Pariksha SaathiLesson 1 of 10 · Madhya Pradesh General Knowledge
Ancient Madhya Pradesh: Bhimbetka, Mahajanapadas, Mauryas and Guptas
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Prehistoric Madhya Pradesh
Human history in the state begins in the Stone Age. The Bhimbetka rock shelters in Raisen district, about 45 km south-east of Bhopal in the Vindhyan hills, were identified by the archaeologist V. S. Wakankar in 1957. Hundreds of sandstone shelters carry paintings in red and white mineral colours showing hunting, dancing and animals such as bison, tigers and elephants; the oldest layers go back to the Mesolithic age. Its name is popularly read as Bhim-baithka, the seat of Bhima, and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. At Hathnora in the Narmada valley (Sehore district), Arun Sonakia of the Geological Survey of India found a fossil human skull in 1982, known as Narmada Man and regarded as the oldest human fossil found in India. Adamgarh near Narmadapuram has Stone Age tools and paintings, and Chalcolithic farming villages have been excavated at Navdatoli near Maheshwar and at Kayatha near Ujjain.
Avanti and Chedi
In the sixth century BCE two of the sixteen Mahajanapadas named in Buddhist texts lay in present Madhya Pradesh. Avanti, in western Malwa, had its capital at Ujjayini (Ujjain) on the Shipra, with Mahishmati, usually identified with Maheshwar on the Narmada, as its southern centre. Its king Chanda Pradyota was a contemporary of the Buddha and a rival of Magadha, and Avanti was finally absorbed into Magadha under the Shishunaga dynasty. Chedi lay in the Bundelkhand region with its capital at Shuktimati; in the Mahabharata Shishupala is the king of Chedi. Ujjain stood on the trade route from the Ganga plain to the western ports, which kept it wealthy for over two thousand years.
Mauryas and Ashoka in Malwa
Under the Mauryas, Ujjain was the headquarters of the western province of Avanti. Ashoka served as viceroy at Ujjain in the reign of his father Bindusara, and the Sri Lankan chronicles say he married Devi, a merchant's daughter from Vidisha, the mother of Mahendra and Sanghamitra. Ashokan inscriptions in the state include minor rock edicts at Rupnath (Katni district), at Gujarra (Datia district), one of the few edicts that name the king as Ashoka, and at Saru Maru (Sehore district), as well as a pillar edict at Sanchi warning monks against splitting the Sangha. Ashoka built the first stupa at Sanchi, in brick, in the third century BCE.
Shungas, Sanchi and Vidisha
After Pushyamitra Shunga overthrew the last Maurya king Brihadratha around 185 BCE, Vidisha (ancient Besnagar, on the Betwa) became a major Shunga centre; his son Agnimitra governed from there and is the hero of Kalidasa's play Malavikagnimitram. In the Shunga period the Sanchi stupa was enlarged and cased in stone, and the railings of the Bharhut stupa in Satna district were carved with Jataka stories; Alexander Cunningham found them in 1873 and they are now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata. In the late second century BCE Heliodorus, the Greek envoy of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas of Taxila to king Bhagabhadra, set up a Garuda pillar at Besnagar on which he calls himself a Bhagavata, a devotee of Vasudeva; local people call it Khamba Baba.
Satavahanas and Shakas
The Satavahanas of the Deccan extended their power into eastern Malwa in the first century BCE. The four carved toranas (gateways) of the Great Stupa at Sanchi belong to this phase: an inscription on the southern gateway records a gift by Ananda, foreman of the artisans of king Satakarni, and another says that the ivory workers of Vidisha carved part of it. Western Malwa with Ujjain passed to the Shaka rulers known as the Western Kshatrapas; the greatest of them, Rudradaman I, ruled from Ujjain and is known from his Junagadh inscription of 150 CE.
The Gupta age
Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) ended Shaka rule around the end of the fourth century CE and made Ujjain a second capital. The Udayagiri caves near Vidisha, about twenty rock-cut shrines, date from his reign: one carries an inscription of 401 CE and another the great Varaha panel showing Vishnu as a boar lifting the earth goddess. At Eran (ancient Airikina) on the Bina river in Sagar district there is an inscription of Samudragupta, and a pillar inscription of 510 CE from the time of Bhanugupta records that the wife of his general Goparaja burnt herself on his pyre, the earliest inscriptional evidence of sati. Early Gupta temples survive at Tigawa (Katni district), Sanchi (Temple 17), Nachna (Panna) and Bhumara (Satna), and the Bagh caves in Dhar district have paintings often compared with Ajanta.
Kalidasa and Ujjain
Tradition places Kalidasa among the nine gems (navaratna) of king Vikramaditya's court, usually identified with Chandragupta II. His Meghaduta sends the cloud messenger over Ujjayini and the Mahakal temple, and Malavikagnimitram is set at Vidisha; his other works are Abhijnanashakuntalam, Vikramorvashiyam, Raghuvamsha, Kumarasambhava and Ritusamhara. The Vikram Samvat era, which begins in 57 BCE, is linked by tradition to Vikramaditya of Ujjain. Ujjain was the prime meridian of ancient Indian astronomy; Varahamihira, author of the Brihat Samhita and Pancha Siddhantika, worked here, and Brahmagupta is associated with its observatory. The Kalidas Samaroh is held at Ujjain every year.
Key facts
- Bhimbetka (Raisen district): Stone Age painted rock shelters identified by V. S. Wakankar in 1957; UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003.
- Narmada Man: fossil human skull found by Arun Sonakia at Hathnora, Sehore district, in 1982, regarded as the oldest human fossil found in India.
- Mahajanapadas in MP: Avanti (capital Ujjayini, southern centre Mahishmati) and Chedi (capital Shuktimati, Bundelkhand); Avanti's king Chanda Pradyota was the Buddha's contemporary.
- Ashoka was viceroy at Ujjain and married Devi of Vidisha; his edicts are at Rupnath (Katni), Gujarra (Datia, names him as Ashoka), Saru Maru (Sehore) and on the Sanchi pillar.
- Sanchi Great Stupa in three phases: Ashoka's brick stupa (Maurya), stone casing and enlargement (Shunga), four carved toranas (Satavahana).
- Heliodorus pillar (Khamba Baba), Besnagar near Vidisha: set up in the late second century BCE by the envoy of Antialcidas, who called himself a Bhagavata, a devotee of Vasudeva.
- Bharhut stupa (Satna): Shunga-period railings with Jataka stories, found by Cunningham in 1873, now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.
- Udayagiri caves near Vidisha: Gupta rock-cut shrines of Chandragupta II's time with the Varaha panel and an inscription of 401 CE.
- Eran (Sagar district), on the Bina: the pillar inscription of 510 CE (Bhanugupta's time) is the earliest inscriptional record of sati.
- Ujjain: zero (prime) meridian of ancient Indian astronomy, workplace of Varahamihira, setting of Kalidasa's Meghaduta; the Vikram Samvat starts in 57 BCE.
Quick revision
Bhimbetka (Raisen) rock shelters found by Wakankar 1957, UNESCO 2003; Narmada Man skull at Hathnora (Sehore) 1982; Mahajanapadas Avanti (Ujjayini, Mahishmati) and Chedi (Shuktimati); Ashoka viceroy at Ujjain, edicts at Rupnath, Gujarra, Saru Maru, Sanchi; Shungas at Vidisha, Bharhut railings, Heliodorus pillar (late second century BCE); Satavahana toranas at Sanchi; Chandragupta II took Ujjain, Udayagiri Varaha panel (401 CE); Eran sati record 510 CE; Kalidasa, Varahamihira and Ujjain.