Explanation:

North Indian royal titles (e.g. adhiraja) gained more and more currency in the south in this period but the early south Indian kings seem to have derived their legitimation from tribal loyalties and the network of their respective clan.
This sometimes implied the division of power among many members of the clan. The Chera kingdom of the southwest coast (Kerala) must have been such a large-scale family enterprise. Kautilya has referred to this system of government in his Arthashastra; he called it “kulasangha” and thought that it was quite efficient. Among the Pandyas and Cholas the monarch seems to have played a more important role.
This was particularly true of the Chola king, Karikala, who ruled over a relatively large area around AD 190 after he had vanquished a federation of the Pandyas and Cheras. Even about 1,000 years later the Chola rulers still referred to this great ancestor and they attributed to him the building of dikes along the banks of the Kaveri and the decoration of Kanchipuram with gold.
Karikala’s policy was obviously aimed at extending the territorial base of the Cholas at the expense of the other tribal principalities, but this policy