[8] Among Deccan Kunbi surnames are Jádhav, Chuhán, Nikumbha, Parmár, Selár, Solké. Cf. Bombay Gazetteer, XXIV. 65 note 2, 414. [↑]
[9] Though the identification of the Valabhis as Gurjjaras may not be certain, in inscriptions noted below both the Chávaḍás and the Solaṅkis are called Gurjjara kings. The Gurjjara origin of either or of both these dynasties may be questioned. The name Gurjjara kings may imply no more than that they ruled the Gurjjara country. At the same time it was under the Chávaḍás that Gujarát got its name. Though to Al Biruni (a.d. 1020) Gujarát still meant part of Rájputána, between a.d. 750 and 950 the name Gurjjaras’ land passed as far south as the territory connected with Anhilváḍa and Vaḍnagara that is probably as far as the Mahi. As a Rástrakuta copperplate of a.d. 888 (S. 810) (Ind. Ant. XIII. 69) brings the Konkan as far north as Variáv on the Tápti the extension of the name Gujarát to Láṭa south of the Mahi seems to have taken place under Musalmán rule. This southern application is still somewhat incomplete. Even now the people of Surat both Hindus and Musalmáns when they visit Pattan (Anhilváḍa) and Ahmadabad speak of going to Gujarát, and the Ahmadábád section of the Nágar Bráhmans still call their Surat caste-brethren by the name of Kunkaṇás that is of the Konkaṇ. [↑]
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT DIVISIONS.
Chapter II.
Ancient Divisions. Ánartta.From ancient times the present province of Gujarát consisted of three divisions Ánartta, Suráshṭra, and Láṭa. Ánartta seems to have been Northern Gujarát, as its capital was Ánandapura the modern Vaḍanagara or Chief City, which is also called Ánarttapura.[1] Both these names were in use even in the times of the Valabhi kings (a.d. 500–770).[2] According to the popular story, in each of the four cycles or yugas Ánandapura or Vaḍanagara had a different name, Chamatkárapura in the first or Satya-yuga, Ánarttapura in the second or Tretá-yuga, Ánandapura in the third or Dvápara-yuga, and Vriddha-nagara or Vaḍanagar in the fourth or Káli-yuga. The first name is fabulous. The city does not seem to have ever been known by so strange a title. Of the two Ánarttapura and Ánandapura the former is the older name, while the latter may be its proper name or perhaps an adaptation of the older name to give the meaning City of Joy. The fourth Vriddha-nagara meaning the old city is a Sanskritized form of the still current Vadnagar, the Old or Great City. In the Girnár inscription of Kshatrapa Rudradáman (a.d. 150) the mention of Ánartta and Suráshṭra as separate provinces subject to the Pahlava viceroy of Junágaḍh agrees with the view that Ánartta was part of Gujarát close to Káthiáváḍa. In some Puráṇas Ánartta appears as the name of the whole province including Suráshṭra, with its capital at the well known shrine of Dwáriká. In other passages Dwáriká and Prabhás are both mentioned as in Suráshṭra which would seem to show that Suráshṭra was then part of Ánartta as Káthiáváḍa is now part of Gujarát.
Suráshṭra.Suráshṭra the land of the Sus, afterwards Sanskritized into Sauráshṭra the Goodly Land, preserves its name in Sorath the southern part of Káthiáváḍa. The name appears as Suráshṭra in the Mahábhárata and Páṇini’s Gaṇapáṭha, in Rudradáman’s (a.d. 150) and Skandagupta’s (a.d. 456) Girnár inscriptions, and in several Valabhi copper-plates. Its Prákrit form appears as Suraṭha in the Násik inscription of Gotamiputra (a.d. 150) and in later Prákrit as Suraṭhṭha in the Tirthakalpa of Jinaprabhásuri of the thirteenth or fourteenth century.[3] Its earliest foreign mention is perhaps Strabo’s (b.c. 50–a.d. 20) Saraostus and Pliny’s (a.d. 70) Oratura.[4] Ptolemy
Chapter II.
Ancient Divisions. the great Egyptian geographer (a.d. 150) and the Greek author of the Periplus (a.d. 240) both call it Surastrene.[5] The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang (a.d. 600–640) mentions Valabhi then large and famous and Suráshṭra as separate kingdoms.[6]
Láṭa.Láṭa is South Gujarát from the Mahi to the Tápti. The name Láṭa does not appear to be Sanskrit. It has not been found in the Mahábhárata or other old Sanskrit works, or in the cave or other inscriptions before the third century a.d., probably because the Puráṇas include in Aparánta the whole western seaboard south of the Narbada as far as Goa. Still the name Láṭa is old. Ptolemy (a.d. 150) uses the form Larike[7] apparently from the Sanskrit Láṭaka. Vátsyáyana in his Káma-Sutra of the third century a.d. calls it Láṭa; describes it as situated to the west of Málwa; and gives an account of several of the customs of its people.[8] In Sanskrit writings and inscriptions later than the third century the name is frequently found. In the sixth century the great astronomer Varáhamihira mentions the country of Láṭa, and the name also appears as Láṭa in an Ajanta and in a Mandasor inscription of the fifth century.[9] It is common in the later inscriptions (a.d. 700–1200) of the Chálukya Gurjara and Ráshṭrakúṭa kings[10] as well as in the writings of Arab travellers and historians between the eighth and twelfth centuries.[11]
The name Láṭa appears to be derived from some local tribe, perhaps the Lattas, who, as r and l are commonly used for each other, may possibly be the well known Ráshṭrakúṭas since their great king Amoghavarsha (a.d. 851–879) calls the name of the dynasty Ratta. Laṭṭalura the original city of the Raṭṭas of Saundatti and Belgaum may have been in Láṭa and may have given its name to the country and to the dynasty.[12] In this connection it is interesting to note that the country between Broach and Dhár in Málwa in which are the towns of Bágh and Tánda is still called Ráṭha.