Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/96

94 literary tradition, which represents Asoka as having governed both those distant provinces previous to his accession. The Prince of Taxila may be presumed to have controlled at least the Panjâb and Kashmîr. The country now called Afghanistan may have been in charge of another Viceroy, who does not happen to have been mentioned. The Prince of Ujjain would have lieen responsible for Mâlvâ, Gujarât, and Surâshtra. The Prince of Tosali presumably was Governor of the annexed province of Kalinga, and the Prince of Suvarnagiri seems to have been Viceroy of the South.

The more central regions of the empire apparently were administered by officials appointed directly from the capital, without the intervention of any Prince. The distribution of the Pillar inscriptions gives a rough indication of the extent of the home provinces, while the Rock inscriptions occur only in outlying regions.

The Râjûas, 'set over hundreds of thousands of souls,' probably came next in rank to the Viceroys. The modern term Governor may serve as a rough equivalent. Below them came the Prâidesikas, or District Officers, and both classes seem to have been