North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION

Bengal even at the time of the establishment of the British power except perhaps in the Muhammadan community of Dacca until some time ago. A careful study of the Dāmōdarpur and kindred copper-plate inscriptions leads us, however, to the conclusion that two types of the Pañchāyat were prevalent in Bengal in the Gupta period from circa 300 to 500 A.D.-one connected with the administration of the district town, and the other with that of the village. The Dāmōdarpur plates are five in number, and are all connected with the vishaya of district of Kōṭivarsha falling under the bhukti or province of Puṇḍravardhana. Puṇḍravardhana has now been identified with Mahāsthān¹ in the Bōgra District and Kōṭivarsha with Bāṇgarh in the Dinajpur District, West Bengal. Now, it is worthy of note that these records register the orders of the Adhikaraṇa of the Kōṭivarsha adhishṭhāna to certain village officials in regard to the conveyance of certain lands. Let us now consider what these terms signify. First, what is adhikaraṇa ? It is generally taken in the sense of ‘a Court of Law’ or ‘administration of justice.’ But this seems to be the narrow sense of term. As pointed out above, in 1903-04, when T. Bloch excavated Basāḍh, the ancient Vaiśālī, he lighted upon many seals of the early Gupta period, pertaining to such offices as Kumārāmāty-ādhikaraṇa, Bal-ādhikaraṇa, Śrī-raṇabhāṇḍāgārādhikaraṇa, Daṇḍapāś-ādhikaraṇa, and so forth. This shows that the term adhikaraṇa was used in the sense of the modern Kachhari or Kāchhāri, ‘a town-house,’ ‘an office for transacting public business’, whether it was of a judicial, ecclesiastical or military nature or pertaining to customs and excise. Let us now see what court administration is referred to in the Dāmōdarpur plates.

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It is true that most of these plates have lost their original seals. Fortunately, one has been preserved which clearly calls it Kōṭivarsh-ādhishṭhān-ādhikarṇa, that is, ‘Office of the District Town of Kōṭivarsha.’ This shows that adhishṭhāna here denotes the principal town of a district, in this particular case, the district town of Kōṭivarsha. Let us proceed one step further. In all these plates, except one, even the personnel of the Town Board has been specified. To take the earliest two of them which refer themselves to the reign of Kumāragupta and are dated Gupta years 124 and 128, i.e., 442-43 and 446-47 A.D., we find that this Board was composed of Vētravarman as President and Dhṛitipāla, Bandhumitra, Dhṛitimitra and Śāmbapāla as constituent members. Five members thus constituted this Board; in other words, it was a veritable Pañchāyat. The President of this Board, as we have just seen, was Vētravarman, who is designated Kumārāmātya. He was appointed President, we are told, by Chirātadatta who was the Uparika or Governor of the Puṇḍravardhana bhukti or Province. He was thus a nominee of the State. But what about the other members of the Board ? The first of these, Dhṛitipāla, was the Nagara-śrēshṭhin; the second, Bandhumitra, Sārtthavāha; the third, Dhṛitimitra, Prathama-kulika; and the fourth, Śāmbapāla, Prathama-kāyastha. Of these the Nagara-śrēshṭhin has survived in the modern Nagarsheṭh of Gujarat. “In all the chief centres of trade,” says the Bombay Gaȥetteer,² “some of the leading Vania capitalists, under the name of Mahājanas or great men, form a merchant guild. The guild fixes the rates of exchange and discount, and levies fees on certain transactions, spending the proceeds on humane and religious objects. The head of their community, the Nagarsheṭh or city-merchant, was formerly a man of much power and importance, though of late years, with the decay of his functions, his influence has been much reduced.” This clearly shows that up till some time ago, the Nagara-śrēshṭhin was the head of all the artisan guilds of the district town. And this suits here exceedingly well. As regards Sārtthavāha, it is scarcely necessary to point out that the term denotes the leaders of caravans. Those who have read the classical work of the late Rhys Davids named Buddhist India need not be told that even in the sixth century B.C., “there were merchants who conveyed their goods either up and down the great rivers, or along the coasts in boats; or right across country in
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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXI, p. 88.
² Vol. IX, pt. i, pp. 95-96; Hopkin’s India Old and New pp. 178-79.