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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
under the charge of efficient officers, though no information in this respect is forthcoming from the text.
Army Staff-The conımander-in-chief, known as mahabaladhiksta, senā pati or senadhipa, was the senior-most officer of the army who worked under the direct supervision of the king. The mahābalādhikīta is sometimes mentioned as a protector of a deśa or visaya, which shows that while holding his office of commander-in-chief, he was also entrusted with the charge of administration of a certain province.2 A story in the NC. indicates that three generals were sent by a king to protect the border towns. The status of mahabalādhikrta was higher than kotta pala, nigamārakkhiya or setthi, coroddharanika and damda pasiga, but it appears to have been lower than that of the amatya or the prime-minister to the king. There must have been a number of generals or commanders known as baladhikytas under the mahābaladhikyta. The officers of the army were sometimes simply called as dan dar meaning thereby a dan lanāyaka. Their status was that of the colonels stationed in different districts in charge of local units. Bāna in the 7th century A. D. mentions yet another class of officials styled as kațuka' which is interpreted as a marshal.1' In this context Bāņa continues : "Shrill words of command from the marshals dispelled the slumbers of the blinking riders." In the NC., however, the kaduga is mentioned as one of the five village-officers who was vested with powers to punish a person
1. NO. 2, pp. 183, 234. 2. Same fact can be seen from various Jain. texts.-Choudhary, op. cit.,
p. 365. 3. NC. 4, p. 311. 4. NC. 2, p. 234; also NC. 3, p. 203. 5. NC. 3, p. 203. 6. Harsacarita, p. 199; Kādambari, p. 331; CII. III, pp. 109, 208, 210. 7. NC. 4, p. 311. 8. Altekar, op. cit., p. 145. 9. Hariacarita, p. 199. 10. Saletore, R. N., Life in the Gupta Age, p. 265.
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