History.According to a local legend this temple of the Sun was built by Yayati the son of king Nahush[18] of the Chandravansi or Moon stock. Yayati came to Shrimál accompanied by his two queens Sharmistha and Devyani, and began to perform severe austerities at one of the places sacred to Surya the Sun. Surya was so pleased by the fervour of Yayati’s devotion that he appeared before him and asked Yayati to name a boon. Yayati said May I with god-like vision see thee in thy true form. The Sun granted this wish and told Yayati to name a second boon. Yayati said I am weary of ruling and of the pleasures of life. My one wish is that for the good of Shrimálpur you may be present here in your true form. The Sun agreed. An image was set up in the Sun’s true form (apparently meaning in a human form) and a Hariya Bráhman was set over it.[19] The God said Call me Jagat-Svámi the Lord of the World for I am its only protector. According to a local Bráhman account the original image of the Sun was of wood and is still preserved in Lakshmí’s temple at Pátan in North Gujarát.[20] Another account makes the builder of the temple Shripunj or Jagsom. According to one legend Jagsom’s true name was Kanak who came from Kashmír. According to the Bráhm Bhát Tappa Jagsom was a king of Kashmír of the Jamáwal tribe who established himself in Bhinmál about 500 years before Kumárapála. As Kumárapála’s date is a.d. 1186, Jagsom’s date would be a.d. 680.
Appendix III.
Bhinmál.
Sun Temple. According to the common local story Jagsom was tormented by the presence of a live snake in his belly. When Jagsom halted at the south gate of Bhinmál in the course of a pilgrimage from Káshmír to Dwárka, he fell asleep and the snake came out at his mouth. At the same time a snake issued from a hole close to the city gate and said to the king’s belly snake ‘You should depart and cease to afflict the king.’ ‘There is a fine treasure in your hole’ said the belly snake. ‘How would you like to leave it? Why then ask me to leave my home?’ The gate snake said ‘If any servant of the king is near let him hearken. If some leaves of the kir Capparis aphylla tree are plucked and mixed with the flowers of a creeper that grows under it and boiled and given to the king the snake inside him will be killed.’ ‘If any servant of the king is near’ retorted the king’s snake ‘let him hearken. If boiling oil is poured down the hole of the gate-snake the snake will perish and great treasure will be found.’ A clever Kayasth of the king’s retinue was near and took notes. He found the kir tree and the creeper growing under it: he prepared the medicine and gave it to the king. The writhing of the snake caused the king so much agony that he ordered the Kayasth to be killed. Presently the king became sick and the dead snake was thrown up through the king’s mouth. The king mourned for the dead Kayasth. So clever a man, he said, must have made other good notes. They examined the Kayasth’s note book, poured the boiling oil down the hole, killed the gate-snake, and found the treasure. To appease the Kayasths and the two snakes lákhs were spent in feeding Bráhmans. With the rest a magnificent temple was built to the Sun and an image duly enshrined. Nine upper stories were afterwards added by Vishvakarma.
Legends.The legends of Bhinmál are collected in the Shrimál Mahátmya of the Skanda Purána a work supposed to be about 400 years old. According to the Mahátmya the city has been known by a different name in each of the chief cycles or Yugs. In the Satyayug it was Shrimál, in the Tretayug Ratanmál, in the Dwáparyug Pushpamal, and in the Káliyug Bhinmál. In the Satyayug Shrimál or Shrinagar had 84 Chandis; 336 Kshetrapáls; 27 Varáhas; 101 Suryás; 51 Mátás; 21 Brehispatis; 300 to 11,000 Liṅgas; 88,000 Rushis; 999 Wells and Tanks; and 3¾ krors of tirthas or holy places. At first the plain of Bhinmál was sea and Bhraghurishi called on Surya and the sun dried the water and made it land. Then Braghu started a hermitage and the saints Kashyáp, Atri, Baradwaj, Gautam, Jámdagni, Vishvamitra, and Vashista came from Ábu to interview Braghu. Gautam was pleased with the land to the north of Braghu’s hermitage and prayed Trimbakeshwar that the place might combine the holiness of all holy places and that he and his wife Ahilya might live there in happiness. The God granted the sage’s prayer. A lake was formed and in the centre an island was raised on which Gautam built his hermitage the foundations of which may still be seen. The channel which feeds Gautam’s lake from the north-east was cut by an ascetic Bráhman named Yajanasila and in the channel a stone is set with writing none of which but the date S. 1117 (a.d. 1060) is legible. Some years after Gautam had settled at Shrimál a daughter named Lakshmí was born in the house of the sage Braghu. When the girl came of age Braghu consulted Naradji about a husband. When Naradji saw Lakshmí, he said; This girl can be the wife of no one but of Vishṇu. Naradji went to Vishṇu and said that in consequence of the curse of Durvasarashi Lakshmí could not be born anywhere except in Braghu’s house and that Vishṇu ought to marry her. Vishṇu agreed. After the
Appendix III.
