According to Gough, the villages were generally between one and four square miles in area and their lands were usually owned by one landlord family, who claimed a higher ritual rank than its other inhabitants. The landlord was also usually the "desavazhi" (headman) and in all cases their families were known as "jenmis". These landlords were from the lineages of the royal families or feudatory chiefs; or were patrilineal Nambudiri families or the estates of temples operated by groups of those families. They were also from the lineages of the matrilineal vassal Samantan chiefs and, finally, the lowest "jenmis" in terms of ritual ranking were Nairs who had inherited from matrilineal ancestors to whom land and the concomitant headmanship had been granted by a king. In all cases, the landholdings could not be sold without royal permission.