MALWA

The ancient era describes this region as Avanti, bordering the Vindhya mountains which were one of the routes Lord Rama took on his way to Lanka. Going back to the pre-Antiquity Era of the Indian subcontinent, a certain Pariyatra mountain range bordered Avanti's western frontier. While certain sources indicate today's location of Pariyatra as in northern Afghanistan, others say it stretched to the frontiers of Saurashtra in the northeast, which would be today's Rajasthan. During the Mahabharata era, Avanti and surrounding clans of Nisadha and Mahisaka supported the Kauravas while Kunti, Matsya and Anupa allied with the Pandavas. During the pre-Mauryan era, Avanti neighbored Kokanada and Dasarna kingdoms in the east, encompassing today's Chambal river valley around western Madhya Pradesh, having two of some major ancient Indian towns - Ujjayini and Mahismati. The northern boundary was touched by the Pradyotas clan which was annexed by Shishunaga in the 5th century. And although Avanti was a major threat to the Magadhans, it was at last conquered by Udayin in the 5th century BC. 

During the raids of Alexander the Great, Avanti was untouched although the Indo-Greek settlements of certain clans such as Kaisoi, Setai and Bolingai bordered Avanti's western frontiers. Following this, the Indo-Scythian empire also touched Avanti's western borders which were eventually ended in 58 BC by King Vikramaditya of Ujjayini. He is also credited to establish the Vikram Samvat, or the Hindu calendar, according to which today's 2021 would be 1943. Jumping to the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy's wold map placed Avanti in the country of India Intra Gangem, spelt Ujjayini as Ozene, the Vindhya range as Vindion and a certain town named Kognandoua, which would be around today's Bhopal. The river Narmada was known as Nammadus, bordering Avanti's southern frontier. Ujjayini or Ozene was connected outside the subcontinent via Barygaza (Bharuch) and Pattala (Thatta, Pakistan) to Arachosia (Arghandab valley, Afghanistan) and Prophthasia (today's Kandahar, Afghanistan). Also, according to Ptolemy, the city was also connected to two other chief Indian towns namely Paethane (Paithan, Maharashtra) and Tagara (Ter, Osmanabad district, Maharashtra). 

During the imperial age of the Gupta Dynasty of the middle ages, nine 'republics' were subdued by Samudragupta (r. 335-375 AD) and later absorbed by Chandragupta II (r. 375-415 AD). These are listed below: 

1. Abhiras
2. Malavas
3. Arjunanayas
4. Yaudheyas
5. Madrakas
6. Four tribal republics from central India. 

And thus, today's Malwa gets its name from the Malavas clan. Coming to the 6th century, the Maitraka Dynasty ruled over Malwa post-590 AD, although their major strength was in today's Gujarat. In the 8th century, in 735 AD, when the region was under the Gurjara-Pratiharas, the first Arab raid was repulsed. This was the first time when Islamic raids occurred on the subcontinent where different dynasties of Gujarat and Malwa such as the Maitrakas, the Saindhavas, the Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas were repelling either Arab invasions or were involved in personal skirmishes. While on one hand, Malwa was cupped between multiple dynasties and empires, Islamic expansion started to rise in the northern plains. The Hindu Shahis, Ghaznavids and Ghurids had just entered the Punjab region and almost at the doors of Malwa. Coming to the 12th century when Islamic expansion was enforced into the subcontinent, the Paramaras ruling Malwa were constantly attacked by the Delhi Sultanate. Malwa was thus sandwiched between the Mamluks exploding in the north and the Yadavas expanding in the Maharashtra region from the south. 

Entering into the early 14th century, when in 1303 the Sisodiya clans that formed the northern border to Malwa was conquered by the Khaljis (later declared independence in 1321), soon after two years the Paramaras succumbed Malwa into Islamic hands. Malwa now fluctuated between the Khaljis, Ghurids and Ahmad Shahis. Malwa would now also see expansion of another Islamic power in Maharashtra, the Bahmani Sultanate. Just on the onset of the 16th century, Malwa was interlocked by constant raids of Ahmad Shahis in the west, the Faruqis of Khandesh in the south, the Bahmanis of Barar in the southwest, the Sisodiyas of Mewar in the north, while the Tomaras, Bundelas and Baghelas in far east would be engaged with the Sharqis, part of the Lodi Dynasty. 

Enter the Mughals and Malwa's town of Mandasaur becomes a battleground between various empires. Between 1530 to 1545, Malwa juggled between the Ahmad Shahis (1531), the Mughals (1535) and Sher Shah Suri (1542). By 1564, Mughal rule was firmly established in Malwa. Bordering subahs of Gujarat in the west, Ajmer and Agra in the north, Mandla and Gondwana in the east, Barar (Berar), Ahmadnagar, Baglana and Khandesh in the south, the Mughal rule in Malwa was here to stay. Towns such as Marosor (Mandsaur), Chanderi, Bijagarh and Nandurbar became its frontiers, while Mandu was its capital. 

With the decline of the Mughals in the 18th century, Malwa is now annexed to the Maratha Confederacy in 1746, with Sindhia (Scindia / Shinde) and Holkars ruling the region. Interestingly, while the coastal territories of Marathas was warring with the European powers of Portuguese, English and Dutch, Malwa was far away from these battlefronts and never actually got into the European grip directly. 

The 19th century Malwa would now be a honeycomb of Maratha clans neighboring the British protectorate territories of Banswara, Baroda in the west; Bhopal in the southeast, the Holkars of Indore in the south, while the Rajputana states of Mewar and Bundi to the north. In the early 19th century, Malwa would be a hideout of Pindari raiders who would loot feud lords for money and protection in exchange. 

Gradually, with the creation of Central India Agency in 1854 and annexing it to the Bengal Presidency, the name Malwa would vanish at least from the angle of any administrative division. Malwa would now be divided into tiny fragments of whatever was left of the Maratha Confederation, with enclaves and exclaves  of Indore and Gwalior states distributed all throughout. In fact, the Princely States of Malwa region would be so complex that the tiniest British province of Panth-Piploda would also be a part of this labyrinth of territories. While coming to the 20th century, the demarcation of boundaries would be more clearer than before, the earlier decades of Malwa would look like no less than a jigsaw puzzle of Princely States. 

Post-independence, it took almost a year to round up all the Princely States of Malwa to form into a single Indian state of Madhya Bharat. At this point all the royalties and former British territories of central India would be regrouped into the following states - Madhya Bharat, Bhopal State, Madhya Pradesh and Vindhya Pradesh, that further merged in 1956 as Madhya Pradesh. Interestingly, Madhya Bharat was originally named as United States of Gwalior, Indore and Malwa, but it was later dropped out. 

Here's a jigsaw map of Malwa of 1859 when boundaries were still to be made concrete.