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Malwa is a natural region in west-central northern 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, the historical Malwa region includes districts of western Madhya Pradesh and parts of south-eastern Rajasthan. The definition of Malwa is sometimes extended to include the Nimar region north of the Vindhyas. The Malwa region had been a separate political unit from the time of the ancient Malava Kingdom. It has been ruled by several kingdoms and dynasties, including the Avanti Kingdom, the Mauryans, the Guptas, the Parmaras, the Malwa sultans, the Mughals and the Marathas. Malwa continued to be an administrative division until 1947, when the Malwa Agency of British India was merged into Madhya Bharat (also known as Malwa Union) 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 hailed from 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 centre. 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. == 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''”.〔(Malwa Plateau on Britannica )〕 The location of the Malwa or ''Moholo'', mentioned by the 7th-century Chinese traveller Xuanzang, is plausibly identified with present-day Gujarat.〔(Malwa in Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 Edition )〕 The region is cited as ''Malibah'' in Arabic records, such as ''Kamilu-t Tawarikh'' by Ibn Asir.〔(Panhwar, M.H., ''Sindh: The Archaeological Museum of the world.'' )〕 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 (the first wave was the Indus Valley Civilization). Around 600 BC an earthen rampart was built around Ujjain, enclosing a city of considerable size. Avanti was one of the prominent mahajanapadas of ancient India. In the post-Mahabharata period—around 500 BC—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.〔Ahmad, S. H., ''Anthropometric measurements and ethnic affinities of the Bhil and their allied groups of Malwa area.'', Anthropological Survey of India,1991, ''ISBN 81-85579-07-5''〕 The region was conquered by the Maurya Empire in the mid-4th century BC. Ashoka, who was later a Mauryan emperor, was governor of Ujjain in his youth. After the death of Ashoka in 232 BC, 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 AD. Malwa became part of the Gupta Empire during the reign of Chandragupta II (375–413), 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. Kalidasa, Aryabhata and Varahamihira were all 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. In 756 AD Gurjars advanced into Malwa.〔Asiatic Society of Bombay, ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay'', The Society, 1951 , p. 56〕 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.〔Ancient India by Ramesh Chandra Majumdar p.294〕 From the mid-tenth century, Malwa was ruled by the Paramaras, who established a capital at Dhar. King Bhoj, 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, veterinary science, phonetics, yoga, and archery. Under his rule Malwa became an intellectual centre of India. 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.〔The Cambridge Shorter History of India p.159-160〕 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 (1405–35), developed Mandu as an important city. Hoshang Shah's son, Ghazni Khan, ruled for only a year and was succeeded by Mahmud Khilji (1436–69), the first of the Khilji 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. 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. Gujarat stormed Mandu in 1518. In 1531, Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, captured Mandu, executed Mahmud II (1511-31), and shortly after that, the Malwa sultanate collapsed. The Mughal emperor Akbar captured Malwa in 1562 and made it a subah (province) of his empire. The Malwa Subah existed from 1568 to 1743. Mandu was abandoned by the 17th century. As the Mughal state weakened after 1700, the Marathas held sway over Malwa under dispatchment of Baji Rao I 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, Malharrao Holkar (1694–1766) 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 (senior and junior branch), 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Malwa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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