History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c13.s1.1

v1.c13.s1.1

The Sāmantas or Sardars as they are now called in India or the nobles as they are called in the west, were a necessary and a usual part of the administrative machinery of a country in ancient India. The word Sāmanta is clearly derived from Samanta or vicinity and means etymologically those who are near the king. The Sāmantas were mostly the king's kinsmen and relatives or such families as had rendered meritorious services in past times or scions and representatives of dispossessed kingly families. They appear to be always territorial lords and were miniature kings in their own subject territories. For they clearly had the power to make grants, as inscriptions show many grants made by Sāmantas. They were also masters of small armies, with which they were bound to assist the king whenever he moved against his enemies. They were also bound to assist the king on other necessary occasions as Bāṇa mentions an Ātavika Sāmanta (i. e. a feudatory chief of the forest country) coming to assist Harsha in his search for his sister. (H. C. p. 309). These feudatories or nobles or Sardars lived usually, however, at the capital town and graced the Darbar on all state occasions. Their wives similarly attended on the queen. Bāṇa describes the wives of the Sāmantas as coming in hundreds to the palace at the time of Harsha's birth and keeping the birth festival by dancing as has already been stated. (H. C. p. 186 समन्तात्सामन्तःपुरसहस्राण्यदृश्यन्त). The Sāmantas with their wives thus exactly fulfilled the functions which dukes and duchesses and other noblemen and noblewomen discharge in European countries. Besides this duty of attending on the king and queen on state occasions, the Sāmantas often appear to be employed as officers. Bhandi for instance was the son of a Sāmanta chief and was the commander of the Thanesar cavalry force. Skandagupta, again, the leader of the elephant force of Thanesar was himself a Pārthiva or king (H. C. p. 267) i. e. a feudatory chief or Sāmanta. The Sāmantas were usually then as now employed in the military service, but perhaps they must sometimes have been employed even in the capacity of ministers of whom we shall now go on to speak.