Bhinmál.
Legends. marriage the bride and bridegroom bathed together in the holy Trimbak pond about half a mile east of Gautam’s island. The holy water cleared the veil of forgetfulness and Lakshmí remembered her former life. The devtas or guardians came to worship her. They asked her what she would wish. Lakshmí replied; May the country be decked with the houses of Bráhmans as the sky is decked with their carriers the stars. Bhagwán that is Vishṇu, pleased with this wish, sent messengers to fetch Bráhmans and called Vishvakarma the divine architect to build a town. Vishvakarma built the town. He received golden bangles and a garland of gold lotus flowers and the promise that his work would meet with the praise of men and that his descendants would rule the art of building. This town said the Gods has been decked as it were with the garlands or mála of Śrí or Lakshmí. So it shall be called Shrimála. When the houses were ready Bráhmans began to gather from all parts.[21] When the Bráhmans were gathered Lakshmí asked Vishṇu to which among the Bráhmans worship was first due. The Bráhmans agreed that Gautam’s claim was the highest. The Bráhmans from Sindh objected and withdrew in anger. Then Vishṇu and Lakshmí made presents of clothes, money and jewels to the Bráhmans, and they, because they had settled in the town of Shrimál, came to be known as Shrimáli Bráhmans.
The angry Sindh Bráhmans in their own country worshipped the Sea. And at their request Samudra sent the demon Sarika to ruin Shrimál. Sarika carried off the marriageable Bráhman girls. And the Bráhmans finding no one to protect them withdrew to Ábu. Shrimál became waste and the dwellings ruins.[22] When Shrimál had long lain waste a king named Shripunj, according to one account suffering from worms, according to another account stricken with leprosy, came to the Brahmakund to the south of the city and was cleansed.[23] Thankful at heart Shripunj collected Bráhmans and restored Shrimála and at the Brahmakund built a temple of Chandish Mahádev. When they heard that the Shrimál Bráhmans had returned to their old city and were prospering the
Appendix III.
Bhinmál.
Legends. Bráhmans of Sindh once more sent Sarika to carry away their marriageable daughters. One girl as she was being haled away called on her house goddess and Sarika was spell-bound to the spot. King Shripunj came up and was about to slay Sarika with an arrow when Sarika said Do not kill me. Make some provision for my food and I will henceforth guard your Bráhmans. The king asked her what she required. Sarika said Let your Bráhmans at their weddings give a dinner in my honour and let them also marry their daughters in unwashed clothes. If they follow these two rules I will protect them. The king agreed and gave Sarika leave to go. Sarika could not move. While the king wondered the home-goddess of the maiden appeared and told the king she had stopped the fiend. Truly said the king you are the rightful guardian. But Sarika is not ill disposed let her go. On this Sarika fled to Sindh. And in her honour the people both of Shrimál and of Jodhpur still marry their daughters in unwashed clothes.[24] The Bráhman girls whom Sarika had carried off had been placed in charge of the snake Kankal lord of the under world. The Bráhmans found this out and Kankal agreed to restore the girls if the Bráhmans would worship snakes or nágs at the beginning of their shrádh or after-death ceremonies. Since that time the Shrimális set up the image of a Nág when they perform death rites. Other legends relating to the building of the Jagsvámi or Sun temple, to the temple of Chandish Mahádev near the Brahmakund,[25] and to the making of the Jaikop lake are given above. The dates preserved by local tradition are S. 222 (a.d. 166) the building of the first temple of the Sun; S. 265 (a.d. 209) a destructive attack on the city; S. 494 (a.d. 438) a second sack by a Rákshasa; S. 700 (a.d. 644) a re-building; S. 900 (a.d. 844) a third destruction; S. 955 (a.d. 899) a new restoration followed by a period of prosperity which lasted till the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Caste Legends.That Shrimál was once the capital of the Gurjjaras seems to explain the local saying that Jagatsen the son of the builder of the Sun temple gave Shrimál to Gujarát Bráhmans where Gujarát is a natural alteration of the forgotten Gurjjaras or Gurjjara Bráhmans. That Shrimál was once a centre of population is shown by the Shrimáli subdivisions of the Bráhman and Váni castes who are widely scattered over north Gujarát and Káthiáváḍa. Most Shrimáli Vánis are Shrávaks. It seems probable that their history closely resembles the history of the Osvál Shrávaks or Jains who take their name from the ancient city of Osia about fifteen miles south of Jodhpur to which they still go to pay vows. The bulk of these Osvál Vánis, who are Jains by religion, were Solaṅki Rájputs before their change of faith which according to Jain records took place about a.d. 743 (S. 800).[26] The present Bhinmál
Appendix III.
