Note: Kingdom of ancient India; in the territory of present Madhya Pradesh state. It was situated on the overland trade routes between northern and southern India and to the port of Bharukaccha (modern Broach) on the Arabian Sea. By the 6th-4th centuries BCE, Avanti was one of the four main powers of northern India. In the 4th century BCE Candra Gupta Maurya of Magadha conquered and annexed Avanti. Ujjayini, the capital of the kingdom, was one of the seven holy cities of the Hindus and also became a center of early Buddhism and of Jainism. After the Magadha empire declined, Avanti was fought over by various peoples. The name of the Malava tribe (which had moved to Avanti at an uncertain date) gradually came to be the new name of this region. This kingdom is not be confused with Avanti-daksinapatha, which in Sanskrit means "Avanti of the South."
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