Malwa
Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also synonymous with the former state of Madhya Bharat which was later merged with Madhya Pradesh. At present the historical Malwa region includes districts of western Madhya Pradesh and parts of south-eastern Rajasthan. Sometimes the definition of Malwa is extended to include the Nimar region south of the Vindhyas.
The Malwa region had been a separate political unit from the time of the ancient Malava Kingdom, and has been ruled by several kingdoms and dynasties. Malwa continued to be an administrative division until 1947, when the Malwa Agency of British India was merged into Madhya Bharat state of independent India.
Although its political borders have fluctuated throughout history, the region has developed its own distinct culture, influenced by the Rajasthani, Marathi and Gujarati cultures. Several prominent people in the history of India have lived in Malwa, including the poet and dramatist Kalidasa, the author Bhartrihari, the mathematicians and astronomers Varahamihira and Brahmagupta, and the polymath king Bhoja. Ujjain had been the political, economic, and cultural capital of the region in ancient times, and Indore is now the largest city and commercial center.
Overall, agriculture is the main occupation of the people of Malwa. The region has been one of the important producers of opium in the world. Wheat and soybeans are other important cash crops, and textiles are a major industry.
Malwi is a demonym given to people from the Malwa region.
History
Several early Stone Age or Lower Paleolithic habitations have been excavated in eastern Malwa. The name Malwa is derived from the name of the ancient Indian tribe of Malavas. The name Malava is said to be derived from the Sanskrit term Malav, which means "part of the abode of Lakshmi". The location of the Malwa or Moholo, mentioned by the 7th-century Chinese traveller Xuanzang, is plausibly identified with present-day Gujarat. The region is cited as Malibah in Arabic records, such as Kamilu-t Tawarikh by Ibn Asir.The Malwa Culture was a Chalcolithic archaeological culture which existed in the Malwa region, as well as nearby parts of Maharashtra to the south, during the 2nd millennium BCE.
Ujjain, also known historically as Ujjaiyini and Avanti, emerged as the first major centre in the Malwa region during India's second wave of urbanisation in the 7th century BC. Around 600 BCE an earthen rampart was built around Ujjain, enclosing a city of considerable size. Ujjain was the capital city of the Avanti kingdom, one of the prominent mahajanapadas of ancient India. In the post-Mahabharata period—around 500 BCE—Avanti was an important kingdom in western India; it was ruled by the Haihayas, a people who were responsible for the destruction of Naga power in western India.
The region was conquered by the Nanda Empire in the mid-4th century BCE, and subsequently became part of the Maurya Empire. Ashoka, who was later a Mauryan emperor, was governor of Ujjain in his youth. After the death of Ashoka in 232 BCE, the Maurya Empire began to collapse. Although evidence is sparse, Malwa was probably ruled by the Kushanas, the Shakas and the Satavahana dynasty during the 1st and 2nd century CE. Ownership of the region was the subject of dispute between the Western Kshatrapas and the Satavahanas during the first three centuries AD. Ujjain emerged a major trading centre during the 1st century CE.
File:Rupmati Pavilion 01.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Rani Roopmati Pavilion at Mandu, built by Miyan Bayezid Baz Bahadur
Malwa became part of the Gupta Empire during the reign of Chandragupta II, also known as Vikramaditya, who conquered the region, driving out the Western Kshatrapas. The Gupta period is widely regarded as a golden age in the history of Malwa, when Ujjain served as the empire's western capital. The astronomer Varahamihira was based in Ujjain, which emerged as a major centre of learning, especially in astronomy and mathematics. Around 500, Malwa re-emerged from the dissolving Gupta Empire as a separate kingdom; in 528, Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Hunas, who had invaded India from the north-west.
During the seventh century, the region became part of Harsha's empire, who disputed the region with the Chalukya king Pulakesin II of Badami in the Deccan. During his reign the Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuanzang had visited India and mentions seeing a hundred Buddhist monasteries along with a same number of Deva temples of different kinds with the adherents of Pashupata Shaivism making a majority. He also states that there were two places in India that were remarkable for the great learning of the people, viz., Malwa and Magadha. The people there esteemed virtue, were of an intelligent mind and exceedingly studious.
