administration

The King remained the central figure of administration.

However, there was a considerable change in the
character of monarchy. We find that the Gupta monarchs
adopted high sounding titles like: Paramabhattaraka,
Parama-daivata, Chakravarti, Paramesvara, etc. For
example, the Allahabad Prasasti of Samudragupta
describes him as "equal to the gods: Dhanada (Kubera),
Varuna (Sea-God), Indra and Antaka (Vama), who had no
antagonist of equal power in the world . in the spirit of
Smriti literature and that of Kalidasa we find Skandagupta
in his Bhitari Pillar inscription eulogized as a person who
"subdued the earth and became merciful to the
conquered people, but he became neither proud nor
arrogant though his glory was increasing day by day. It
"indicate that inspite of the supreme powers that vested
in the King he was expected to follow a righteous path,
and had certain duties:-
It was the King's duty to decide the policy of the state
during war and peace. For instance, Samudragupta was
prudent enough to reinstate the monarchs
ofdukshinupurhu
in their original kingdoms. It was considered a prime duty
of the monarch to protect his countrymen from any
invasion. The King was to lead the army in case of war.
This is demonstrated through the campaigns of
Samudragupta and Chandragupta-11. The King was also
expected to support the Brahmanas, Sramanas and all
others who
needed his protection. The Prayagaprasasti as well as the
Apratigha type coins of Kumaragupta-I point to
the appointment of successor to the throne by the
reigning King. An important political development of this
period was the continuity of various kings in their regions
once they had accepted the suzerainty of the Gupta King.
And the Gupta King would not interfere with the
administration of such regions.The Gupta inscriptions are
not very clear about the hierarchy of ministers. However,
there is
no doubt that the King used to take counsel of his
ministers and issue witten instructions to
officials on all important matters. The minister's office
was perhaps hereditary. For example, the Udayagiri
inscription of the time of Chandragupta-2 informs us that
Virasena Saba, the minister for war and peace, was
holding this office by inheritance. Though the supreme
judicial powers were vested in the King, he was assisted
by the Mahanandanayaka (Chief Justice). In the provinces
this work was entrusted to the Uparikas and in districts to
the Vishayapatis
There were some other high officials. For example, the
Mahapratihara was the chief of the
palace guards, the Pratihara regulated ceremonies and
granted the necessary permits for [admission to the royal
presence. The Guptas must have had a big army
organisationThe army was paid in
cash and its needs were well looked after by an officer-in-
charge of stores called
Ranabhandagarika. Land revenue was the main source of
the state's income besides the fines. In
Samudragupta's time we hear of an officer whose
duty was to enter numerous matters in the accounts
registers, recover royal dues from the sureties of
servants, to check embezzlement and recover fines for
loss due to neglect or fraud.
The whole empire was divided into Bhuktis.
Bhuktis were governed by Uparikas directly appointed by
the King.
The Province or Bhukti was again divided into districts or
Vishayas under an official called
Ayuktaka and in other cases a Vistiyapati. His
appointment was made by the provincial
governor.
The lowest unit of administration was the villa&. In
villages where there was a headman called
Gramapati or Gramadhayaksha.
economy
Various types of land are mentioned in the inscriptions;
land under cultivation was usually called Kshetra. Lands
not
under cultivation were variously called as Khila, Aprahata,
etc. The concern of the society with agricultural
production is also reflected in the importance
given to irrigation. Sudarsana reservoir
in Saurashtra in Gujarat, originally built in the Maurya
period, was thoroughly repaired when it was extensively
damaged in the time of MahakshatrapaRudradaman.
Another method for
irrigation was to draw water from wells and supply the
water to the fields through carefully
prepared channels. In the
Harshacharita of Banabhatta, which was of course written
in the seventh century A.D.
there is a very charming description of how cultivated
fields, producing crops like sugarcane, were being
irrigated with the help of ghati-yantra. There were thus
different systems of irrigation and the role of the state
was only marginal in providing irrigation facilities to
farmers. The importance of rainfall is underlined not only
in the Arthasastra of Kautilya but also in the texts written
in the Gupta period. The inscriptions from Bengal refer to
sale of land by district-level administration to individuals
who bought them by paying cash and made gifts
purchased
land to brahmans. The Gupta inscriptions refer to
different types of village residents like Gramikas,
Kutumbis and Mahattaras. Crafts production covered a
very wide range of items. There were items of ordinary
domestic use like earthen pots, items of furniture,
baskets, metal tools for domestic use and a wide variety
of luxury items .An inscription of fifth century from
Mandasor in western Malwa refers to a guild of
silk-weavers who had migrated from south Gujarat and
had settled in the Malwa region. There were organizations
which facilitated the functioning of both craftsmen and
traders. The ancient term which was generally used for
these organizations was Sreni.

society
If we talk about the society of the gupta period, there was
an ideal social order and the state was expected to pre
serve it. The Brahmanas came to exert considerable
influence on the kings from the Gupta period and this is
quite clear from the way they received land from the
kings and others. The kings, officials and others gave land
not only to individual brahmanas but also some times
incited big groups of brahmanas to come and settle in
remote areas. Thus, the number of brahmana settlements
variously called Brshmadiyas, Agraharas and so on
started increasing and they started spreading among
other things, the idea of a varna-divided social order.
Varna order was an ideal order and there were many
groups in society whose
varna identity could never be determined. Secondly, it
was assumed that the varnas would perform their duties;
in reality, they may not have done so. These suggest that
real society was different from the ideal society and this
was also recognized by the brahmana writers
of the dharmashastras. These changes originated much
before the Gupta period, but with the spread of the
Brahmanas to different parts of India, the social structure
came to be very complex.