Mihira Bhoja
Also called: Bhoja I, Adivaraha · Topic: Early Medieval North India: Harsha to the Rajputs · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"
Meaning
Mihira Bhoja (r. c. 836–885 CE) was the greatest king of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty of western and northern India. He ruled from Kannauj, the main prize of the Tripartite Struggle. His empire stretched from Punjab and Kathiawar to the Ganga plains. He was a devotee of Vishnu and took the title 'Adi Varaha', after Vishnu's boar form.
Example
Mihira Bhoja's coins carry the title "Adi Varaha" and an image of the boar. In the 9th century the Arab merchant Sulaiman called the Pratihara cavalry the finest in India. He also said the Pratiharas were strong enemies of the Arabs.
Don't confuse with
- Bhoja Paramara: an 11th-century scholar-king of Dhara in Malwa (r. 1010–1055), who wrote the Samarangana Sutradhara and built Bhojtal. He was not the 9th-century Pratihara king.
Related concepts
- Tripartite struggle
- Matsyanyaya
- Gopala
- Pala dynasty
- Dharmapala
- Devapala
- Vikramashila
- Odantapuri
- Somapura Mahavihara
- Atisha Dipankara