Dynasty : Mauryas (capital: Patliputta, in present Bihar) (Ancient)
Dynasty : Sungas (capital: Patliputta, in present Bihar), Era:-187 BC, Area & Expansion:-(approx) above (mentioned, right up to the area around the River Narmada.
Dynasty : Kanvas (capital: Vidisha; under Sunga suzerainty), Era:- 75BC, Area & Expansion:- Area around Vidisha.
Dynasty : Satavahanas and the Kshtrapas i.e., Ahartas and Kadmkas capital: various; from Sanchi to Ajmer to Pune), Era:- 1-3AD, Area & Expansion:- Both sides kept trying to outwit each other to rule the Malwa region.
Dynasty : Nagas (capital: unknown, though probably Gwalior. Despite the numismatic wealth left by the Nagas surprisingly little is known about them.), Era:- 3-4AD, Area & Expansion:- Their origins can be traced from Vidisha. Their reign stretched from a portion of Gwalior to Mathura. Also the Gangetic Plains and Bundelkhand
Dynasty : Vatakas (capital: Vidisha; at least to begin with), Era:- 2-4th century AD, Area & Expansion:- Depending upon the authority, it is a toss-up between Bundelkhand, and Vidharba. Also they ruled Satna and Panna till their last.
Dynasty : Guptas (capital: Patliputta), Era:- 4-5 th century AD Area & Expansion:- The Guptas started in with Vidisha, then under Shaka rule. With some deft marital and martial relations they extended their empire as far down as Cattisgarh. After the fall of the Guptas lots of smaller dynasties, like Sooryas (Chattisgarh), Sharbhpuriayas (Sirpur), Pandus (Rajim) and others ruled limited areas of MP.
Dynasty : Parivajakas and Utkals (capital: Ucchkalpa; now Uccahara in Satna), Era:- 5-6th century AD, Area & Expansion:- Bundelkhand and Satna.
Dynasty : Aulikar (capital: Dashpur; now Mandsaur)
Era:- 5-6th century AD
Mandsaur, moving on to western Malwa.
Dynasty :- Mahismati Kalchuris
Era:- 6th century AD
Area & Expansion:- An extremely small dynasty which was able to hold a surprisingly large area which included Malwa and Gujarat.
Dynasty:- Vardhanas and Chalukyas
Era:- 7th century
Area & Expansion:- During this era these two powerful dynasties were uncomfortable partners in MP. and what’s more, at one time the two of the most powerful kings of the respective dynasties Harsha Vardhana and Pulakeshan II – were ruling at the same time. The area of the Vardhanas stretched from the Himalayas to the River Narmada and the realm of the Chalukyas – big surprise started from the river and stretched on to Southern India. Interestingly, this Harshavardhana is the same guy that the Chinese traveller Huien Tsang talks about in his book on India. At this same period another dynasty was ruling the Bastar area of MP, the Nalas.
Dynasty:- Rashtrakutas (capital: Vidarbha)
Era:- 747 AD
Area & Expansion:- In 747 AD, the Rashtrakutas moved from Vidarbha to take Malwa. Next they went to Ujjain and tried to stake a claim. What they did keep more successfully were the southern parts of MP.
Dynasty:- Gurjara-Pratiharas (capital: Marwar; later Kannauj)
Era:- 8th century AD
Area & Expansion:- A branch of the Gurjara- Pratihara family headed by the famous Nagabhata ruled Malwa. In fact he single-handedly threw out insurgent Arabs from Avanti. His successors continued to rule Malwa and had a great reputation for standing no nonsense. When the scramble for supremacy broke out between them, the Palas of Bengal, and the Rashtrakutas of the south, the Gurjara-Pratiharas were defeated. However, they continued to rule a large chunk of Western and central India (including Gwalior and Kalinjar) from Kannauj.
Dynasty:- Tripura Kalchuris
Era:- 7-10th century AD
Area & Expansion:- A member of the Mahismati Kalichuri family, Vamraj, first established his kingdom in the areas of Jabalpur, Satna, Rewa and Panna. There were about 14 kings in the family. There was also another branch of the exhaustive Kalichuri family, which was the Ratanpur Kalichuris. They lasted from around 890 AD till well into the 14th century
Dynasty:- Paramaras
Era:- 946-1306 AD
Area & Expansion:- The Paramaras started making overtures at Malwa as the Gurjara-Pratihara power started faltering. The Rashtrakutas had earlier attempted to put a puppet Parmara king on the Malwa throne; this was however speedily nipped in the bud by the Gurjara-Pratiharas. In 946 AD the Paramaras under Varisingh II took Malwa with the help of the Rashtrakutas. His son managed to overthrow the overlordship of their powerful ally and established Paramara rule. The legendary King Bhoj (see Bhopal) was a later ruler of this dynasty.
Dynasty:- Chandelas
Era:- 925-1370AD
Area & Expansion:- Bundelkhand to start with. Yashovarman stretched this to Malwa region, while his son went ahead to take Vidisha and Gwalior too. However their disappearance from the scene of history was rather abrupt. After Prithviraj Chauhan defeated them, their luck just soured on them and they got beaten by everyone going. They hung around far-flung fortresses like Kalinjar for sometime after which they simply vanished.