Arjunavarman II, also known as Arjuna, was a king of the

Paramara dynasty The Paramara dynasty (IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was established in either ...

in central India. He ruled in the

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also sy ...

region, in second half of the 13th century CE, during 1270s and 1280s. Arjuna II succeeded

Jayavarman II Jayavarman II ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី២; c. 770 – 850) (reigned c. 802–850) was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia) after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the ...

(alias Jayasimha), and proved to be a weak ruler. After Jayasimha's death around 1275 CE, the Paramara minister rebelled against his king. This fact has been mentioned by the Muslim historian Wassaf, who does not name the king or the minister. The minister was probably Goga. In the 1270s,

Ramachandra Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...

, the Yadava king of Devagiri invaded Malwa. The Udari inscription of Ramachandra, issued in 1276 CE, states that the Yadava king was "a lion in destroying the multitude of the rutting elephants of Arjuna". in the 1280s, the Ranthambore Chahamana ruler Hammira also raided Malwa. The Balvan inscription of 1288 CE mentions that Hammira captured the elephant force of Arjuna. Jain poet Nayachandra Suri's ''

Hammira Mahakavya ''Hammira Mahakavya'' (IAST: ''Hammīra-Mahākāvya'') is a 15th-century Indian Sanskrit epic poem written by the Jain scholar Nayachandra Suri. It is a legendary biography of the 13th century Chahamana king Hammira. While not entirely accurate f ...

'' states that Hammira defeated Arjuna of Sarasapura and Bhoja of Dhara. Based on this, R. C. Majumdar concluded that Hammira must have invaded Malwa twice: once during the reign of Arjuna II, and again, during the reign of his successor Bhoja II. Pratipal Bhatia theorizes that Arjuna II's minister Goga-deva put Bhoja II on the throne of the Paramara capital Dhara as a titular king, while Arjuna II continued to controlled another part of the kingdom.

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Bibliography

* * * * {{Paramara dynasty Paramara dynasty 13th-century Indian monarchs