Bhoja
Bhoja was the Paramara king of Malwa from 1010 until his death in 1055. He ruled from Dhara, and fought wars with nearly all his neighbours in attempts to extend his kingdom, with varying degrees of success. At its zenith, his empire extended from Chittor in the north to upper Konkan in the south, and from the Sabarmati River in the west to Vidisha in the east.
Because of his patronage of scholars, Bhoja became one of the most celebrated kings in Indian history. After his death, he came to be featured in several legends as a righteous scholar-king. The body of legends clustered around him is comparable to that of the Emperor Vikramaditya.
Bhoja is best known as a patron of arts, literature, and sciences. The establishment of the Bhoj Shala, a centre for Sanskrit studies, is attributed to him. He was a polymath, and several books covering a wide range of topics are attributed to him. He is also said to have constructed a large number of Shiva temples, although Bhojeshwar Temple in Bhojpur is the only surviving temple that can be ascribed to him with certainty.
Early life
Bhoja's father and predecessor was Sindhuraja. According to Bhoja-Prabandha, his mother's name was Savitri. Bhoja's reputation as a scholar-king suggests that he was well-educated as a child. The Bhoja-Prabandha states that he was educated by his guardians as well as other learned scholars.According to Bhoja-Prabandha, early in his life, Bhoja suffered from intense headaches. Two Brahmin surgeons from Ujjain made him unconscious using an anaesthetic powder called moha-churna, opened his cranial bone, removed a tumor, and then made him regain his consciousness by administering another powder called sanjivani.
Legend of persecution by Munja
According to Tilaka-Manjari, composed by Bhoja's contemporary Dhanapala, Bhoja's feet had auspicious birthmarks indicating that he was fit to be a king. His uncle Munja loved him greatly, and appointed him as the king.However, several later legendary accounts state that Munja was initially jealous of Bhoja, and tried to prevent him from becoming a king. For example, the 14th century Prabandha-Chintamani states that during the reign of Munja, an astrologer prophesied Bhoja's long reign. Munja, who wanted his own son to become the king, ordered Bhoja's killing. Bhoja was appointed as the king by the royal ministers after Munja's death. According to a Gujarati legend documented in Rasmala, Munja ordered Bhoja's murder, but later appointed him as the crown prince.
Bhoja-Prabandha states that Munja ordered one Vatsaraja to kill Bhoja at the Mahamaya temple in Bhuvaneshvari forest. On hearing Bhoja's cultured manner of talking, Vatsaraja and his men abandoned the murder plan. They faked Bhoja's death, and presented to Munja a fake head and a verse from Bhoja. The verse described how great kings like Mandhata, Rama and Yudhishthira died leaving behind all their property; it then sarcastically added that Munja would be the only one whom the earthly possessions would follow. The verse moved Munja to tears, and made him realize his mistake. When he learned that Bhoja was still alive, he invited Bhoja to back to his court. To repent for his sin, he also went on a pilgrimage to Dharmaranya, where he established a town called Munjapuram. The sarcastic verse, purportedly written by Bhoja to Munja, also appears as an antonymous extract in Sharngadhara-paddhati.
These stories of Bhoja's persecution by Munja are essentially mythical. This legend is not found in the works composed by the contemporaries of Munja, Sindhuraja and Bhoja. For example, the Nava-sahasanka-charita makes no mention of this story. The legend appears to be the poetic imagination of later composers. Ain-i-Akbari also contains a variation of this account, but completely distorts the legend, naming Munja as the one who was persecuted by Bhoja. This account is also completely unreliable from a historical point of view.
