New Notions of Kingship in Early Indian History.

1. The new kingdoms that emerged in the south, including the chiefdoms of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas in Tamilakam proved to be stable and prosperous under the control of chiefs, who performed special rituals, leadership in warfare, and arbitrating disputes.

2. Many chiefs and kings, including the Satavahanas who ruled over parts of western and central India and the Shakas, a people of Central Asian origin who established kingdoms in the north-western and western parts of the subcontinent claimed social status in a variety of ways such as religious rituals and marriage alliances.

3. The Kushanas who ruled over a vast kingdom extending from Central Asia to northwest India. Colossal statues of Kushana rulers have been found installed in a shrine at Mat near Mathura. Some historians feel this indicates that the Kushanas considered themselves godlike. Many Kushana rulers also adopted the title devaputra, or “son of god”.

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Rulers of the Gupta Empire depended on samantas, men who maintained land and army and they offered homage and provided military support to rulers.

1. Gupta encouraged poets to compose poems in praise of them. While historians often attempt to draw factual information from such compositions, they found that rulers were compared as equal to Gods.In the Allahabad Pillar inscription ( composed in Sanskrit by Harishena, the court poet of Samudragupta) Samudragupta was compared with Gods.

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