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Mihira Bhoja (c. 836–885 CE) or Bhoja I was a Suryavanshi Kshatriya king belonging to the

He succeeded his father Ramabhadra. Bhoja was a devotee of Vishnu and adopted the title of Ādivarāha which is inscribed on some of his coins.^[1] One of the outstanding political figures of India in ninth century, he ranks with Dhruva Dharavarsha and Dharmapala as a great general and empire builder.^[2]

At its height, Bhoja's empire extended to Narmada River in the South, Sutlej River in the northwest, and up to Bengal in the east. It extended over a large area from the foot of the Himalayas up to the river Narmada and included the present district of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh.^[3][4]

Reign

Sculptures near Teli ka Mandir, Gwalior Fort.

Gate of Teli ka Mandir, Gwalior Fort.

Teli ka Mandir is a Hindu Temple built by Mihira Bhoja.^[5]

During his reign, the capital was in

He was a bitter enemy of the

He was succeeded by his son Mahendrapala I (c.836 - 910 CE).

Military career

Mihira Bhoja first consolidated his territories by crushing the rebellious feudatories in Rajasthan, before turning his attention against the old enemies :Palas and Rastrakutas.^[6] The Palas of Bengal,ruled by King Devapala (c. 810-850), were reputed to have

Eradicated the race of the

Hunas and scattered the conceit of the Dravidas^{[disambiguation needed]} and Pratiharas."-Badal

Inscription.

When Mihira Bhoja started his career reverses and defeats suffered by his father Ramabhadra had considerably lowered the prestige of the Royal family. He invaded the Pala Empire of Bengal, but was defeated by Devapala

He then launched a campaign to conquer the territories to the south of his empire and was successful,

The Pratiharas were defeated in large battle in Ujjain by Rastrakutas of Gujarat however, retribution followed on the part of the Pratiharas,by the end of his reign, Bhoja had successfully destroyed the Gujarat Rashtrakuta dynasty.^{[7]: 20–21}

Bhoja’s feudatory, the‌ Guhilas chief named Harsha of Chatsu, is described as :

“defeating the northern rulers with the help of the mighty elephant force”, and “loyally presenting to Bhoja the special ‘Shrivamsha’ breed of horses, which could easily cross seas of sand."

^[6]

He gradually rebuilt the empire by conquest of territories in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh^[2] Besides being a conqueror, Bhoja was a great diplomat.^[2] The Kingdoms which were conquered and acknowledged his Suzerainty includes Travani, Valla, Mada, Arya, Gujaratra,Lata Parvarta and

Kalhana’s Rajatarangini states that the territories of Bhoja extended to Kashmir in the north, and bhoja had conquered Punjab by defeating ruling ‘Thakkiyaka’ dynasty .^[6][8]

After Devapala's death, Bhoja defeated the Pala King Narayanapala and expanded his boundaries eastward into Pala-held territories near Gorakhpur.

Hudud-ul-Alam a tenth century Persian geographic text states that most of the kings of India acknowledged the supremacy of the powerful ‘Rai of Qinnauj’, (kannauj was the capital of Imperial Pratiharas) whose mighty army had 150,000 strong cavalry and 800 war elephants.^[6]

His son

Mihira Bhoja's epithet was Srimad-Adivaraha (the fortunate primeval boar incarnation of Vishnu) and therefore there is a broad agreement amongst the scholars on the attribution of adivaraha dramma billon coins to him. These coins have a depiction of Adivaraha on the obverse.^[11]

Adivarah coins were noted by Thakkar pheru in 13th century text Dravya-Pariksha who was mint master under Alauddin khilji^[6]

Notes