Paramara dynasty

The Paramara dynasty ruled Malwa and the surrounding region of west-central India from the 9th or 10th century until 1305. Its early rulers were probably vassals of the Rashtrakutas, but around 972 Siyaka sacked the Rashtrakuta capital Manyakheta and made the Paramaras independent. Under Munja and his successor Bhoja, the dynasty made Dhara, modern Dhar, its capital and turned Malwa into a major political and cultural centre. Bhoja, who reigned in the first half of the 11th century, was a renowned scholar as well as a king, credited with works on poetics, architecture, medicine and statecraft, and associated with the building of the Bhojpur temple and the huge Bhojshala reservoir. The Paramaras fought repeatedly with the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, the Kalachuris, the Chandelas and the Chalukyas of Kalyani, and their power rose and fell with those wars. In the 13th century the capital was moved to Mandu after Dhara was repeatedly sacked, and the last known king, Mahalakadeva, was defeated and killed by Alauddin Khalji's army in 1305. Sanskrit learning and Shaiva and Jain patronage remained the dynasty's lasting legacy.