 Although Nair families, they generally used the title of "Samantan" and were treated as vassals.However, some "naduvazhi" were feudatory chiefs, former kings whose territory had been taken over by, for example, the Zamorins of Calicut.In these instances, although they were obeisant to the "rajah" they held a higher ritual rank than the Zamorin as a consequence of their longer history of government; they also had more power than the vassal chiefs.