RAS question
The Mahamatras in the Mauryan administration were officers responsible for which function?
Correct answer: (A) District administration and welfare.
In Mauryan administration, Mahamatras were high-ranking officers responsible for district-level administration and public welfare, not merely tax collection, trade regulation, or military command.
Explanation
Mahamatras were senior provincial officers linked with district administration and public welfare. The Ashokan example makes the role clearer: Ashoka appointed Dharma-Mahamatras to spread dhamma and encourage moral conduct among the people. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes dhamma-mahamattas as Mauryan officials used to help govern the empire, propagate dhamma, and keep the emperor informed about public opinion. That wider administrative and welfare role is why option A fits best. The office was not a narrow revenue post, a market-regulation post, or a military command; it belonged to the broader civil machinery through which the Mauryan state supervised people and provinces.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Tax collection may have been part of administration, but Mahamatras had wider administrative and welfare duties, especially under Ashoka's Dharma-Mahamatras.
- (C) Trade regulation is not the defining function here; separate trade officials such as the Panyadhyaksha handled that domain.
- (D) Military command does not match the civil and welfare role of Mahamatras; military authority belonged to the Senapati rather than these officers.
Concept
This tests Mauryan administrative structure, especially how Ashoka used officials to connect imperial authority with provincial governance and public welfare. It recurs in RAS because ancient Indian polity questions often ask candidates to distinguish civil, revenue, trade, and military offices.