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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
ADMINISTRATION
.. The territory under the rule of the Śilāhāras comprised three regions : (1) North Koṅkaṇ called Purī-Kōṅkaṇa [1] after its ancient capital Purī, or Kavaḍī-dvīpa [2] after Kapardin I, the founder of the Śilāhāra branch ruling there, which is described as containing 1400 villages and which comprised the modern Ṭhāṇā and Kolābā districts. In an earlier record of the Hariśchandrīya king Bhōgaśakti, the number of villages is stated to be 14,000; [3] (2) South Koṅkaṇ, which comprised the modern Ratnāgiri District, was also as Sapta-Kōṅkaṇa, [4] and was traditionally known as comprising 900 villages; [5] and (3) the country above the ghaṭs, east of the Ratnāgiri District, comprising the modern districts of Sātārā, Kolhāpur, Miraj, Sānglī, and Beḷgaon. These three countries were divided into smaller divisions and subdivisions for administrative purposes.
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The largest administrative unit was the dēśa. Thus, the Pūnakadēśa [6] comprised the
territory round Poonā, Mairiñjā-dēśa [7] that round modern Miraj, and Kuṇḍi-dēśa that round
modern Beḷgāon. Kōṅkana, which comprised several dēśas was called Mahā-dēśa. [8] The dēśas
were previously divided into rāshṭras. Some early Śilāhāra records [9] in North Koṅkaṇ mention the rāshṭrapati among the officers to whom the royal order about the grants was communicated, following the earlier drafts of the formal portions of copper-plate grants, but no
divisions of that name find mention in Śilāhāra records. The dēśas were divided into vishayas
in North and south Koṅkaṇ. Several vishayas are mentioned in the records of the Śilāhāras.
Thus, we have the Pāṇḍa-vishaya [10], Chikkhalāḍa-vishaya [11], Māhirihāra-vishaya [12] (probably
identical with the earlier Mahāgirihāra-vishaya [13]), Varēṭikā-vishaya, [14] Shaṭshashṭi-vishaya [15]
(so called because of its containing sixty-six villages), Aṇitapallā-vishaya, [16] Karakūṭa-vishaya, [17]
Mandaraja-vishaya [18] and Kaṭashaḍī-vishaya. [19] As very few Śilāhāra records from South
Koṅkaṇ have been found, only few vishayas from that region are Known. When the Śilāhāras
of North Koṅkaṇ extended their power to South Koṅkaṇ, they made Praṇāla-(or Pānāla-)
dēśa comprising the territory round Panhāḷe in the Dāpolī tālukā of the Ratnāgiri District,
the centre of their power. This region is called Praṇālaka-vishaya [20] in one record. The Chipulaṇavishaya is mentioned in an earlier grant.
[1] No. 9, lines 20-21.
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