(Online Course) History for IAS Mains: Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas - Polity and administration

Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas

Answer : Contemporary inscriptions and literary sources throw lightt on the polity and administrative system of the Gupta period. Land and land relations acquired central stage in the economic life of the period and flourishing trade of the post Mauryanpre-Gupta period declined sharply in this period. The period was also marked by the growing significance of land grants which led to decentralization of political authority of the king and finally gave birth to feudalism in Indian history.

The law of the primogeniture was not firmly established, and sometimes elder sons were passed over in favour of younger sons. The king appointed ministers, commanders, governors etc. He received the obeisance of his vassals and princes. His pompous titles Paramesvara, Maharajadhiraja. Paramabhattaraka indicate the existence of lesser princes and chiefs with whom he had to come to terms in his empire. The maintenance of the Vamasrama Dharma appear as an important royal duty in Gupta inscription imposed upon the king, who is described as the giver of thousands of gold coins. The second change noticeable in the Gupta kingship is not qualitative but quantitative and relates to its divine associations. They are compared to Vishnu as regards their function of preserving and protecting the people, and Laxmi, wife of Vishnu and goddess of prosperity appears on many Gupta coins.

Ministers called by different names such as Mantrin, Amatya or sachiva may have restrained the despotic activities of the king, although inscriptions give very little idea of their functions and
no idea of their corporate existence. Undoubtedly some individual ministers such as Harisena were powerful because of having combined posts of the Mahadandanayaka, Kumaramatya. Sanhivigrahika in the same person. And then the post became hereditary in the same family for several generations. Such families must have played an important part in politics. Ministers or advisers formed part of the higher bureaucracy of the Guptas. Among the other high officers we may take special notice of the Sandhivigrahika, who are not known to earlier inscription. Like the Mahamatras under Ashoka and the Amatyas under the Satavahanas. the Kumaramatyas formed the chief' cadre for recruiting high functionaries under the Guptas. Literally translated as the minister of peace and war, the Sandhivigrahika first appears under Samudragupta whose Amatya Harisena holds this title. We have the famous example of Harisena, who held the several important portfolios. We hear of Kumaramatya who held the offices of the Mahasvapti and Mahadanayka. We have no precise idea about the mode of
payment to the officers under the Gupta Empire. The discovery of numerous Gupta's gold coins and their use in land transaction in Bengal coupled with the prevalence of the tax known as Hiranya would suggest that at least higher officers were paid in cash. Three grades of military commands came into existence, namely those of Mahabaladhikrta, Mahadanayaka and Senapati. The cavalry, the elephant corps and perhaps also the infantry
were organized under separate commands. Civil officials such as Amatyas, Kumaramatyas, etc.  performed military functions or were promoted to the rank of high military officers. A ministers hailing from Pataliputra accompanied Chandragupta II on his campaign to Western India.Similarly military officers may have performed civil functions.

The taxation system of the Guptas was not so elaborate and organised like that of the Arthasastra of Kautilya. The villagers paid in kind certain customary miscellaneous dues, which could he measured but these are not specified. They also paid hiranya or gold, but what it actually meant cannot be said. The artisans also had to pay some imposts, and traders were subjected to customs on commodities of trade, which were levied and collected by the custom officer.

Guptas evolved the first systematic provincial and local administration. This was primarily concerned with the collection of revenues and maintenance of law and order. The core, of the empire directly controlled by the Guptas was divided -into a number of provinces. A Gupta province was smaller than a Mauryai province, but much larger than a modern division. The Bhukti was the largest administrative unit under the Guptas and there were at least six such divisions over Bengal, Jharkhand. Bihar. Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It was placed in charge of an Uparika. The exact connotation of this high officer is obscure, probably in origin it had something to do with the collection of Uparikara, an additional impost on the peasants in addition to the fixed annual share of the produce. The officer was undoubtedly a governor appointed by the Gupta King. but the literal meaning of the term Bhukti suggests that the territory placed under his charge was intended to be enjoyed rather than governed by him in its own interest. It is a pity that we have no information regarding the functions of the head of the Bhukti.

The Bhukti was divided into Visayas or districts, whose number is not known. The visayas of Rajgriha, Pataliputra and Gaya were included in Megadhbhukti which, if we believe the geographical details in the Spurious Nalanda grant of Samudragupta. also included Krimila Visaya, roughly corresponding to Munger, Lakhisarai. Shekhpura. Jamui. Khagria and Begusarai districts and extending over both the north and south of the Ganges. In Tirabhukti, Vaisali was the headquarter of a Visaya, although it is mentioned as such in only one seal and here to the reading is doubtful. In Pundravardhan bhukti. now in Bangladesh, the Visaya of Kotivarsa was a famous administrative unit. The Visaya was in charge of the Kumaramatya in early times, but later it came to be placed under the Visayapati. Ordinarily in Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar the Visayapati was the head of the local office or Adhikarna. But in one case in western U.P. he was placed in charge of a  district called Bhoga. We have some idea of the way the district governor maintained his power in the Visaya of Kotivarsa. He based his authority on the force consisting if elephants, cavalry and infantry, whose cost was defrayed probably out of the revenues supplied by the district. Perhaps every district had a strong military contingent to back civil authority in times of need. The Visaya was divided into Vithis. In Bihar we know of Nandivithi. whose headquarters lay 2 miles to the northwest of Surajgarha in South Munger. But several vithis are known from Bengal, and in one case we have full information about the composition of the committee which took part in its government. The vithi consisted of villages which formed the lowest unit of administration; several of these are mentioned in Gupta inscriptions and seals. The leading part in managing the affairs of the village was taken by its gramika and elders known as the mahattama, mahattaka or mahattara. The term Gramadhipati and Gramasyadhipati used in contemporary texts would suggest that the village headman was treated as the lord of the village. If we rely on a passage from the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana, perhaps in western India. where this text was composed. the village headman called Gramadhipati Ayuktaka tended to become all powerful.

The expanding scope of the village administration is a significant aspect of the Gupta polity. This did not come to happen because the state raised too many taxes to maintain a large official apparatus nor had too many copper coins to pay minor employees. Naturally many of the functions once performed by the central government devolved on the village administration, which was dominated by feudal and influential elements.