Madhya Pradesh: Ancient history and archaeological sites

The state portal notes that because Madhya Pradesh occupies the central position in the country, "all historical currents" passed through the region. Its record runs from Stone Age rock shelters and Chalcolithic village sites to Mauryan, Gupta and later dynasties, and it has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Bhimbetka, Sanchi and Khajuraho.

Prehistoric and protohistoric period

• The prehistoric period begins with the Stone Age; sites such as Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, Jaora, Raisen and Pachmarhi bear witness to it.
• The protohistoric period is represented by the Chalcolithic cultures. People depended on agriculture and learnt to make copper tools besides stone tools.
• Chalcolithic remains have been found at Besnagar, Mandsaur, Kayatha, Maheshwar, Navdatoli, Modi, Awra, Eran, Nagda, Pipliyalorka, Azadnagar and Dangwada (state Directorate of Archaeology).
• The Satpura and Vindhyan ranges have soft sandstone shelters, cliffs and caves that served as shelter and as canvases for rock paintings.

Rock-art sites

• Bhimbetka Rock Shelters lie in the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in Raisen district, in the foothills of the Vindhyan mountains, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• MP Tourism states Bhimbetka has over 700 rock shelters, with 500 of them bearing paintings, and that its art dates back to the Mesolithic Period, with some paintings believed to be over 10,000 years old.
• Paintings show hunting, dancing, riding horses and elephants, and daily life, in green, red, white, brown and black. Bhimbetka has the oldest-known rock art in India.
• The name is said to come from 'bhimbaithka', "the sitting place of Bhima", from the Mahabharata.
• Chaturbhuj Nala, in the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Mandsaur, has thousands of rock paintings spanning about 6,000 to 12,000 years and extending to the 10th century. It was discovered in 1977 by a local school teacher, Ramesh Kumar Pancholi, and his companions.
• The Pachmarhi rock shelters, used for nearly 10,000 years, show hunters, food gatherers, pottery makers and cultivators.

Mauryas to Guptas

• Dynastic history begins with Ashoka, whose Mauryan empire was powerful in Malwa and Avanti. Ashoka's wife, Devi, is said to have been from Vidisha, north of today's Bhopal.
• Vidisha was the capital of ancient Eastern Malwa; MP Tourism links the Buddhist monuments at Sanchi to this city.
• After Ashoka's death the Maurya Empire declined, and central India was contested among the Shungas, Kushanas, Satvahanas and local dynasties during the 3rd to 1st centuries BC.
• In the 1st century BC, Ujjain was the predominant commercial centre.
• The area became part of northern India under the Gupta empire in the 4th-6th centuries AD, the era known as the classical age.
• Huna attacks brought about the collapse of the Gupta Empire. King Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Hunas in 528 AD, ending their expansion.
• Harsa of Thaneshwar later reunited northern India till his death in 647 AD.

Sanchi

• Sanchi, in Raisen district, is about 50 km northeast of Bhopal and about 10 km from Vidisha.
• The Great Stupa (Mahastupa) is believed to be the first monument at Sanchi, built in the third century BC by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka; it is one of the oldest stone structures in India.
• Its parts are the dome-shaped "Anda", the square railing "Harmika", and the triple umbrella "Chhatra", which symbolises the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. It stands 54 feet tall, with 4 gateways carved with scenes from Buddhist stories.
• According to UNESCO, as quoted by MP Tourism, it is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary in existence.
• Stupa No. 2 is believed to date to the 2nd century B.C., and Stupa No. 3 to the middle of the second century B.C.
• A Gupta temple of the 5th century in the stupa premises is one of the earliest examples of temple architecture.
• The four lions on the Ashoka Pillar form the National Emblem of India; the lion capital is in the site museum kept by the Archaeological Survey of India.
• The nearby Udaigiri Caves are 20 caves (18 Hindu and 2 Jain) with carvings from the 4th and 5th centuries AD.

Later sites (to the 11th century)

• Khajuraho Group of Monuments, in Chhatarpur district, was built between 950-1050 AD by the Chandela Dynasty. Of the original 85 temples, 20 still stand; they are Nagara-style and dedicated to Hinduism and Jainism.
• The Kandariya Mahadeva Temple is the largest in the group.
• In the period 950-1060 AD, Rajput clans such as the Paramaras of Malwa and Chandelas of Bundelkhand dominated the region. The Paramara king Raja Bhoj, who gave his name to Bhopal, ruled over Indore and Dhar.
• Ashapuri, about 35 km from Bhopal, has temple remains of the 9th to 13th century CE; 26 temples were exposed in debris clearance during 2010-11, and a Surya temple was restored in 2023-24.