[59] This explanation is hardly satisfactory. The name Gehlot seems to be Guhila-putra from Gobhila-putra an ancient Bráhman gotra, one of the not uncommon cases of Rájputs with a Bráhman gotra. The Rájput use of a Bráhman gotra is generally considered a technical affiliation, a mark of respect for some Bráhman teacher. It seems doubtful whether the practice is not a reminiscence of an ancestral Bráhman strain. This view finds confirmation in the Aitpur inscription (Tod’s Annals, I. 802) which states that Guhadit the founder of the Gohil tribe was of Bráhman race Vipra kula. Compare the legend (Rás Málá, I. 13) that makes the first Śíláditya of Valabhi (a.d. 590–609) the son of a Bráhman woman. Compare (Elliot, I. 411) the Bráhman Chách (a.d. 630–670) marrying the widow of the Sháhi king of Alor in Sindh who is written of as a Rájput though like the later (a.d. 850–1060) Shahiyas of Kábul (Alberuni, Sachau II. 13) the dynasty may possibly have been Bráhmans.[60] The following passage from Hodgson’s Essays (J. A. Soc. Bl. II. 218) throws light on the subject: Among the Khás or Rájputs of Nepál the sons of Bráhmans by Khás women take their fathers’ gotras. Compare Ibbetson’s Panjáb Census 1881 page 236. [↑]
[60] In support of a Bráhman origin is Prinsep’s conjecture (J. A. S. Bl. LXXIV. [Feb. 1838] page 93) that Divaij the name of the first recorded king may be Dvija or Twice-born. But Divaij for Deváditya, like Silaij for Śíláditya, seems simpler and the care with which the writer speaks of Chach as the Bráhman almost implies that his predecessors were not Bráhmans. According to Elliot (II. 426) the Páls of Kábul were Rájputs, perhaps Bhattias. [↑]
[61] Tod’s Annals, I. 229–231. [↑]
[63] Gladwin’s Áin-i-Akbari, II. 81; Tod’s Annals, I. 235 and note *. Tod’s dates are confused. The Aitpur inscription (Ditto, page 230) gives Śakti Kumára’s date a.d. 968 (S. 1024) while the authorities which Tod accepts (Ditto, 231) give a.d. 1068 (S. 1125). That the Moris were not driven out of Chitor as early as a.d. 728 is proved by the Navsárí inscription which mentions the Arabs defeating the Mauryas as late as a.d. 738–9 (Saṃ. 490). See above page [56]. [↑]
[64] Tod Western India 268 says Siddha Rája (a.d. 1094–1143): Múla Rája (a.d. 942–997) seems correct. See Rás Málá, I. 65. [↑]
[65] Káthiáwár Gazetteer, 672. [↑]
[66] The chronicles of Bhadrod, fifty-one miles south-west of Bhávnagar, have (Káth. Gaz. 380) a Selait Vála as late as a.d. 1554. [↑]
[67] Káthiáwár Gazetteer, 672. Another account places the movement south after the arrival of the Gohils a.d. 1250. According to local traditions the Válas did not pass to Bhadrod near Mahuva till a.d. 1554 (Káth. Gaz. 380) and from Bhadrod (Káth. Gaz. 660) retired to Dholarva. [↑]
[68] Káth. Gaz. 111 and 132. According to the Áin-i-Akbari (Gladwin, II. 60) the inhabitants of the ports of Mahua and Tulája were of the Vála tribe. [↑]