Bhinmál.
Caste Legends. bards claim the Osváls as originally people of Shrimál. Lakshmí they say when she was being married to Vishṇu at Shrimál looked into her bosom and the Jariya goldsmiths came forth: she looked north and the Oswáls appeared, east and from her look were born the Porwáls.[27] From her lucky necklace of flowers sprang the Shrimáli Bráhmans. According to other accounts the Shrimáli Bráhmans and Vánis were of Kashmír origin of the Jamawála caste and were brought to south Márwár by Jag Som by which name apparently Kanaksen that is the Kushán or Kshatrapa (a.d. 78–250) dynasty is meant. They say that in S. 759 (a.d. 703) Bugra an Arab laid the country waste and that from fear of him the Shrimáli Bráhmans and Vánis fled south. Another account giving the date a.d. 744 (S. 800) says the assailants were Songara Rájputs. The Shrimális were brought back to Bhinmál by Abhai Singh Ráhtor when viceroy of Gujarát in a.d. 1694 (S. 1750).
The memory of the Gurjjaras, who they say are descended from Garab Rishi, lingers among the Bháts or bards of Shrimál. They say the Gurjjaras moved from Shrimál to Pushkar about ten miles north-west of Ajmír and there dug the great lake. They are aware that Gurjjaras have a very sacred burning ground at Pushkar or Pokarn and also that the Sávitrí or wife of Brahma at Pokarn was a Gurjjara maiden.
But as the leading Gurjjarás have dropped their tribe name in becoming Kshatriyás or Rájputs the bards naturally do not know of the Gurjjaras as a ruling race. The ordinary Gurjjara they say is the same as the Rehbári; the Bad or High Gujjars to whom Kṛishṇa belonged are Rájputs. The bards further say that the Sompuras who live near Poshkar (Pokarn north of Ajmír) and are the best builders who alone know the names of all ornamental patterns are of Gurjjara descent and of Shrimál origin. They do not admit that the Chávaḍás were Gurjjarás. In their opinion Chávaḍás are the same as Bhárods and came north into Márwár from Dánta in Jháláváḍa in north-east Káthiáváḍa. The Choháns they say came from Sámbhar to Ajmír, from Ajmír to Delhi, from Delhi to Nágor north of Jodhpur, from Nágor to Jodhpur, from Jodhpur to Bhadgaon thirty miles south of Bhinmál, and from Bhadgaon to Sirohi. According to a local Jaghirdár of the Devra caste the Choháns’ original seat was at Jhálor forty miles north of Shrimál. They say that in the eighteenth century the Solaṅkis came north from Pátan in north Gujarát to Hiyu in Pálanpur where they have still a settlement, and that from Hiyu they went to Bhinmál.
In connection with the Sun temple and the traces of sun worship among the Jains, whose gurus or religious guides have a sun face which they say was given them by the Rána of Chitor, the existence in Bhinmál of so many (thirty-five) houses of Shevaks is interesting. These Shevaks are the religious dependents of the Oswál Shrávaks. They are strange highnosed hatchet-faced men with long lank hair and long beards and whiskers. They were originally Magha Bráhmans and still are Vaishnavas worshipping the sun. They know that their story is told in the Námagranth of the Surya Purána. The Bhinmál Shevaks know of sixteen
Appendix III.
Bhinmál.
Caste Legends. branches or sákas but remember the names of ten only: Aboti, Bhinmála, Devira, Hirgota, Kuwara, Lalár, Mahtariya, Mundiara, Saparwála, and Shánda. The story of these Maghás in the Surya and Bhavishya Puráṇas, how they were brought by Garuḍa from the land of the Śakas and were fire and sun worshippers, gives these Shevaks a special interest. The Devalás are believed to have come from Kashmír with Jog Svámi who is said to have been a Yaksh of the Rákshas division of Parihár Rájputs. The other division of Parihárs were girásias of Ábu who in virtue of the fire baptism of the Agnikund became Kshatriyás. The Devalás are supposed to get their name because they built Jag Som’s temple at Bhinmál. The Devra Rájputs whose head is the Sirohi chief and who according to the bards are of Chohán descent, came at the same time and marry with the Devalás. With this origin from Kanaksen it is natural to associate the Devras and Devalás with the Devaputras of the Samudragupta (a.d. 370–395) inscription. Of Húṇa or of Javla, the tribe name of the great Húṇa conquerors Toramáṇa and Mihirakula (a.d. 450–530), few signs have been traced. The Jaghirdár of Devala knows the name Húṇa. They are a Rákshasa people he says. He mentions Honots or Sonots who may be a trace of Húṇas, and Húṇáls in Káthiáváḍa and a Huṇi subdivision among the Kunbis of Márwár. Jávla he does not know as a caste name.
