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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE GUPTA SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION department is Raṇabhāṇḍāgāṛādhikaraṇa which also is met with on a Basāḍh seal1 and which must signify “Office of Military Store House.” The sixth and the last term that we have to note is Sāndhivigrahika or Mahāsāndhivigrahika or Mahāsāndhivigrahādhikaraṇādhikṛita2 as he is also styled in some records. Here the word mahā seems to be an honorific prefix, as the first two we find used, e.g., in the charters of the Uchchakalpa family. Thus, in the Khoh plate dated 177, Gallu, the officer who drew up the charter, is called Sāndhivigrahika,3 whereas in the Khoh plate of 193, his brother, Manōratha, is styled Mahāsāndhivigrahika.4 Possibly, in later times there was a distinction made between Sāndhivigrahika and Mahāsāndhivigrahika. In the earlier Gupta period, however, Sāndhivigrahika seems to be the only designation known. Thus, Harishēṇa, who drew up the Allahābād pillar praśasti of Samudragupta, was not an ordinary officer. He was not only a Mahādaṇḍanāyaka, but also a Kumārāmātya. That is a clear indication of the high social and political status he was then enjoying. Nevertheless, the actual designation which he had held at that time was that of Sāndhivigrahika, without the prefix mahā. Of course, Sāndhivigrahika denoted ‘a Minister for Peace and War’, but whether he was a Minister of External Affairs as we understand him at present, it is difficult to say. As this officer must thus have been connected with correspondence with the foreign states, and was, at any rate, a commissioner properly authorised for such transactions as treaties of peace or of alliance, truces and so forth, he and the members of his office must therefore have been experts in the art of composition and mode of drafting. Thus, an Udayagiri inscription (No. 11 below) speaks of Vīrasēna Śāba of the Kautsa gōtra as being the Sāndhivigrahika of Chandragupta II and describes him as a kavi or poet. Nay, Harishēṇa himself who drew up the praśasti of samudragupta engraved upon the Allahābād pillar describes it as a kāvya; and elsewhere we have pointed out what a great master of style and composition he was, by discussing the literary merits of that panegyric.5 It is therefore no wonder if a Sāndhivigrahika or any one of his assistants or subordinates6 is generally7 found entrusted with the task of preparing the draft of a land grant.
Another officer connected with daṇḍa is Dāṇḍapāśika mentioned in the legend Dāṇḍapāśikādhikaraṇasya on a Basāḍh seal noted above. In this connection we have to take note of the
fact that Dāṇḍapāśika is distinguished from Chaurōddharaṇika not only in the later Pāla and Sēna
charters but also in the earlier Valabhī8 and Chamba9 plates. Further, they are both distinguished from Dāṇḍika or Daṇḍaśakti in the Pāla plates. Thus the Khālimpur record of Dharmapāla has Daṇḍaśakti-Dāṇḍapāśika-Chaurōddharaṇika,10 whereas the Mungir inscription of Dēvapāla has Chaurōddharaṇika-Dāṇḍika-Dāṇḍapāśika.11 It seems that Dāṇḍika is the same as Daṇḍaśakti. Dāṇḍika is not an imaginary term, it occurs also in the Deo-Baraṇārk inscription12 of
Jīvitagupta II. In thus settling the meaning of Dāṇḍapāśika, we have to consider side by side 1 A.R. ASI., 1903-04, p. 108, No. 13.
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