Madhya Pradesh (abbreviated as MP) (Hindī: मध्य प्रदेश,), translation: Middle Province), often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh was originally the largest state in India until November 1, 2000 when the state of Chhattisgarh was carved out. It borders the states Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The state has an area of 308,252 km2 (119,017 sq mi). The largest city and the commercial capital of the state is Indore.
Legend has it that Lord Rama bequeathed the fort to his brother Laxmana, hence the name Bandhavgarh (Bandhavgarh National Park) which means brother’s fort. The Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India; its Stone Age rock paintings are approximately 9,000 years old.
The city of Ujjain (also known as Avanti) arose as a major center in the second wave of Indian urbanization in the sixth century BC, and served as the chief city of the kingdom of Malwa or Avanti. Further east, the kingdom of Chedi lie in Bundelkhand. Chandragupta Maurya united northern India c. 320 BCE, establishing the Maurya empire (321 to 185 BCE), which included all of modern-day Madhya Pradesh. King Ashoka’s wife was said to come from Vidisha- a town north of today’s Bhopal. The Maurya empire went into decline after the death of Asoka the Great, and Central India was contested among the Sakas, Kushanas, and local dynasties during the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE. Ujjain emerged as the predominant commercial center of western India from the first century BCE, located on the trade routes between the Ganges plain and India’s Arabian Sea ports. It was also an important Hindu and Buddhist center.
The Satavahana dynasty of the northern Deccan and the Saka dynasty of the Western Satraps fought for the control of Madhya Pradesh during the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. Northern India was conquered by the Gupta empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, which became known as India’s “classical age”. The Vakataka dynasty were the southern neighbors of the Guptas, ruling the northern Deccan plateau from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. These empires collapsed towards the end of the 5th century.
