Who was King Bhoja ?

On a good day, after again worshipping the throne, he started climbing it.

Padmagupta, the court poet of Sindhuraja and Bhoja, also supports this fact. According to Bhoja-Prabandha, Munja left the Paramara administration in hands of Sindhuraja before departing on a military expedition. Munja unexpectedly died in this campaign, and as a result, Sindhuraja succeeded him as the king

As soon a he started climbing it, all the thirty two dolls on the throne, clapped their hands and started laughing. The king asked the first doll, “Why are you laughing?”

Sindhuraja's court poet Padmagupta, in his Nava-Sahasanka-Charita, states that Munja "placed the world in Sindhuraja's hands" before leaving for Ambika's town. This indicates that he left the administration in Sindhuraja's hands before leaving for his fatal expedition against Tailapa II

The doll replied, “King Bhoja, this throne belonged to King Vikramadhithya, You are too small a man compared to Vikramadithya.

He was a great valorous, just and efficient king, who was interested in the welfare of his people, we feel that you are not fit to climb the throne.”

Udaipur Prashasti inscription seems to confirm this.

The Modasa copper plates (1010–11 CE) are the earliest historical record of Bhoja's reign

King Bhoja asked the first doll, “Who was this king Vikramadithya. I would like to know more about him.

The Chintamani-Sarnika (1055 CE) was composed by Bhoja's court poet Dasabala.

Then only I can tell you, whether I am as good as a king as he was.”

An inscription of Bhoja's successor Jayasimha I is also dated 1055 CE. Thus, 1055 CE can be taken as the last year of Bhoja's reign.

Based on these evidences, scholars such as Pratipal Bhatia assign Bhoja's reign to 1010–1055 CE.

However, some scholars assign the beginning of Bhoja's reign variously between 1000 CE and 1010 CE, based on their interpretations of inscriptions and legendary texts

For example, Merutunga's Prabandha-Chintamani states that Bhoja ruled for 55 years, 7 months and 3 days Based on this, scholars such as D. C. Ganguly and K. C. Jain assign Bhoja's reign to 1000–1055 CE.

In the Paramara inscriptions, Bhoja is mentioned as Bhoja-deva. In some modern north Indian languages such as Hindi, he is also known as "Bhoj" (because of schwa deletion).

Bhoja's inscriptions mention his titles as Parama-bhattaraka, Maharajadhiraja and Parameshvara.

Ganaratna Mahodadhi (1140 CE), a work on grammar by Vardhamana, suggests that "Tribhuvan Narayana" or "Triloka Narayana" ("Lord of the three worlds") was also a title of Bhoja.

This is corroborated by epigraphic evidence: the Shiva temple ascribed to Bhoja in the Chittor fort has an idol which was named "Bhojasvamindeva" as well as "Tribhuvan Narayanadeva"

This is corroborated by epigraphic evidence: the Shiva temple ascribed to Bhoja in the Chittor fort has an idol which was named "Bhojasvamindeva" as well as "Tribhuvan Narayanadeva"

While Bhoja became famous as a benevolent king and a patron of arts and culture, he was also renowned as a warrior.

He inherited a kingdom centered around the Malwa region, and made several attempts to expand it with varying results.

The Udaipur Prashasti inscription of Bhoja's brother claims that Bhoja ruled the land from the Himalayas in the North to Malabar in the south, which is an obvious exaggeration.

Historical evidence indicates that Bhoja's kingdom extended from Chittor in the north to upper Konkan in the south, and from the Sabarmati River in the west to Vidisha in the east

Several legends mention conflicts between the ruler of Malwa and the Chaulukyas, during the reign of the Chaulukya kings Vallabha-raja and Durlabha-raja.