The 11th century Paramara king Bhoja ruled from his capital at Dhara (Dhar in present-day Madhya Pradesh, India). The period of his reign is dated approximately 1010 CE to 1055 CE, although some historians believe that he ascended the throne before 1010 CE. Bhoja inherited a kingdom centered around the Malwa region, and made several attempts to expand it varying results. He managed to annex territories as far as northern parts of Konkan, but these territorial gains were short-lived. He fought wars against several of his neighbours, including the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, the Chalukyas of Lata, the Chalukyas of Kalyani (Western Chalukyas), the Chandelas of Jejakabhukti, the Kachchhapaghatas of Gwalior, the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, the Chahamanas of Naddula, and the Kalachuris of Tripuri. He also conflicted with Gaznavid Turk Invaders, Mahmud's desecration of the Somnath temple in Gujarat motivated Bhoja to lead an army against him, however after Somnath raid, Mahmud Gazhnavi chose a more dangerous route via Sindh, to avoid facing the invading powerful armies of Bhoja.

Apart from epigraphic records, much of the information about Bhoja's military campaigns comes from legendary accounts, including Hemachandra (12th century), Merutunga's Prabandha-Chintamani (14th century), Rajavallabha's Bhoja-Charitra (15th century), and Ballala's Bhoja-Prabandha (17th century).

Chaulukyas: Vallabha and Durlabha

The kingdom of the Chaulukyas of Gujarat (also known as Chaulukyas) was located to the west of Malwa, the Paramara territory. Several legendary accounts talk of a rivalry between the two kingdoms during the reigns of the Chaulukya rulers Vallabha and Durlabha. Some historians, who date the start of Bhoja's reign before 1010 CE, believe that this conflict happened during the early years of his reign.

According to the 12th century writer Hemachandra, who was patronized by the Chaulukyas, Bhoja's predecessor Sindhuraja invaded the Chaulukya kingdom, but was forced to retreat by Chamunda-raja. Abhayatilaka's commentary on Hemachandra's work states that Chamunda later retired and set on a pilgrimate to Kashi. On the way, he passed through Malwa, whose king forced him to give up his royal insignia. According to Hemachandra, Chamunda returned to the Chaulukya capital Anahilavada, and asked his son and successor Vallabha-raja to avenge his humiliation. Vallabha set out against Bhoja with an army, but died of smallpox on the way. His army then retreated to his Anahilavada.

The 14th century writer Merutunga claims that it was Vallabha's successor Durlabha-raja who passed through Malwa on his way to Kashi, and Munja was the Paramara king at the time. However, this account is historically inaccurate, because Munja died nearly a decade before Durlabha's ascension. Sukrita Sankirtana by Arisimha and Sukrita-Kirti-Kallolini by Udayaprabha Suri, both written under the patronage of Chaulukyas and their successors, claim that Vallabha defeated the king of Malwa. These claims are not supported by any historical evidence either. Only the fact that Vallabha marched against Malwa appears to be historically true, as suggested by the Vadnagar Prashasti inscription of the later Chaulukya king Kumarapala. This inscription claims that the king of Malwa felt a quake on hearing about Vallabharaja's march against him.

Durlabha became the Chaulukya king around 1009 CE, so Vallabha's invasion of Malwa must have happened before this time. Some scholars, such as D. C. Ganguly and K. N. Seth identify Vallabha's rival as Bhoja, who according to them, had just assumed the throne of Malwa around 1008 CE. Other scholars, such as Mahesh Singh, believe that Bhoja's ascension took place after 1009 CE, and therefore Vallabha's rival must have been Bhoja's predecessor Sindhuraja.

According to a legend mentioned by Hemachandra, Vallabha's successor Durlabha also fought against the ruler of Malwa. According to this account, Mahendra-raja, the Chahamana ruler of Nadol, organized a swayamvara (husband-choosing ceremony) for his sister Durlabha-devi. Besides Durlabha-raja, he invited the rulers of Anga, Andhra, Kashi, Kuru, Mathura and Ujjayini to this ceremony. Durlabha-devi chose Durlabha-raja as her husband. Out of jealousy, the other invitees formed a confederacy and attacked his contingent, while he was returning to his capital. Durlabha-raja defeated their combined army. The contemporary ruler of Ujjayini (which is located in Malwa) would have been Bhoja. The king was young at the time, so his participation in a swayamvara does not sound far-fetched. However, Durlabha's defeat of such a strong confederacy seems unlikely, and there is no historical evidence of a war between Bhoja and Durlabha. Moreover, the chief of Naddula was a relatively insignificant ruler, and it is unlikely that so many major rulers left their kingdoms to attend his ceremony at a time when northern India was under attacks from Mahmud of Ghazni. Therefore, this legend does not seem to be historically accurate.

Chalukyas of Lata

Bhoja's first military aggression appears to be his invasion of the Lata region (in present-day Gujarat), around 1018 CE. Durlabha, the Chaulukya (Chalukya) king of Gujarat, had plundered Lata in 1018 CE. Soon after this, Bhoja also invaded Lata. Bhoja's victory over the ruler of Lata is attested by epigraphic records, as well as literary and epigraphic records, including the Prabandha-Chintamani, the Udaipur Prashasti inscription and the Kalyan copper plate inscription.