Anointment
Some literary works suggest that Bhoja succeeded his uncle Munja as the Paramara king. These works include Tilaka-Manjari, Prabandha-Chintamani, and Rasmala. However, several other works as well as epigraphic evidence indicate that Bhoja succeeded his father Sindhuraja. Padmagupta, the court poet of Sindhuraja and Bhoja, also supports this fact. According to Bhoja-Prabandha, Munja left the Paramara administration in hands of Sindhuraja before departing on a military expedition. Munja unexpectedly died in this campaign, and as a result, Sindhuraja succeeded him as the king. Sindhuraja's court poet Padmagupta, in his Nava-Sahasanka-Charita, states that Munja "placed the world in Sindhuraja's hands" before leaving for Ambika's town. This indicates that he left the administration in Sindhuraja's hands before leaving for his fatal expedition against Tailapa II. Udaipur Prashasti inscription seems to confirm this.Period of reign
The Modasa copper plates are the earliest historical record of Bhoja's reign. The Chintamani-Sarnika was composed by Bhoja's court poet Dasabala. An inscription of Bhoja's successor Jayasimha I is also dated 1055 CE. Thus, 1055 CE can be taken as the last year of Bhoja's reign. Based on these evidences, scholars such as Pratipal Bhatia assign Bhoja's reign to 1010–1055 CE.However, some scholars assign the beginning of Bhoja's reign variously between 1000 CE and 1010 CE, based on their interpretations of inscriptions and legendary texts. For example, Merutunga's Prabandha-Chintamani states that Bhoja ruled for 55 years, 7 months and 3 days. Based on this, scholars such as D. C. Ganguly and K. C. Jain assign Bhoja's reign to 1000–1055 CE. However, as K. M. Munshi states, dates are "the weakest point in Merutunga's narratives". A. K. Warder, who dismisses Merutunga as "completely unreliable" and his narratives as "essentially fiction", believes there is no evidence that Bhoja's reign began much earlier than 1010 CE.
Names and titles
In the Paramara inscriptions, Bhoja is mentioned as Bhoja-deva. In some modern north Indian languages such as Hindi, he is also known as "Bhoj". Bhoja's inscriptions mention his titles as Parama-bhattaraka, Maharajadhiraja and Parameshvara. Ganaratna Mahodadhi, a work on grammar by Vardhamana, suggests that "Tribhuvan Narayana" or "Triloka Narayana" was also a title of Bhoja. This is corroborated by epigraphic evidence: the Shiva temple ascribed to Bhoja in the Chittor fort has an idol which was named "Bhojasvamindeva" as well as "Tribhuvan Narayanadeva".Military career
While Bhoja became famous as a benevolent king and a patron of arts and culture, he was also renowned as a warrior. He inherited a kingdom centered around the Malwa region, and made several attempts to expand it with varying results. The Udaipur Prashasti inscription of Bhoja's brother compares Bhoja to the legendary king Prithu, and states that he "ruled the earth from Kailasha to Malaya hills and up to the mountains of the setting and the rising sun". This is an obvious exaggeration: historical evidence indicates that Bhoja's empire extended from Chittor in the north to upper Konkan in the south, and from the Sabarmati River in the west to Vidisha in the east.
Several legends mention conflicts between the ruler of Malwa and the Chaulukyas, during the reign of the Chaulukya kings Vallabha-raja and Durlabha-raja. Vallabha is said to have died of smallpox during an expedition against the Paramaras. This incident may have happened during the early part of Bhoja's reign, or during the reign of his father Sindhuraja. Vallabha's successor Durlabha is said to have repulsed an attack by a confederacy that included the ruler of Malwa, but modern historians doubt the authenticity of this legend.
Bhoja's first military aggression appears to be his invasion of the Lata region, around 1018 CE. Bhoja subjugated the Chalukyas of Lata, whose ruler Kirtiraja may have served as his feudatory for a brief period. Bhoja's invasion of Lata brought him close to the Shilahara kingdom of northern Konkana, which was located to the south of Lata. Bhoja invaded and captured Konkana sometime between 1018 and 1020 CE, during the reign of the Shilahara king Arikesari. He celebrated this victory in a big way by making generous donations to Brahmins. His 1020 CE inscription states that he organized a Konkana-Grahana Vijaya Parva. The Shilaharas probably continued to administer Konkana as Bhoja's vassals. By the end of his reign, Bhoja had lost this territory to the Chalukyas of Kalyani.
Sometime before 1019 CE, Bhoja formed an alliance against the Chalukyas of Kalyani with Rajendra Chola and Gangeyadeva Kalachuri. At this time, Jayasimha II was the Chalukya king. The triple alliance engaged the Chalukyas at their northern and southern frontiers simultaneously. The extent of Bhoja's success in this campaign is not certain, as both Chalukya and Paramara panegyrics claimed victory. Historian D. C. Ganguly believes that Bhoja achieved some early victories against the Chalukyas, but was ultimately defeated. Others, including D. B. Diskalkar and H. C. Ray, believe that Bhoja was defeated by Jayasimha after some early successes, but ultimately emerged victorious against the Chalukyas after 1028 CE. According to Georg Bühler, the struggle probably ended with some advantage for Bhoja, which might have been exaggerated into a great victory by the Paramara poets.
