Bhoja

This article is about the Paramara king. For Gurjara-Pratihara kings and other uses, see Bhoja (disambiguation).

Bhoja
Statue of Raja Bhoja in Bhopal
Paramara King
Reign	early 11th century - 1055 CE

Dynasty	Paramara

Bhoja was a Rajput king and polymath of medieval India, who ruled the kingdom of Malwa in central India from the early 11th century to 1055 CE. Also known as Raja Bhoj of Dhar, he belonged to the Paramara dynasty.^[1]

Bhoja established numerous temples, including the Bhojeshvara Temple at Bhojpur, a city he founded,^[2] about 30 km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on the banks of river Betwa. He also established the Bhoj Shala which was a centre for Sanskrit studies and a temple of Sarasvatī in present day Dhar.

Biography

Raja Bhoja ruled the Mālwā region from the beginning of the eleventh century to about 1055. His extensive writings cover philosophy, poetry, medicine, veterinary science, phonetics, yoga, and archery. Under his rule, Mālwa and its capital Dhar became one of the chief intellectual centres of India. King Bhoja, together with the Solanki king Bhimdev of Gujarat (Anhilwara), rebuilt the temple at Somnath between 1026 and 1042 after it was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1024. He founded the city Bhojpur. It is also said that Bhoja also founded the city of Bhopal,^[3] but it could be possible that the city was founded by another king of the same name. The Bhojtal (Upper Lake or bada talab) of Bhopal is said to have been constructed by Bhoja. Influenced by his court's resident Jain scholar Dhanapala ^[4] Bhoja proscribed animal sacrifices and himself, ceased hunting for recreation.^[5]

Career

The incomplete Bhojeshvara Temple at Bhojpur, Madhya Pradesh

The Paramaras was a medieval Indian kingdom who were at first feudal rulers of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty. The Paramara dynasty based themselves primarily at Dhar in central India, a city which remained de facto capital until its ultimate conquest in the fourteenth century. It was there that their greatest king and a remarkable genius, Bhoja came to power at the beginning of the 11th century and ruled for about half a century. He was the son of Sindhurāja, who was a notable conqueror, who defeated the Chalukyas and Shilaharas of the Konkan region. We get some glimpses of his remarkable life from the apocryphal biography Bhoja Prabandham. Early in his career, just before he came to power, Bhoja was afflicted by a tumor in his brain which used to cause him intense headaches. Two learned Brahmin brothers from the school of Ujjain, who were pre-eminent surgeons of the era, performed a surgery on his brain and relieved him of his tumor.^[6] The description of the surgery that survives suggests that they artificially induced a coma with a special preparation known as the sammohini and then opened his skull to remove the tumor.^[6] He was then brought back to consciousness with another drug.^[6]

Bhoja survived this surgery remarkably well and had an illustrious reign both as a military commander and encyclopaedic scholar. Bhoja long desired to reduce his arch-rivals the Western Chalukya Empire of the Deccan and initiated several successful campaigns against them. Then he tried a remarkable political game to destroy the Chalukyas: by forming an alliance with the south Indian Emperor Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty, Bhoja induced him to attack the Chalukyas from the south. Likewise he induced the Kalachuri king Kumara Gangeyadeva (who claimed descent from the Haihayas who had survived the ancient assault of the Bhargavas) to attack the Chalukyas from the east. Bhoja himself pressed on them from the north. For this purpose he erected the mighty fortifications of Māṇḍū and initially put the Chalukyas on the retreat. But the Chalukyas, suddenly reviving the glory that Pulakeshin-II had taken them to, remained firm in the 3-front war, eventually causing Bhoja's allies to give up. Someshvara, the Chalukya king subsequently invaded the Paramara kingdom and stormed the fort of Mandu after a long siege, then took Ujjain, and finally captured Dhara the capital of Bhoja from him. Bhoja unfazed retreated north and with the help of Rajendra Chola I who kept the pressure from the south, took back Dhara and Ujjain. Then Bhoja conquered Chitrakuta (Chittor) and Medhapatha (Mewar) from the Shishodias and established his sway over the Arbuda fort (Mount Abu).

Bhoja first defeated the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, but the Chahamanas of Naddula repulsed his attempt to take their kingdom. Bhoja next tried to seize the kingdom of the Chandellas, but they formed an alliance with the Rashtrakutas of Kannauj and Kachchapaghatas of Gwalior and repulsed him. Bhoja however, did keep the Ghaznavids in check with help from his Sisodia feudatories. Bhoja then seized the territory of the solanki Bhimdev of Gujarat. Bhimdev unfazed by this formed an alliance with the Haihaya, LakshmI-Karna to attack Bhoja in a two-front war on both east and west. Bhoja was caught in the pincer grip, and while fighting his two enemies he was shot down by an arrow on the battle field.

Hence it's said that when he was alive the poets would say:

"Adya dhara sadadhara sadalamba sarasvati |
panditah manditah sarve bhoja Raje bhuvam gate ||"
(Today Dhara(land) is ever supported, and the Goddess Sarasvati is ever propped up. All the pundits are adorned with the coming of King Bhoja on this earth.)

When he fell in defending Dhara from his rivals they said:

"Adya dhara niradhara niralamba sarasvati |
panditahH khanditah sarve bhojaraje divam gate ||"

(Today Dhara(land) is unsupported, and the Goddess Sarasvati is without a prop. All the pundits are scattered with the ascent of king Bhoja to heaven.)

