Ujjain

An ancient city situated on the eastern bank of the Shipra River, then known as Avantika, it was the most prominent city on the Malwa plateau of central India for much of its history. It emerged as the political centre of central India around 600 BCE. It was the capital of the ancient Avanti kingdom, one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas. During the 18th century, the city briefly became the capital of the Scindia state of the Maratha Confederacy, when Ranoji Scindia established his capital at Ujjain in 1731. It remained an important political, commercial, and cultural centre of Central India until the early 19th century, when the British administrators decided to develop Indore as an alternative to it.