Arvind played a role of a king. He had expected to march solemnly in splendid robes, to twirl his moustaches and wield the silver-paper wrapped sword with gusto. He also had to play a veena, and recite poetry.

Prashasti is a Sanskrit word which means 'in praise of.' Hence, the prashastis are composed in praise of contemporary kings. They were written by either royal poets or written by the visitors who visited India during this time. Mainly these prashastis were written in Sanskrit which was difficult for common men to read and understand.

The new administrative arrangements during this period were:
• Some important administrative posts were now hereditary. This means that sons succeeded fathers to these posts. For example, the poet Harishena was a maha-danda-nayaka, or chief judicial officer, like his father.
• Sometimes, one person held many offices. For instance, besides being a maha-danda nayaka, Harishena was a kumar-amatya, meaning an important minister, and a sandhi-vigrahika, meaning a minister of war and peace
• Important men like, the nagara-shreshthi or chief banker or merchant of the city, the sarthavaha or leader of the merchant caravans, the prathama-kulika or the chief craftsman, and the head of the kayasthas or scribes had a say in local administration.

Lord Buddha taught in Prakrit language and King Ashoka issued his inscriptions in Prakrit language.

In Aryavarta, there were nine rulers who were uprooted and their kingdoms were made a part of Samudgragupta's empire.
In Dakshinapatha, there were twelve rulers. They surrendered to Samudragupta after being defeated and he then allowed them to rule again.
Samudragupta adopted different policies because Dakshinapatha was far away from his capital, since the means of transport were primitive, it was difficult to keep the rulers under control.

(i) The best known Chalukya ruler was Pulakeshin II. We known about him from a prashasti. This prashasti (inscription) was composed by Pulakeshin II's court poet Ravikirti. This tells us about his ancestors, who are traced back through four generations from father to son.
(ii) Pulakeshin II evidently got the Kingdom from his uncle. According to Ravikirti
(a) He led expeditions along both the West and the East coast.
(b) Pulakeshin II checked the advance of Harsha. Harsha means happiness.
(c) Pulakeshin II also attacked the Pallava king, who took shelter behind the walls of Kanchipuram. However the successors of Pulakeshin II were not very capable and therefore the Chalukyas victory was short-lived.

The main achievements of the Pallavas and the Chalukyas were:
(i) The Pallavas and Chalukyas were that most important ruling dynasties in South India. The kingdom of the Pallavas spread from the region around their capital, Kanchipuram to the Kaveri delta, while that of the Chalukyas was centred around the Raichur Doab, between the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra.
(ii) The Pallavas and Chalukyas frequently attacked one another's areas, particularly they attacked the capital cities, which were prosperous towns.
(iii) Aihole, the capital of the Chalukyas, was an important trading and commercial centre. Initially this town developed as a religious centre, with a number of temple.
(iv) During the days of Pulakeshin II, the Chalukyas defeated Harshavardhana. But this victory was short-lived.
(v)Ultimately, both the Pallavas and the Chalukyas gave way to new rulers belonging to Rashtrakuta and Chola dynasties.