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AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
the modern Bundelkhand. The Ațavi country, which comprised no less than eighteen tiny kingdoms in the Gupta period, must have extended from Baghelkhand right upto the sea-coast of Orissa. And, this may explain why two copies of Minor Rock Edict I are found engraved at Rupanath and Sahasram, which were on the eastern and western frontiers of the Ațavi country. Further, from the name of one of the many tribes, dealt with in the edictsthe Andhras, we may conclude that Asoka must have taken equal care of and bestowed favours on other wild tribes living in the hilly tracts of the eastern ghats and these must have included tribes living in the hilly tract of Orissa. The Andhras, in early days, were a barbarous tribe? and we can assume that the other kindered wild tribes must also have come in for their share of the Emperor's unrivalled magnanimity. Again, Aśoka exhorts his officials to announce his sympathy and affection to the people of the bordering territory. Ja Drissa, there could be no territory adjoining Aśoka's empire except the independent or quasi-independent part of the Atavis. TOUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
One interesting point to be noticed in connection with the administrative systein of Asoka is that some of his officers--high or low, had to undertake tours for the despatch of their business. This is clear from the Sarnath Edict where the local Mahāmātras have been instructed to go out on tour as far as their jurisdiction went. The same instruction has been issued in the Rupnath Edict. And, as a matter of fact, the Rājukas, the Prādesikas and the Yuktas have been mentioned in RE III as going on tour for their routine work, and we know that they were dignitaries of a high class. The touring Malāmātras and higher
1. Ait. Brāh. VII, 18. Cf. also Särkhāyana Sutra, XV, 16.
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