How Were Empires Administered?

• Large kingdoms were divided into progressively smaller territorial units for administrative convenience , while supreme authority remained with the king.

Who administered these levels?

What were these levels called in the north and the south?

What does the paragraph say about administration more generally?

• General administration was carried out by officers at provincial and local levels .
• Pradeshikas , or district governors, handled judicial and administrative functions.
• District officers often consulted important residents such as bankers, caravan leaders, artisans and scribes .
• City governors were responsible for revenue collection and maintenance of law and order.

• Between about 300 CE and 800 CE , administration became increasingly decentralised : large kingdoms were divided into provinces and progressively smaller local units for administrative convenience.
• The king remained the supreme authority, but provincial, district and village-level administration became increasingly important.
• The names of administrative units differed between northern and southern records, as shown in the previous block.

What they kept from before

• The Guptas retained much of the earlier form of administration .
• As before, the mantri remained the head of civil administration .
• Below him, three officers continued from the older system: the commander-in-chief , the general , and the chief of the palace guards .

What was new under the Guptas

• A new post, the sandhivigrahika , or "minister of peace and war," was created.
• The old category of amatyas also broadened, to include kumaramatyas , officers working specifically at the local or provincial level .

The district level: the Damodarpur copper plates

• These plates, from the reign of Kumaragupta I , give a direct record of one district office.
• The listed members cover district administration, banking, caravan trade, craft production and revenue collection . This is evidence that the district office included economic interests as well as administrative and revenue functions.
• This fits the chapter's earlier observation that district-level decision-making could involve important local residents such as bankers, caravan leaders and artisans .

• The Pallavas ruled the south from about 275 to 897 CE .

• The king was the supreme head of state , the centralised part of the system.
• The kingdom itself was divided into provinces, districts, taluks and villages , the decentralised part.

Their most striking feature: land grants

• One of the most striking features of Pallava administration was tax-free land grants to villages , called Brahmadeya villages.

How villages ran themselves

• Village assemblies functioned relatively independently of the royal administration .
• Small committees, the variyams , managed specific tasks such as irrigation, gardens and temple management .

How was Chalukya administration similar to Pallava administration?

• Like the Pallavas, the Chalukyas of Badami followed a monarchical system combined with decentralised administration .

• The king's duties, the administrative divisions, and the autonomous village assemblies all followed largely the same pattern.
• A difference highlighted in the chapter is the terminology of land grants: instead of the Pallava Brahmadeya villages, the Chalukyas gave land grants to Brahmin settlements known as agraharams .
• Some agraharams, such as those at Aihole and Badami , gradually developed into prominent centres of learning .

Kingdoms between the 3rd and 10th centuries CE

The map helps locate the regional powers discussed in this part of the chapter; it is for spatial orientation, not another separate administrative hierarchy.

• Kannauj , the main capital of the Gurjara-Pratiharas, became a coveted site for several kingdoms of the period.

• Three major powers fought to control it: the Gurjara-Pratiharas , the Palas and the Rashtrakutas .

What was common in how all three governed

• Despite fighting each other over Kannauj, all three kingdoms used the same administrative pattern : monarchy at the centre, decentralised provinces, districts and villages below it.

• The imperial Cholas discussed here belong to the 9th–11th centuries CE and were noted for their efficient administrative and revenue systems . They should not be confused with the much earlier Cholas described in Sangam-period material.

How the Chola Empire was divided

• As usual, the village ( ur ) remained the smallest unit within a district.

What functions did Chola village assemblies perform, and why are they called independent?

A Chola village assembly

• Chola village assemblies handled revenue collection, land management, irrigation, road construction, record maintenance, and settling disputes and general local affairs.

• They handled this entire range of functions themselves, and were not dependent on the government for patronage , that is, for money or support from above. That is what makes them "independent and self-reliant."

The Kudavolai ballot pot

What happened after representatives were selected?

• Elected members were divided into specialised committees called variyams .
• The chapter gives examples connected with irrigation (the tank committee) , justice , and tax collection .
• This inscription is direct evidence of the organised functioning of village assemblies under the Cholas.