Kingship

Bhoja was a good general, and his military career saw several major victories over rival kings. He is, however, best remembered for his intellect and patronage to arts and culture. Bhoja constructed several spectacular temples, one of the most dramatic of which is seen in the form of the great temple of Shiva termed Bhojeshvara at Bhojpur about 30 km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh . Another notable construction, which is a historical civil engineering masterpiece, is the Bhoja lake, which was built by damming and channelising the Betwa river. He is also supposed to have paid great attention to the education of his people, so much so that even humble weavers in the kingdom are supposed to have composed metrical Sanskrit kavyas.

Works

Raja Bhoja wrote 84 books during his life of which several survive. Some of these include:

Sarasvatīkaṇṭhabharaṇa: a treatise on Sanskrit grammar for poetic and rhetorical compositions. Some of the poetic examples provided by him in this work are still appreciated as the highest cream of Sanskrit poetry.
Rajamartanda (Patanjali-Yogasutra-Bhasya): Major commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, wherein the Raja clearly explains various forms of meditations such as savitarka, savichAra, sAnanda and sAsmita, which are critical for understanding the nature of cognition from the view point of yoga.
Samarangana Sutradhara A treatise on civil engineering detailing construction of buildings, forts, temples, idols of deities and mechanical devices including a so-called flying machine or glider. It is composed largely in the anuShTubh meter and in about 83 chapters.
Tattva Prakasha A remarkable siddhAnta tantra work providing a synthesis of the entire ancient and voluminous literature of the siddhanta tantras of shiva. It was the basis of all subsequent developments of the siddhantic pAshupata streams that followed.
Raja Mriganka Rasa A treatise on chemistry, especially dealing with the extraction of metals from ores, and production of various drugs.
Yukti-kalpataru A treatise on construction of ships, classification of vessels suitable for rivers and seas, ship measurements, etc.
Dharma-shastra vritti: A commentary on the Hindu legalistic literature.
Champu Ramayana': A re-narration of the Ramayana in mixture of prose and poetry, which characterises the champUs. The description of hanumat’s qualities are particularly poetic.

Legends

In order to enhance their imperial claims, the Paramaras promoted legends associating their kings with reputed legendary kings such as Vikramaditya. One such collection of legends is the Simhasana Dvatrimsika (popularly known as Singhasan Battisi).^[7]

Another set of legends about Bhoja is contained in Merutunga's Prabandha Chintamani (early 14th century). These legends are of little factual value.^[8]

Chola Purva Patayam ("Ancient Chola Record"), a Tamil language manuscript of uncertain date, states "Bhoja" as another name for Shalivahana. According to it, Shalivahana defeated Vikramaditya, became a Shramana and started persecuting worshipers of Shiva and Vishnu. Shiva then sent the three Tamil kings to defeat him.^[9]

Bhavishya Purana

Another legend, describing Bhoja as a descendant of the reputed legendary kings Vikramaditya and Shalivahana, is contained in the Bhavishya Purana. According to it, Shalivahana defeated the Saka invaders, and defined a maryada (boundary) to distinguish the Aryas from the mlecchas. 500 years after Shalivahana, the maryada set by him was lowered. His descendant Bhoja then undertook the digvijaya ritual, reached the banks of the Indus river, and defeated several mleccha kings. During this campaign, he came into contact with a mleccha named Mahamada. (According to Alf Hiltebeitel, "Mahamada" is based on Muhammad possibly combined with Mahmud of Ghazni.) Bhoja then worshipped Shiva, who sent him to Mahakaleshvara-sthala. Shiva described this place as a land corrupted by the mleccha tribe Vahika, where a magician named Mahamada had been doing the work of the pishachas (demons). Bhoja went to the land with his the poet Kalidasa and other scholars. Kalidasa turned Mahamada into ash with his chants and prayers. Mahamada's disciples took the ashes, and returned to the Vahika country, where they established the Mada-hina city (literally, "without intoxication"; identified with Medina). One night, Mahamada magically took on a pishacha body and appeared before Bhoja. He told Bhoja that the pishachas will practice ritual circumcision, keep beards but not topknots (like the Hindus did), and eat cows. He further said that they will use a musala (pestle) for their rites, thus explaining the etymology of the term "Muslim". Bhoja came home and established Sanskrit language among the top three varnas and Prakrit language among the Shudras. During his 50-year reign, Aryavarta (the land between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas) became a blessed land where the varna system was established. On the other hand, caste mixture took place beyond the Vindhyas (that is, in South India).^[7]

References

↑ Subodh Kapoor, ed. (2002). The Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 3. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 833. ISBN 978-81-7755-257-7.
↑ Interest Official website of Raisen district
↑ Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal (1876). The táj-ul ikbál tárikh Bhopal, or, The history of Bhopal. Thacker, Spink. p. 222. OCLC 28302607.
↑ Dhanapala and his times
↑ Dhanapāla and His Times: A Socio-cultural Study Based Upon His Works
1 2 3 Textbooks of Operative Neurosurgery ( 2 Vol.) by Ramamurthi,Ravi Ramamurti p.4
1 2 Alf Hiltebeitel (2009). Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics: Draupadi among Rajputs, Muslims, and Dalits. University of Chicago Press. pp. 254–275. ISBN 9780226340555.
↑ Indica 3. Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture. 1966. p. 141.
↑ William Cooke Taylor (1838). Examination and Analysis of the Mackenzie Manuscripts Deposited in the Madras College Library. Asiatic Society. pp. 49–55.