[1] The ascension to the throne was normally hereditary, sometimes through usurpation and occasionally based on unusual methods of choosing a king such as sending out the royal elephant to select a person of its choice by garlanding them.
Coins issued by the kings, seals on letters as well as exported and imported cargo stocked in the ware houses at ports bore this emblem.
[10] While the king ruled over his entire territory from the capital, he often placed one or more principalities (Koorram) under the near-sovereign government of some senior member of the royal family or a feudatary.
The Cilappatikaram mentions that while Nedunj Cheliyan I ruled from Madurai, his younger brother was placed in charge of the Korkai principality.
The Manram or Podiyil was a simple structure around the foot of a tree in the centre of the village, while the Ambalam or Avai was a small building on a slightly raised platform.
[13] The functions of these institutions were judicial, administrative and financial – they looked after the police duties, hearing and settling disputes, justice, sanitation, communicating royal orders, land surveys, revenue assessment and maintenance of roads and irrigation facilities.
[13] Justice was administered free of charge, by special officers appointed as judges and magistrates, but the king was supreme and the final arbiter in all civil and criminal cases.
[16] Mortgage, lease, trust property, loans, breach of contract were some common sources of civil litigation, which had no time bar.
[16][19] The punishments were very severe and hence crimes were rare: one caught in the act of burglary, adultery or spying was given the death penalty and one giving false testimony would have his tongue cut off.
A wide variety of war weapons filled the military arsenal including shields, swords, spears, tridents, maces, bows and arrows.
[25] A successful war could lead to annexation of territories or the submission of the enemy, who would then recognize the hegemony of the victor and start paying tributes.
The Maduraikanci gives a vivid picture of the sophisticated defence mechanism that was in place to protect the fort of Madurai during siege warfare.
There were also furnaces from which hot oil and molten metal might be poured on those that attempt to scale the wall and iron spokes and spears to shove down those that might succeed in mounting the ramparts.
The chariots and elephants carried the royalty and the generals that led the army and were armed with lances or swords and shields adorned with gold.
[32] The items incurring expenditure for the king include the military, gifts to poets and temples, maintenance of educational and health services, building infrastructure such as roads and irrigation and the palace household expenses.
The palace consisted of not only the members of the royal family but a vast crowd of merchants, officials and entertainers all of whom had to be compensated for their services – this was also a major item of expenditure.