North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION

which certain families of Rājputānā still bear as a reminiscence of their ancestors having originally been members of this Board.

        The villages also of Ancient Bengal were governed by a sort of Pañchāyat system about which some details have been furnished by the Dāmōdarpur and other kindred records. In this connection may be cited the following passage from inscription No. 38 below : Palāśavṛindakāt= sa-Viśvāsaṁ Mahattar-ādy-Ashṭakul-ādhikaraṇaṁ grāmika-kuṭumbinaś=cha Chaṇḍagrāmaka-brāhmaṇ-ādhyaksha-kshudra-prakṛiti-kuṭumbinaḥ kuśalam=uktvā . . . , ‘From Palāśvṛindaka, the Ashṭakula Board headed by the Mahattara, in conjunction with Viśvāsa, and the husbandmen who are village headmen, after enquiring about (their) health, inform the husbandmen of the village Chaṇḍaka who are the inferior ryots and are presided over by the Brāhmaṇas, as follows.” Now, this passage speaks of two classes, the first consisting of those who issued the order and the second of those to whom it was issued. Let us, in the first place, consider those who pertained to the first order. The most important word or phrase here is the Mahattar-ādy-Ashṭakul-ādhikaraṇa. Of these the term adhikaraṇa signifies ‘the Administrative Board.’ Ashṭakula after the analogy of Pañchakula should denote a Board with eight constituent members. Who these were is not known. One member, at any rate, was the Mahattara. As stated above, Mahattara and Mahāmahattara formed the lower order of officials connected with the collection of revenue. That suits here excellently. That the Mahattaras were in fact connected with and were the heads of Kuṭumbins or husbandmen may be inferred from Mahattar-ādi-kuṭumbins in line 3 of the Pahāḍpur copper plate inscription¹ and saṁvyavahāry-ādi-kuṭumbins in lines 1-2 of the Nandapur copper plate inscription² showing clearly that the Mahattaras were saṁvyavahārins or officials placed over the Kuṭumbins.

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The Ashṭakul-ādhikaraṇa was thus presided over by the Mahattara, who, being a government official, must have been nominated by the State as no doubt the Head of the Pañchakula was. Further, we have to note that with this Board was associated an official whose designation was Viśvāsa, as we can also see from line 1 of the Nandapur copper plate inscription referred to above. Who was this Viśvāsa ? In this connection it is worthy of note that Biśwās is a surname which is very common in Bengal. It is found not only among the Kāyasthas but also among the Bārēndra Brāhmaṇas of Bengal. And what is further noteworthy is that the surname Biśwās is met with not only among the Hindus but also among the Mussalmans of this province. Evidently it was originally the designation of a post which, later on, being held for several generations, became the surname of the family, like Bhaṇḍārī, Munshī, Majumdār, and Chakladār. But what was the meaning of the designation Viśvāsa, at the outset ? As in the phrase quoted above, Mahattara denotes the Head of the village community called Ashṭakula, Viśvāsa signifies in all probability the Accountant invariably associated with that community. This agrees with the fact that the term Viśvāsa means ‘trust’ and may thus secondarily denote “an officer holding the post of trust.” If this sense of Viśvāsa, namely, ‘Accountant’ is accepted, it explains why Arjunamiśra, the Bengali scholar who composed a commentary on the Mahābhārata, says, as has been pointed out by J. C. Ghosh, that he composed the Mōkshadharmmārthadīpikā in accordance with the order of Gauḍēśvara-Mahāmantri-śrīmad-Viśvāsa-rāya, that is, “the illustrious Viśvāsa-rāya who was the chief counsellor of the king of Gauḍa.” Similarly the Bengali dramatist, Rāmachandra Guha, says that his father had attained to the distinction (padavī) of Viśvāsa-khāna, being the chief counsellor (mahāmātya) and poet-laureate (kavi-paṇḍita) of the king of Gauḍa. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Viśvāsa-rāya and Viśvāsa-khāna³ were something like the modern ‘Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer.’ We cannot explain these designations satisfactorily, unless Viśvāsa is
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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, pp. 61 ff.
² Ibid., Vol. XXIII, pp. 52 ff.
³ Ibid., Vol. XXIV, p. 128.