Ujjain

One of seven sacred Hindu cities, the capital (as Ujjayini) of the Aryan Avanti kingdom (6th-4th century BC), near Indore on the main route from the Ganges plain to the Bombay coast. In the 2nd century BC, Ujjain was the seat of the emperor Ashoka, the last of the Mauryan rulers and an early influential Buddhist. Greek geographer Ptolemy (2nd century AD) called it Ozene, the capital of the Western Satraps (i.e. the Greek, Scythian, and Parthian rulers of western India). Black-and-red and painted gray wares and the use of iron are associated with the earliest occupation, succeeded by an occupation with Northern Black Polished Ware.

A city state of the 1st millennium bc in central India. The earliest phase of occupation is associated with Black and Red ware and the use of iron; the city of this phase was defended by a large rampart. This phase was succeeded by an occupation with Northern Black Polished ware. The city, which occupied several hundred hectares, was an outpost of the Ganges civilization.