________________
3
POLITY AND ADMINISTRATION
33
in the NC. is explained as an officer surrounded with splendid grandeur and also invested with a royal frontlet (patta). He is identified with the crown-prince in the Anuyogadvăra Cūrni.? Thus, his status might have been that of a feudatory king, and he succeeded the king after his demise.
Amacca (amatya) ---The next office in the list is held by amacca (amātya), and it is difficult to state the exact significance of the term. In the Arthasastra the officials of the State are collectively called amătya', while Manu calls the prime-minister simply as amatya.4 Various terms like amacca,' saciva, mamti, mahāmaṁti etc. are mentioned in the text, but the difference between these terms have not been explained. Various inscriptions of the mediaeval periodio show amatya to be distinct from saciva and also as incharge of the revenue and taxation. However, this is not mentioned in the NC. At one place, saciva is explained as mamtili and elsewhere amacca as mant7,12 In a story in the NC. Subuddhi is mentioned as a
1. dato 977: $59T: AT IT faunagreitNC. 2, p. 450. 2. Anu. Cū., p. 11. 3. Arthaśāstra, p. 6. 4. Manusmrti, VII. 65. 5. NC I, p. 164; NC. 4, p. 281. 6. NO. 1, p. 127. 7. Ibid. 8. NC. 3, p. 57. 9. According to Basak both the words amātya and saciva mean 'associ
ates' or 'companions', but the word mantrin means a person who is concerned with mantra or secret counsel or deliberation on political matters. The Amarakosz ( VIII. 8. 4-5 ) shows that an amātya, who is the king's dhi-saciva or mati-saciva, i. e. an associate or
nister for counsel, shall only be called mantrin and that all amātyas other than mantrins are karmas icivas ministers for action or execution. So it is that all amātyas, although they may be called sacivis, were not mantrins.Basak, R. G., Ministers in
Ancient India', IHQ., Vol. 1, pp. 523-24. 10. Altekar, A. S., The Rastr akūtas and Their Times, p. 81. See also
Sukraniti, II. 70-72. 11. Afatidt-NC. 1, p. 127. 12. H a Hat-NC. 2, p. 267.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
