The two hundred years of Gupta rule may be said to mark the climax of
Hindu imperial tradition. From the point of view of literature,
religion, art,
architecture, commerce and colonial development, this period is
undoubtedly the most important in Indian history. The Guptas inherited
the administrative system of the earlier empires. The Mauryan
bureaucracy, already converted into a caste, had functioned with
impartial loyalty under succeeding empires. Under the Guptas we have
direct allusions to viceroys, governors, administrators of provinces,
and of course to ministers of the imperial government. The Mahamatras or
provincial viceroys go back to the Mauryan period and continue, in
fact, up to the twelfth century as the highest ranks in official
bureaucracy. The position of Kumaramatyas, of whom many are mentioned,
is not clear as we know of them in posts of varying importance. The
gramikas or the village headmen formed the lowest rung in the ladder.
Uparikas or governors were also appointed to provinces. In the
Damodarpur plates we have mention of an uparika named Arata Datta who
was governing like police chiefs, controller of military stores, chief
justice (Mahadanda Nayak) leave no doubt about the existence of an
organized hierarchy of officials exercising imperial authority in
different parts of the country.
1. Monarchs took high sounding titles - Supreme Lord and Great King of
Kings - the empire had a philosophy called imperialism but unfortunately
it only touched the social and cultural fields it had no political
objectives.
2. King was at the apex - princes often Viceroys. Queens were learned.
Kumaradevi of Chandragupta I and Dhruvadevi of Chandragupta II appear o
the coins.
3. Council of Ministers were often hereditary - Harisena and saba of
Chandragupta II were military generals. Very often, ministers combined
many offices - some ministers accompanied the king to the battles. Chief
Ministers headed the Ministry.
4. Central Government - each department had its own seal - number of
Mahasenapatis to watch over feudatories - foreign ministers like Sandhi
proably supervised the foreign policy towards the feudastory states.
The whole organization was bureaucratic as in the case of Mauryas. To
some extent, the adminstration mellowed with the Guptas - Police
regulations were less severe - capital punishments rare. Glowing
tributes were paid to the Gupta administration by Fahien. There was no
needless intereference of the government in the lives of people. It was
temperate in the repression of crime and tolerant in matters of
religion. Fahien could claim that he pursued his studies in peace
wherever he chose to reside.
Provincial administration - known as Bhuktis or Deshes. Officers very
often of royal blood - maintained law and order and protected people
against external aggression - also looked after public utility services.
Bhuktis were divided into groups of districts called Pradeshes.
Pradeshas were divided into Vishyas or districts. The head of the
districts was Vishayapati. Probably the provincial head was assisted by
various officials.
Damdoar plate inscription mentions number of functionaries - chief
banker, Chief Merchants, Chief Artisan, Chief of the writer class etc.
Whether they formed part of the non-official council of the districts or
were elected is not known.
Districts divided into number of villages - villages being the last
unit. Villages looked after houses, streets, tmples banks etc. - each
village had its own weavers, black-smits and gold-smiths, carpentaers
etc.
Village headmen known as gramike was assisted by a council called Panchamandali. Each village had its own seal.
Towns looked after by Purapalas - town councils.
A very revealing feature of the administration was the payment of
grants in land instead of salaries. Only personnel of the military
service were paid cash salaries. The grants in land were of two kinds.
The agrahara grant was only to brahmins and it was tax-free. The second
variety of land grant was given to secular officials either as salary or
as reward for services. Both these practices were widely used as the
time passed by. These grants definitely weakened the authority of the
king. Although technically the king could cancel the grants, he could
not do so as the time passed by.
11. Not enough evidence on taxation. Officials on tour were provided
free rice, curd, milk, flowers, transport, etc. Perhaps they were like
modern day officials at the districts level, Local people paid the
expenses for apprehending criminals.
12. Three varieties of land - waste land belonging to State which was
donated very
often. The crown land war rarely donated. The third was the private
land. Land revenue and various taxes from the land and from various
categories of produce at various stages of production.
13. Administration was highly decentralized - police, control of
military stores, chief justice, etc. Probably,
recruitment ceased to be based on merit.
14. Parallelism of power - highest concentration and extensive
decentralization. Such an administration required a good standing army
and complicated system of checks and counter-checks.
