Temple architecture reached its peak under the kingdom of _____.

1. Emerging Dynasties:

(i) By the seventh century, the various regions of the Indian subcontinent had warrior chiefs and big landlords. They were accepted by the kings that already existed, as their Samantas or subordinates.

(ii) Gaining wealth and power, the samantas called themselves Maha-Samanta (great lord of a region) and stated their independence from their chief. An example of the same is Dantidurga, chief of Rashtrakuta.

(iii) Military expertise was used by men of enterprising families to form their kingdoms.

2. Administration of Kingdoms:

(i) Grand-sounding titles were used by many new kings. Maharajadhiraja and Tribhuvana-chakravartin were two of them.

(ii) The kings shared their power often with their samantas and with the associations of traders, Brahmans, and peasants.

(iii) States obtained resources from the producers such as artisans, cattle-keepers, and peasants. Fort and temple constructions, wars, and the establishment of the kings are financed by these resources.

(iv) Rulers of Tamil Nadu, Cholas’ have inscriptions in which above $400$ words for the various kinds of taxes were referred.

(v) People recruited for armies and revenue collection were generally from powerful families, often kings' close relatives. More so, often the positions were hereditary.

3. Land Grants and Prashastis:

(i) Prashastis depict kings as victorious, valiant warriors. Thus, they let us know how the kings wanted to showcase themselves as, and may not be true literally. These were often composed by learned Brahmanas.

(ii) Brahmanas were often rewarded with land grants. Recordings on copper plates of the same were given to those who were given the land.

(iii) Kalhana wrote a Sanskrit poem. It contained the history of the rulers of Kashmir. More so it was unusual in the way that it was not only critical about the policies of the rulers but even the rulers themselves.

4. Warfare for Wealth:

(i) Kanauj city in Ganga valley was a prized region. Rulers of the Pala dynasties, Rashtrakuta and Gurjara-Pratihara, fought to control it. Thus, historians would call this conflict “tripartite struggle”.

(ii) Power was often demonstrated by rulers by building temples. Thus, temples were targeted when kingdoms were attacked, due to their wealth. One of the examples of the same is the attack on Somnath temple in Gujarat by the Afghani Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni.

(iii) The Sultan used the wealth he obtained to create the magnificent city of Ghazni. He also commissioned Kitab-ul-Hind. It is an Arabic work he entrusted to scholar Al-Biruni, in which the scholar gave an account of the subcontinent.

(iv) Chauhans also took part in warfare. They ruled the region around Ajmer and Delhi. They were opposed by the Gahadavalas and the Chalukyas. The most famous Chauhan was Prithiviraja III who fought Sultan Muhammad Ghori.

5. The Cholas:

(i) From the ancient ruling Chola family, Vijayalaya, seized the Kaveri delta from the Muttaraiyar.

(ii) His successors conquered the regions around and grew in size and power. The administration of the empire was reorganized by Rajaraja I, thought to be the most powerful Chola king. Rajendra I, son of Rajaraja I raided Southeast Asian countries, Sri Lanka, Ganga Valley, and even developed a navy for the same.

(iii) The temples of Cholas were often the locus of the settlements which grew surrounding them. More so they were the hub of craft production and thus the centre of social, economic, and even cultural life.

(iv) Their bronze images were considered amongst the best in the world.

6. Irrigation, Agriculture, and Administration:

(i) New agricultural developments played a hand in a lot of the Cholas’ achievements.

(ii) Various methods were used for irrigation and the villagers and rulers took interest in them.

(iii) With the help of irrigation in agriculture, the settlements of ur or peasants flourished. These villages are grouped from Nadu. The Nadu and City Councils carried out administrative and judicial functions and collected taxes.

(iv) Their affairs were controlled by the affluent peasants of the Vellala caste, supervised by the Chola government in the centre.

(v) In the Kaveri valley, Brahmana settlements came up in huge numbers. A Sabha or assembly of Brahman landholders looked after them, recording decisions in inscriptions. The town’s administrative functions were performed occasionally by Nagarams or the trader's associations.

7. Inscriptions and Texts:

(i) Inscriptions from Uttaramerur in Tamil Nadu, provide us details about how sabhas were organized, the different committees they had, and who could be a part of sabhas.

(ii)The Tamil work of the twelfth century, Periyapuranam talks about the life of ordinary women and men.