Raja Bhoja
Also called: Bhoja Paramara · Topic: Early Medieval North India: Harsha to the Rajputs · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"
Meaning
Raja Bhoja was the Paramara king of Malwa who ruled c. 1010–1055 from Dhara (Dhar). He is remembered as a scholar-king, a ruler who was also a writer and a patron of learning. He wrote on architecture, government, poetry, yoga and medicine. Dhara became a famous centre of learning, and Bhoja became a hero of folk stories.
Example
Bhoja helped the Hindu Shahis against Mahmud of Ghazni. He founded the town of Bhojpur and built the unfinished Bhojeshwar temple there. He dammed rivers to make a huge lake near Bhopal. Bhopal's old name, 'Bhojpal', comes from him, and the Bhojtal lake is what is left of that lake. He also wrote the Samarangana Sutradhara, a book on architecture, town planning and machines.
Don't confuse with
- Mihira Bhoja: a Gurjara-Pratihara king of the 9th century, also called 'Adi Varaha', who ruled from Punjab to Kathiawar and Kannauj. Raja Bhoja is the 11th-century Paramara king of Dhara.
Related concepts
- Agnikula legend
- Paramaras
- Bhojeshwar temple
- Bhojshala
- Samarangana Sutradhara
- Chandela dynasty
- Khajuraho group of monuments
- Kandariya Mahadeva temple
- Chaulukya dynasty
- Modhera Sun temple