History.The historical interest of Shrimál centres in the fact that it was long the capital of the main branch of the great northern race of Gurjjaras. It is well known that many mentions of the Gurjjaras and their country in inscriptions and historical works refer to the Chaulukya or Solaṅki kingdom of Aṇahilaváḍa (a.d. 961–1242) or to its successor the Vághelá principality (a.d. 1219–1304). But the name Gurjjara occurs also in many documents older than the tenth century and has been most variously and inconsistently explained. Some take the name to denote the Chávaḍás of Aṇahilaváḍa (a.d. 746–942), some the Gurjjaras of Broach (a.d. 580–808) and some, among them Dr. Bhagvánlál Indraji, even the Valabhis (a.d. 509–766), but not one of these identifications can be made to apply to all cases. As regards the Valabhis even if they were of Gurjjara origin they are not known to have at any time called themselves Gurjjaras or to have been known by that name to their neighbours. The identification with the Gurjjaras of Broach is at first sight more plausible, as they admitted their Gurjjara origin as late as the middle of the seventh century, but there are strong reasons against the identification of the Broach branch as the leading family of Gurjjaras. Pulakeśi II. in his Aihole inscription of a.d. 634 (S. 556)[28] claims to have subdued by his prowess the Láṭas Málavas and Gurjjaras, which shows that the land of the Gurjjaras was distinct from Láṭa, the province in which Broach stood. Similarly Hiuen Tsiang (c. 640 a.d.) speaks of the kingdom of Broach by the name of the city and not as Gurjjara or the Gurjjara country. In the following century the historians of the Arab raids[29] notice Barus (Broach) separately from Jurz or Gurjjara, and the Chálukya grant of 490 that is of a.d. 738–739 mentions the Gurjjaras after the Chávoṭakas (Chávaḍás) and the Mauryas (of Chitor) as the last of the kingdoms attacked by the Arab army. Later instances occur of a distinction between Láṭa and Gurjjara, but it seems unnecessary to quote them as the Gurjjara kingdom of Broach probably did not survive the Ráshṭrakúṭa conquest of south Gujarát (a.d. 750–760).
The evidence that the name Gurjjara was not confined to the Chávaḍás
Appendix III.
Bhinmál.
History. is not less abundant. It will not be disputed that references of earlier date than the foundation of Aṇahilaváḍa (a.d. 746) cannot apply to the Chávaḍá kingdom, and further we find the Chálukya grant of a.d. 738–739 expressly distinguishing between the Chávaḍás and the Gurjjaras and calling the former by their tribal name Chávoṭaka. It might be supposed that as the power of the Chávaḍás increased, they became known as the rulers of the Gurjjara country; and it must be admitted that some of the references to Gurjjaras in the Ráshṭrakúṭa grants are vague enough to apply to the Chávaḍás. Still, if it can be shown that others of these references cannot possibly apply to the Chávaḍás, and if we assume, as we must, that the name of Gurjjara was used with the slightest consistency, it will follow that the ninth and tenth century references to the Gurjjaras do not apply to the Chávaḍá kingdom of Aṇahilaváḍa.
The Van-Dindori and Rádhanpur plates of the great Ráshṭrakúṭa Govinda III.[30] state that Govinda’s father Dhruva (C. 780–800 a.d.) “quickly caused Vatsarája, intoxicated with the goddess of the sovereignty of Gauḍa that he had acquired with ease, to enter upon the path of misfortune in the centre of Maru” and took away from him the two umbrellas of Gauḍa. A comparison of this statement with that in the Baroda grant of Karka II.[31] which is dated a.d. 812–813, to the effect that Karka made his arm “the door-bar of the country of the lord of the Gurjjaras, who had become evilly inflamed by conquering the lord of Gauḍa and the lord of Vanga” makes it highly probable that Vatsarája was king of the Gurjjaras at the end of the eighth century. As no such name occurs in the Chávaḍá lists, it follows that the Gurjjaras referred to in the inscriptions of about a.d. 800 were not Chávaḍás.