The Udaipur Prashasti states that Bhoja defeated a ruler named Indraratha. Modern historians identify this king with Indranatha, the Somavamshi king of Kalinga. This king was defeated by Rajendra Chola: Bhoja may have played a secondary role in the Chola campaign as part of an alliance.
The Ghaznavids, a Muslim dynasty of Turkic origin, invaded north-western India in the 11th century, led by Mahmud of Ghazni. The Udaipur Prashasti claims that Bhoja's mercenaries defeated the Turushkas. There are some legendary accounts of Bhoja's military successes against the foreign invaders identified with the Ghaznavids. However, there is no clear evidence to show that Bhoja fought against the Ghaznavids or any other Muslim army. Bhoja might have contributed troops to the Kabul Shahi ruler Anandapala's fight against the Ghaznavids. He is believed to have granted asylum to Anandapala's son Trilochanapala. Several medieval Muslim historians state that Mahmud avoided a confrontation with a powerful Hindu ruler named Param Dev after sacking the Somnath Hindu temple. Modern historians identify Param Dev as Bhoja: the name may be a corruption of Paramara-Deva or of Bhoja's title Parameshvara-Paramabhattaraka. Bhoja may have also been a part of the Hindu alliance that expelled Mahmud's governors from Hansi, Thanesar and other areas around 1043 CE.
Bhoja's attempt to expand his kingdom eastwards was foiled by the Chandela king Vidyadhara. However, Bhoja was able to extend his influence among the Chandela feudatories, possibly after Vidyadhara's death. The Kachchhapaghatas of Dubkund, who were the northern neighbours of the Paramaras, were originally Chandela feudatories. However, their ruler Abhimanyu accepted Bhoja's suzerainty. Bhoja also launched a campaign against the Kachchhapaghatas of Gwalior, possibly with the ultimate goal of capturing Kannauj, but his attacks were repulsed by their ruler Kirtiraja.
According to the Udaipur Prashasti inscription, Bhoja defeated the Gurjara king. The identity of this king is debated by the historians, but he is generally identified as a weak Gurjara-Pratihara ruler of Kannauj. Bhoja did not retain control of Kannauj for a long time, if at all.
The 1046 CE Tilakawada copper plate inscription states that Bhoja's general Suraditya stabilized his royal fortune by slaughtering one Sahavahana in a battle. Some earlier historians identified Sahavahana as a king of Chamba, but this identification is doubtful, considering the distance between Chamba and Malwa, and the fact that the ruler of Chamba was not powerful enough to destabilize Bhoja's kingdom. Sahavahana might been a general of one of Bhoja's rivals, possibly the Kalachuri king Karna.
Bhoja defeated and killed Viryarama, the Shakambhari Chahamana ruler. Encouraged by this success, he also waged a war against the Chahamanas of Naddula. But in this second campaign, his army was forced to retreat, and his general Sadha was killed.
During the last years of Bhoja's reign, sometime after 1042 CE, Jayasimha's son and successor Someshvara I invaded Malwa, and sacked his capital Dhara. Multiple Chalukya inscriptions dated between 1058 and 1067 CE state that the Chalukyas plundered the important Paramara cities, including Dhara, Ujjayini and Mandapa. Bhoja re-established his control over Malwa soon after the departure of the Chalukya army. Nevertheless, the defeat was a major setback for the Paramaras, and pushed back the southern boundary of their kingdom from Godavari to Narmada.
Although the Bhoja and Kalachuri king Gangeya were part of an alliance against the Chalukyas, Bhoja defeated Gangeya. It is not certain when they turned into enemies. According to one theory, Bhoja defeated Gangeya before his Chalukya campaign, in which Gangeya must have fought as a Paramara vassal. A contradictory theory is that the two turned enemies after their Chalukya campaign, sometime between 1028 CE and 1042 CE. The Udaipur Prashasti also claims that Bhoja defeated one Togglala, who might have been Gangeya's predecessor Kokalla II.