institution of the Samanta brought rulers of fragmented or tribalistic, small independent regions under subjugation to serve the king or emperor as vassals. The office of the Samanta represented a semantic change in state formation from an independent neighbour to a tributary chief and finally to a high ranking court official. Types of Samanta Banabhatta describes several types of Samantas in his work, Harsha Charita. Bana's Harshacharitra is the only work from which we know of various categories of Samantas. Bana mentions a large number of conquered enemy Maha-Samantas in the royal camp who were probably waiting to be assigned their new duties. Some types of Samantas mentioned by Banabhatta are: Samanta: which signified the lowest and ordinary type of vassal. Mahasamantha (Maha-Samanta): a step higher than a Samanta. Shatrumahasamanta (Shatru-Maha-Samanta): a conquered enemy chief. Aptasamanta (Apta-Samanta): those who willingly accepted vassalage and the emperor as their overlord. Pradhanamahasamanta (Pradhana-Maha-Samanta): who were most trusted hands of the emperor and never disregarded their advice. Pratisamanta (Prati-Saamanta): who were opposed to the king and meant a hostile vassal. Though hostile, all Samantas had military obligations. If they did not fulfill their obligations, the king could seize their territory and appoint a new Samanta. Despite this, some Samantas would keep trying to throw off their allegiance to the king and assert their own independent rule. Banabhatta uses the term Anuraktamahasamanta (Anurakta-Mahasamanta) only once and it possibly meant those especially attached to their overlord. Obligations of the Samanta From the Harshacharitra, we understand that the Samanta had five duties. They are: Paying yearly tributes to the emperor. Paying homage to the emperor in person. Defeated Samantas had to offer their sons and minor princes to the Emperor so that they are groomed in the imperial traditions and grow to be loyal to the emperor. Render military aid to the emperor. Perform administrative and judicial functions in times of peace. In the nature of rendering military aid, paying tributes and performing administrative and judicial functions, the office of the Samanta is comparable to the office of the Nayaka which was followed by the Vijayanagar Empire. The Samanta system was followed by several kingdoms across north and south India. In South India Some examples of Samantas in South India are: In the Hoysala empire, samantas were feudal chiefs paying vassalitic homage to the Maharaja and served the king as heredity governors. Some examples or names of