Avanti, kingdom of ancient India, in the territory of present Madhya Pradesh state. The area was for a time part of the historical province of Malwa. About 600 bce the Avanti capital was Mahismati (probably modern Godarpura on the Narmada River), but it was soon moved to Ujjayini (near present-day Ujjain). The kingdom was on the overland trade routes between northern and southern India and to the port of Bharukaccha (modern Bharuch) on the Arabian Sea.
By the lifetime of the Gautama Buddha (flourished c. 6th–4th century bce), Avanti was one of the four powers of northern India; it was strong enough at that time, under King Pradyota the Fierce, to threaten the empire of Magadha. In the same period there was also an Avanti-daksinapatha (Sanskrit: “Avanti of the South”; perhaps modern Nimar), of which Mahismati may have been the capital.
In the 4th century bce Chandragupta of Magadha (founder of the Mauryan dynasty) conquered and annexed Avanti to his dominions. Ujjayini, one of the seven holy cities of the Hindus, renowned for its beauty and wealth, became a centre of early Buddhism and of Jainism.
After 50 bce, in the Magadha empire’s decline, Avanti was fought over by the Shungas, Andhrabhrtyas, and Shakas; and in the 2nd century ce Ujjayini, under Rudradaman I, was the prosperous capital of the western Shaka satrapy. About 390 ce Chandra Gupta II (who was also called Vikramaditya, patron of the poet Kalidasa) expelled the Shakas and held court at Ujjayini. Avanti gradually began to be referred to as Malwa, after the name of the Malwa (Malava) tribe (which had moved to Avanti at an uncertain date).