Kingdoms in South India

South India in the early medieval period was shaped by the Pallavas, Pandyas, Cheras and, above all, the Cholas. These kingdoms built powerful navies, organised villages through sabhas, and raised temples that still dominate towns like Thanjavur and Madurai. A concrete example is Rajaraja I, whose Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur combined royal power, temple administration and inscriptional record-keeping. Their history shows how a regional state could project power across the seas as well as inland.