In 756 AD Gurjara-Pratiharas advanced into Malwa. In 786 the region was captured by the Rashtrakuta kings of the Deccan, and was disputed between the Rashtrakutas and the Gurjara Pratihara kings of Kannauj until the early part of the tenth century. The Emperors of the Rashtrakuta dynasty appointed the Paramara rulers as governors of Malwa. From the mid-tenth century, Kingdom of Malwa was ruled by the Paramaras, who established a capital at Dhar. King Bhoja, who ruled from about 1010 to 1060, was known as the great polymath philosopher-king of medieval India; his extensive writings cover philosophy, poetry, medicine, architecture, construction, town planning, veterinary science, phonetics, yoga, and archery. Malwa became an intellectual centre of India, and became home to a major astronomical observatory, attracting scholars from all over India including Bhāskara II. His successors ruled until about 1305, when Malwa was conquered by the Delhi Sultanate. Malwa was several times invaded by the south Indian Western Chalukya Empire.
Dilawar Khan, previously Malwa's governor under the rule of the Delhi sultanate, declared himself sultan of Malwa in 1401 after the Mughal conqueror Timur attacked Delhi, causing the break-up of the sultanate into smaller states. Khan started the Malwa Sultanate and established a capital at Mandu, high in the Vindhya Range overlooking the Narmada River valley. His son and successor, Hoshang Shah, developed Mandu as an important city. Hoshang Shah's son, Ghazni Khan, ruled for only a year and was succeeded by Mahmud Khalji, the first of the Khalji sultans of Malwa, who expanded the state to include parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and the Deccan. The Muslim sultans invited the Rajputs to settle in the country. Rajputs from various clans came and settled in Malwa. They came from different parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and many other regions of India. In the early 16th century, the sultan sought the aid of the sultans of Gujarat to counter the growing power of the Rajputs, while the Rajputs sought the support of the Sesodia Rajput kings of Mewar. During that time Much of the Malwa was conquered by Rana Sanga of Mewar who appointed one of his close allies Medini Rai as ruler of Malwa under his lordship. Chanderi was capital of his kingdom.After the defeat of Rajput confederation in Battle of Khanwa near Agra against Babur which was fought for Supremacy of Northern India between Rajputs and Mughals.Babur then sieged Chanderi offering Shamsabad to Medini rai instead of Chanderi as it was the capital of his kingdom and was of great importance but Rai refused Babur's offer and chose to die. He was defeated by Babur in January 1528 at Battle of Chanderi and Babur conquered the fort.
Gujarat stormed Mandu in 1518. In 1531, Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, captured Mandu, executed Mahmud II, and shortly after that, the Malwa sultanate collapsed. The Mughal emperor Akbar captured Malwa in 1562 and made it a subah of his empire. The Malwa Subah existed from 1568 to 1743. Mandu was abandoned by the 17th century. During the 17th century much of Western Malwa was held by the Rathors of the Ratanawat branch. The Ratanawats later broke into several states which later became Ratlam State, Sitamau State and Sailana State. Some of the lesser states were Multhan and Kachi-Baroda.
As the Mughal state weakened after 1700, the Marathas held sway over Malwa under leadership of Chimnaji Appa, Nemaji Shinde and Chimnaji Damodar were the first Maratha generals to cross the boundary of Maharashtra and to invade in Malwa in 1698. Subsequently, Malhar Rao Holkar became leader of Maratha armies in Malwa in 1724, and in 1733 the Maratha Peshwa granted him control of most of the region, which was formally ceded by the Mughals in 1738. Ranoji Scindia, noted Maratha commander, established his headquarters at Ujjain in 1721.. This capital was later moved to Gwalior State by Daulatrao Scindia. Another Maratha general, Anand Rao Pawar, established himself as the Raja of Dhar in 1742, and the two Pawar brothers became Rajas of Dewas State.
At the end of the 18th century, Malwa became the venue of fighting between the rival Maratha powers and the headquarters of the Pindaris, who were irregular plunderers. The Pindaris were rooted out in a campaign by the British general Lord Hastings, and further order was established under Sir John Malcolm. The Holkar dynasty ruled Malwa from Indore and Maheshwar on the Narmada until 1818, when the Marathas were defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and the Holkars of Indore became a princely state of the British Raj.
After 1818 the British organised the numerous princely states of central India into the Central India Agency; the Malwa Agency was a division of Central India, with an area of and a population of 1,054,753 in 1901. It comprised the states of Dewas State, Jaora, Ratlam, Sitamau and Sailana, together with a large part of Gwalior, parts of Indore and Tonk, and about 35 small estates and holdings. Political power was exercised from Neemuch.
Upon Indian independence in 1947, the Holkars and other princely rulers acceded to India, and most of Malwa became part of the new state of Madhya Bharat, which was merged into Madhya Pradesh in 1956.