Cultural Study of Nisitha Curni

SR No.: 001743
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Madhu Sen
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 432
Language: English, Prakrit
Classification: Book_English, Agam, Canon, & Literature
File Size: 23 MB

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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
Bāgumrā Grant of Nīkumbhallašakti of 654-55 A. D. from Southern Gujarat also discloses rașțra as an administrative division under the officer rășțrakūța.1 In spite of this mention of the rastra and its officer, not a single rāştra is named either in our text or in any of the inscriptions forthcoming from Gujarat.: However, this unit, if ever in existence, was smaller than the visaya, as in the context of mentioning the names of the heads of the various administrative units in the text, the grāmamahattara, the rāșgramahattara, the bhojika and the visayarakkhiyas are mentioned in a consecutive order. The same fact is revealed from the Kävi Grant of the Gurjara king Jayabhatta (486 A. D.), which refers to the vişaya pati, the rāştrapati and the grāmamahattara respectively,* and thus indicates their official status in descending order. According to Beni Prasad, the rastra was perhaps a revenue division”, while according to Virji, rașțra was just another name of ahara and that rāştrapati must have been the head of this unit.' The NC. refers to only one ahara, viz. the Kosanbāhāra,& but no details regarding the formation of this unit are to be found in our text.
From the various references in the text it is clear that visaya was the largest and the most common administrative unit during this time, although the units like bhukti, janapada, mandala, deśa and rāşğra are also mentioned in the text. This is also corroborated by the contemporary Maitraka records. Virji has also pointed out : “Even if the designations given to these units are not same, very little
1. Ind. Ant. XVIII (1889), p. 265; Beni Prasad, op. cit., p. 382. 2. Sankalia, op. cit., p. 198; Virji, op. cit., p. 231. 3. NC. 2, p. 101. 4. IA. V, p. 114. 5. Virji, op. cit., p. 237. 6. Beni Prasad, op. cit., p. 382. 7. Virji, op. cit., p. 237. 8. NC. 2, p. 361. The unit āhāra was common in Kathiawar, C.I. and
U.P. In the Nausari Plates of Sryāśraya (671 A. D.) āhāra is mentioned as a division of visaya--EI. VIII, No 22.