to occur first in the records of the Gupta age. The Kānākhērā inscription mentions
Mahādandanāyaka,12 and the Eran inscription Ārakshika and Senāpati13 These three records,
which are of the pre-Gupta or early Gupta age, show that the Sanskrit technical terms signifying a hierarchy of officers in the different departments of the State had already been evolved
before the rise of the Guptas. Later inscriptions such as the Bagh cave plate of Subandhu,
the Surat plates of Vyāghrasēna and the Sunao Kala plates of Sangamasimha mention
several more functionaries. From these and other records we can form a general idea of
the administration of the different departments of the State.
1No. 42,1.3.
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