Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s1.45

c12.s1.45

The *Sukranīti* gives a new designation for the rural officials.¹ The officer of ten *grāmas* is called the *nāyaka*. The officer of above ten *grāmas* and below one hundred is called *hīnasāmanta*. The officer of one hundred *grāmas* is a *sāmanta*. The officer of above one hundred and below a thousand is *nirsāmanta*, and the officer of a thousand *grāmas* is known as *aśvapālasvarāṭ*. These officers were paid for their services to the state. The *grāmika* was provided with his daily means of subsistence by the villagers. The headman of ten villages is entitled to a *kula* measure of land, whilst that of twenty villages five *kulas*. The officer-in-charge of one hundred villages enjoyed a whole village and of a thousand villages a whole city.²