The ruler defeated by Bhoja appears to be Kirtiraja, who belonged to a Chalukya branch, and whose Surat grant is dated 1018 CE. A copper-plate grant of his grandson Trilochana-pala seems to corroborate Bhoja's victory, when it states that Kirtiraja's fame was taken away briefly by his enemies. According to K M Munshi, Kirtiraja was the vassal of the Western Chalukyas, but K N Seth believes that he was an independent ruler at the time of Bhoja's invasion.

Bhoja did not depose the Chalukyas of Lata: the epigraphic evidence suggests that the dynasty continued even after this defeat. Kirtiraja may have become independent after serving as a feudatory of Bhoja for a brief period.

Shilaharas of Konkana

Bhoja's invasion of Lata brought him close to the Shilahara kingdom of northern Konkana, which was located to the south of Lata. By this time, the Shilaharas had been weakened by a Western Chalukya invasion, and probably acknowledged their suzerainty.

In 1017 CE, the Shilahara king Arikesari was independent of Bhoja, as suggested by his 1017 CE inscription discovered at Thane. The Betma copper-plate inscription of Bhoja, dated 3 January 1020 CE, indicates that northern Konkana was under the Paramara control by this date. Therefore, Bhoja must have invaded Konkan sometime during 1017-1020 CE. Bhoja's conquest of Konkana was a first for a Paramara king in this region. He celebrated this victory in a big way by making generous donations to Brahmins. His 1020 CE inscription states that he organized a Konkana-Grahana Vijaya Parva ("Konkan Victory Festival").

The Shilaharas probably continued to administer Konkana as Bhoja's vassals. By the end of his reign, Bhoja had lost the control of this territory. According to D. B. Diskalkar, the Western Chalukya king Jayasimha II conquered this region from Bhoja. The 1024 CE Miraj inscription of Jayasimha states that after subduing the lords of "the seven Konkanas", he encamped near Kolhapur in order to conquer the northern regions. Diskalkar believed that the term "northern regions" here refers to northern Konkana, which Jayasimha must have captured some time before 1024 CE. The critics of this theory point out that the Miraj inscription only refers to a plan, not the actual conquest of the northern regions. Moreover, none of the Chalukya inscriptions refer to their victory over the Paramaras in Konkana, although they mention their other successes against Bhoja. According to P. V. Kane, the lords defeated by Jayasimha were the Kadambas of Goa. K. N. Seth believes that it was Jayasimha's successor Someshvara I, who evicted the Paramaras from northern Konkana, around 1047 CE.

Chalukyas of Kalyani: Jayasimha II

The Chalukyas of Kalyani, also known as the Western Chalukyas, were the southern neighbours and bitter rivals of the Paramaras. Their king Tailapa II had defeated and killed Bhoja's uncle Munja. Sometime before 1019 CE, Bhoja formed an alliance against them with Rajendra Chola and Gangeyadeva Kalachuri. At this time, Jayasimha II was the Chalukya king. The triple alliance engaged the Chalukyas at their northern and southern frontiers simultaneously. The extent of Bhoja's success in this campaign is not certain, as both Chalukya and Paramara panegyrics claimed victory.

The Chalukya inscriptions state that they forced Bhoja's army to retreat. The 1019 CE Balligavi inscription of his feudatory states that Jayasimha was like a moon to the lotus Bhoja (that is, Jayasimha humbled Bhoja like a moon-rise causes a day-blooming lotus to close its petals). It claims that Jayasimha forced the Malwa army to flee the battlefield. Jayasimha's 1028 CE Kulenur inscription claims that he routed the elephant army of (Rajendra) Chola, Gangeya and Bhoja. In this battle, Jayasimha's vassal Bachiraja seems to have played an important role: he claims to have embarrassed Bhoja. On the other hand, the Kalvan copper plates of Bhoja's feudatory Yashovarman as well as the Udaipur Prashasti inscription of Bhoja's descendants claim that he defeated the Karnatas (that is, the Chalukyas of Kalyani).

D. C. Ganguly believes that Bhoja achieved some early victories against the Chalukyas, but was ultimately defeated. Others, including D. B. Diskalkar and H. C. Ray, believe that Bhoja was defeated by Jayasimha after some early successes, but ultimately emerged victorious against the Chalukyas after 1028 CE. According to Georg Bühler, the struggle probably ended with some advantage for Bhoja, which might have been exaggerated into a great victory by the Paramara poets.

Swati Datta notes that the 1022 CE Depalpur inscription of Bhoja records the grant of a village to a Brahmin named Vacchala. The record states that Vacchala had migrated from Manyakheta (which was in Jayasimha's territory) to Malwa. Datta theorizes that by this time, Jayasimha's kingdom was under attack from the Chola-Kalachuri-Paramara confederacy. The Cholas had previously attacked the Chalukya kingdom during the reign of Jayasimha's ancestor Satyashraya. During this invasion, they are said to have killed the Brahmin men and married off Brahmin girls to the men from other castes. According to Datta, Vacchala might have feared a repeat of this episode in case of a Chalukya defeat. This might have motivated him to seek shelter with Bhoja, who was reputed as a patron of learned Brahmins. Datta believes that Jayasimha was able to repulse the invasion by 1024 CE.

A Bhoja-Charitra legend claims that shortly after becoming the king, Bhoja saw a play which depicted the killing of his uncle Munja by Tailapa. An enraged Bhoja launched an expedition against Tailapa, captured him, humiliated him and finally executed him. The story is historically inaccurate, as Tailapa died before Bhoja ascended the throne.

Indraratha