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No. 30] CHARTER OF VISHNUSHENA, SAMVAT 649
167 605 A.D. or to 676 A.D. This no doubt precludes the possibility of referring the year 649 to the Saka era and taking it to correspond to 727 A.D. which would be later than 605 or 676 A.D. That the use of the Vikrama era was not unknown in the Gujarat-Kathiawar region, to which our record seems to belong, is suggested by the Dhiniki plates of Jaikadeva, dated V.S. 794 (737 A.D.), found in the Okhamandal District of Saurashtra. The Vikrama Samvat seems to have penetrated into that region from Rajputana where we notice its use in records dating from the third century A.D. The use of the Vikrama era in the present insoription may possibly be explained by the suggestion that the merchants, in whose favour the document was issued, weta accustomed to its use. It seems reasonable to think that the Jains, mostly a mercantile community, were greatly responsible for the development of the Vikrams and Salivāhana-Saka sagas as well as for the spread of both the Vikrama and Saka eras."
The document records an order, issued from the väsaka (residence) at Lohāta, by a ruler named Vishnushēņa (called Vishnubhata in the endorsement) who is endowed with the subordinate titles Mahākārttākritika, Mahādandanāyaka, Mahapratīhāra, Mahāsāmanta and Mahārāja. The real meaning of karttākritika is unknown, but it may have indicated a royal agents or a judge of a superior court or an officer, like the present day Legal Remembrancer, inviting the king's attention to what was done or left undone. Dandanayaka was either a leader of the army or the chief of the police with power of judging criminal offences. Mahāpratihāra, literally the great door-keeper', was probably the chief of the palace-guards and the royal bodyguards. It is interesting to note that precisely the same five feudatory titles, the pañcha-mahāšabda,' are also known to have been used by Dhruvasēna I (Gupta-Valabhi years 206-26-525-45 A.D.) of the Maitraka dynasty of Valabhi, although to whom. exactly he owed allegiance is difficult to determine in the absence of further light on the subject.
The order of Mahāsāmanta-Mahārāja Vishņushēņa was addressed to his subordinates and officials guch as the Rajan, Rajaputra, Rajasthāniya, Ayuktaka, Viniyuktaka, Saulkika, Choroddharanika, Vailabdhika, Drängika, Chata and Bhata, to other officials executing the ruler's orders as well as to the Dhruvādhikarana. Rājan and Rājaputra apparently refer to subordinate rulers and their sons put in charge of administrative units. Rajasthāniya means a feudatory or viceroy' Ayuktaka possibly means a magistrate (or treasury-officer) appointed by the king and Viniyuktaka (the same as tad-āyuktaka, tan-niyuta ka or tad-viniyuktaka) an officer of a similar category appointed by the viceroy.10 Saulkika is of course a customs officer and Choroddharanika a prefect of the police. Vailabdhika may have been the custodian of recovered stolen property as the Yukta of the Manu Smriti (VIII, 34) although the Rājatarangini (VII, 161-63) uses the word vilabdhi probably in the sense of an assignment. The Drāngika must have been the officer in charge of 4 dranga which is explained as a town in the lexicons and used in the sense of a town or village' in Jain literature, but is known to have the sense of a watch-station' in the Rajatarangini (VIII, 2010).11 Chāta and Bhata are often taken to mean regular and irregular soldiers respectively, although
1 Bhandarkar, op. cit., No. 17. * Ibid., Nos. 1 ff. . Cf. The Age of Imperial Unity (Hist. Cult. Ind. Peop., Vol. II), p. 114 ; 1HG, Vol. XXIX, p. 296. • Sel. Ins., Vol. I, p. 360, n. 9.
Ibid., p. 260, n. 1. • Ibid., p. 33, n. 9.
Cf. Rajatarangini, IV, 140-43 and 680: IHQ, Vol. XXIII, p. 326. In the South Indian records, paicha. mahababda seems to refer to the privilege to enjoy the sounds of five kinda of musical instruments (Oorp. In Ind., Vol. III, p. 276 n.).
. Cf. Bhandarkar, op. cit., Nos. 1804-05.
Sel. Ins., p. 391, n. 5. 10 Ibid., p. 360, n. 7; 351, n. 1: p. 284, n. 3. 1 Cf. Stein, Rajatarangini, English translation, Vol. 17, pp. 291 f.
