A first meridian, separating a leeward from a windward region, passed through Ras Kumhari (Comorin) and was thus nearly identical with the first meridian of the Indian astronomers which passed through the sacred city of Ujjain (Ozere of Ptolemy) or the meridian of Azin of the Arabs.
By the treaty of Salbai (1782) it was agreed that Mahadji should withdraw to Ujjain, and the British retire north of the Jumna.
He established his headquarters at Ujjain, which thus became the first capital of Sindhia's dominions.
The town, the name of which is usually derived from Dhara Nagari (the city of sword blades), is of great antiquity, and was made the capital of the Paramara chiefs of Malwa by Vairisinha II., who transferred his headquarters hither from Ujjain at the close of the 9th century.
There is a leather factory at Morar; cotton-presses at Morena, Baghana and Ujjain; ginning factories at Agar, Nalkhera, Shajapur and Sonkach; and a cotton-mill at Ujjain.
Ujjain, known as Avanti in the Buddhist period and as Ozene to the Greeks, is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus and the traditional capital of King Vikramaditya, at whose court the "nine gems" of Sanskirt literature are said to have flourished.
Ujjayini, the modern Ujjain, was the capital of Avanti.
Under this empire Ujjain was the seat of a viceroy, a prince of the imperial house, who ruled over Kathiawar, Malwa and Gujarat.