Tribes in Ancient India c63.58

c63.58

In later times some of the ruling families of Avanti made their mark on Indian history. The Paramāra dynasty of Malwa, anciently known as Avanti, is especially memorable by reason of its association with many eminent names in the history of later Sanskrit literature. The dynasty was founded early in the ninth century by a chief named Upendra or Kṛṣṇarāja. Upendra appears to have come from Candrāvatī and Achalgarh near Mount Abu, where his clan had been settled for a long time. The seventh rājā, named Muñja, was famous for his learning and eloquence, and was not only a patron of poets but himself a poet of no small reputation. About 1018 A.D., Muñja’s nephew, the famous Bhoja, ascended the throne of Dhārā, which was the capital of Malwa in those days, and reigned gloriously for more than forty years.⁵ About 1060 A.D., this prince succumbed to an attack by the confederate kings of Gujarat and Cedi; but his dynasty lasted as a purely local power until the beginning of the thirteenth century, when it was superseded by chiefs of the Tomara clan, who were followed in their turn by Chauhan rājās, from whom the crown passed to Muhammadan kings in 1401. The Emperor Akbar suppressed the local dynasty in 1569, and incorporated Malwa in the Mughal empire.⁶