Samanta System
The institution of the Samanta was the main innovation which distinguished the post-Gupta
period from the other periods of ancient India. The term Samanta originally meant ‘neighbor’
and referred to the independent ruler of the adjacent territory in the Mauryan period as
referred in the Arthasastra of Kautilya and the Ashokan edicts. In the pre-gupta period the
term was used by the law givers in the sense of the neighbouring proprietor of land. Even the
border kings mentioned by Samudragupta in his Allahabad prasasti were such Samanta’s in
the original sense of the term. Samanta had come to mean a subjected but reinstated tributary
prince of a realm.
The rise and growth of the samantas was a distinctive structural feature of the growth of the
feudal regime. The samantas enjoyed a great autonomy within the territory. In order to
integrate these overnighty subjects (samantas) into the hierarchy of the realm, they were often
given high position in the court. Conversely, the high officers of the central court demanded
similar recognition as the defeated kings and princes obtained in the due course. Thus, the
process of samantasation of the realm started.
This process of samanataisation was accelerated by two factors: the lack of money for the
payment of salaries and the new idea that riyal prestige depended on the size of the king’s
samantachakra (circle of the tributary princes). Old treatises on the art of government, like the
Arthasastra provides details of the salaries of officers.
Epigraphic Evidence: In the third quarter of the 5 th century, the term Samanta was used to
mean vassal in south India for the phrase Samantachudamanayah appears in a Pallava
inscription of the time of Santivarman. In the northern India the earliest use of the term is
found in Bengal inspiration, and in the Barabar Hill Cave Inscription of the Maukhari chief
Anantavarman. The term is also found in the Mandasor Pillar Inscription of Yasodharman in
which he claims to have subjected the samantas in the whole of northern India. Gradually the
application of the term was extended from defeated chiefs to the royal officials.
Literary Evidence: Bana in his Harshacharita speaks of several types of samantas. Of them
the samantas was the lowest and ordinary type of vassal.
Functioning of the Samantas:
Banabhata in his Harshacharita indicates the obligations of the samantas to their overload. It
is evident from his work that the first obligation is to pay annual tributes to the emperor. The
second obligation of the samantas is to pay homage to the emperor in person. The third
obligation of the defeated samantas is to furnish their minor princes or sons to the conqueror
and the fourth obligation was most significant as they had to offer military aid to the
overload.
It is further evident from Bana’s work is that the samantas living in the court of the overload
even had to carry out certain social obligations as well. It is recorded in the Kadambari that
they even took part in the various amusements such as gambling, dice-playing etc.
Impact of Samantisation
Samanatisaton gradually eroded the power base of the ruler even in the core area as the
assignment of revenue-bearing lands diminished the area directly controlled by the central
administration. The greater the number of samantas and mahasamants who attended the court,
the greater the frame of the overload.
