Prelims 2014 · archive
HardIn medieval India, the designations 'Mahattara' and 'Pattakila' were used for
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) village headmen
Both titles appear in early medieval inscriptions as village-level authorities. 'Mahattara' literally meant an elder of a town or village and was also used for a village headman. 'Pattakila' meant the village headman, the same as the modern Patel or Patil.
- ✗ (a) Neither term was a military rank. A military commander was called a senapati. Mahattara and Pattakila are glossed as village elders or headmen.
- ✓ (b) Mahattara literally means 'an elder' of a town or village. The word was also used for a village headman or a member of the village council. Pattakila is glossed as village headman, the same as the modern Patel or Patil.
- ✗ (c) A priest performing rituals was called a purohita. Mahattara and Pattakila belong to village administration, not ritual.
- ✗ (d) The head of a merchant or craft guild was called a shreshthi. Mahattara was a village or town elder, and Pattakila a village headman, not a guild chief.
Remember · Mahattara = village or town elder or headman; Pattakila = village headman (modern Patel or Patil). Both are village-administration titles.
Sources
- Wisdomlib – Pattakila (India history glossary, from D.C. Sircar's Indian Epigraphical Glossary) ↗ · reference work “village headman; same as modern Paṭel, Pāṭel or Pāṭīl.”
- Wisdomlib – Mahattara (India history glossary, from D.C. Sircar's Indian Epigraphical Glossary) ↗ · reference work “literally, ‘an elder [of a town or village]’; according to Stein (Rājataraṅgiṇī, VII. 659); a chamberlain, a village headman or head of a family or community and a member of the village council”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2014, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·