This work attempts to analyse the power structure in the four early medieval kingdoms of South India, namely the Pallava, Pandya, Chera and Chola. It examines the role of the king vis-à-vis his subjects and raises questions about the nature of state and the mode of production that sustained it. Meticulously researched from computational and epigraphical material, the work questions the validity of those models that seek to categorise these states as ‘centralised empire’ and ‘segmentary state’. This work attempts to analyse the power structure in the four early medieval kingdoms of South India, namely the Pallava, Pandya, Chera and Chola. It examines the role of the king vis-à-vis his subjects and raises questions about the nature of state and the mode of production that sustained it. Meticulously researched from computational and epigraphical material, the work questions the validity of those models that seek to categorise these states as ‘centralised empire’ and ‘segmentary state’.