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POLITY AND ADMINISTRATION
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Deśa is also shown as the next sub-division of the rajjal which itself was equated with bhukti, and as mentioned before, the bhukti is said to have been divided into the visayas, 2 Deśa was a synonym of the vișaya, and Surattha, Sindhu and Mālavā which were sometimes styled as deśass were at other places called visayas.* The term visayārakkhiya is also explained as desārakkhiya" which leaves no doubt in the indentification of these two units.
The janapadas of the ancient times were by now replaced by the vişayas. Thus, in the context of the ancient division of the jana padas Magadha is mentioned as a janapada, while usually it has been called disaya.' The janapada of Kunālas is also at another place called Kunāla-visaya'. Mandalalo is mentioned as another unit and Suraçţha is said to have been divided into 69 mandalas.11 The post-Maitraka inscriptions reveal that Surāșțra comprising the whole of modern Kathiawar was called a mandala which contained smaller mandalas. 12 Under the Gurjara Pratīhāras the terni man lala stood for a province.13
The rattha or raştrait is another unit occasionally referred to in the text, though its head, the raşçramahattara or rașțraklța (rațghauda)16 is frequently mentioned. The
1. NC. 3, p. 57. 2. NC. 1, p. 133. 3. Ibid.; NC. 2, p. 79. 4. NC. 2, pp. 357, 362; NC. 3, p. 193; NC. 4, p. 90. 5. Fraait facere: -NC. 2. p. 183. 6. NC. 3, p. 124. 7. NC. 3, pp. 193, 523; NC. 4, pp. 124, 126, 158. 8. NC. 3, p. 371. 9. NC. 4, p. 126. 10. Hafafa fareteit-NC. 3, p. 508. 11. NC. 3, pp. 59, 508. 12. EI, IX, No. 10. 13. Sankalia, op. cit., p. 201. 14. NC. 2, p. 428. 15. TESETT TTSHETITI-NC. 2. p. 267.
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