The Rashtrakutas and their Times c15.s1.32

c15.s1.32

Owing to his exalted position the premier often enjoyed the status of a *Mahasamanta* entitled to the *Panchamahas'abdas*; he was also saluted by the feudatory chiefs of the Imperial power.⁵⁵ It is no wonder then that we sometimes find feudatory chiefs making grants at the dictation of the premiers of their overlords. When the king was temporarily absent from the capital or was unable to attend to duty owing to illness or some other similar reason, the administration was entrusted to the premier, as would appear from an anecdote narrated by Mahmud Ufi.⁵⁶ Such, of course, would have been the case when the heir-apparent was too young to assume the responsibility of the administration.