(a) village-level administration 

(b) district-level administration 

(c) provincial administration 

(d) level of the central administration 

Ans-b

Explanation

Ashokan inscriptions suggest that the pradeshika, rajuka, and yukta were important officers at the district level. Rock edict 3 refers to these officers going on tours every five years in order to instruct people in dhamma and for other purposes. 

3rd Major Rock Edict (Translated)

Thus speaks the Beloved of the Gods, the king Piyadassi: When I had been consecrated twelve years I commanded as follows: Everywhere in my empire, the yuktas [subordinate officers] with the rajukas [rural administrators] and the pradesikas [heads of the districts], shall go on tour every five years, in order to instruct people in the Dhamma as well as for other purposes. It is good to be obedient to one’s mother and father, friends and relatives, to be generous to brahmans and Sramanas, it is good not to kill living beings, it is good not only to spend little, but to own the minimum of property. The council will instruct the officials to record the above, making it both manifest to the public and explaining why.

Read: Previous Year UPSC History Questions (PYQs) With Explanation 2025