Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.21

c19.21

Mansurah and Kámhal¹ (Anhilwára) to be eight days' journey; from Kámhal to Kambáya (Cambay) four days; from Kambáya to the sea about two *farsakhs* that is between seven and eight miles²; from Kam-báya to Surabáya³ perhaps Surabáya the Surat river mouth which is half a *farsakh* (between 1½ and two miles) from the sea, about four days. He places five days between Surabáya (Surat) and Sindán (St. John near Daman) and a like distance between Sindán and Saimur (Cheul or Cheul) thirty miles south of Bombay. Ibni Haukal⁴ (H. 366; A.D. 976) enumerates⁵ (Fámhal)⁶ (Anhilwára), Kambáya (Cambay), Surabáya (Surat), Sindán (Daman), and Saimur (Cheul) as cities of Al Hind (India), as opposed to As-Sindh or the Indus valley. From Kambáya to Saimur, he writes, is the land of the Balhára, which is in the possession of several kings.⁷ Ibni Haukal describes the land between Kámhal (Anhilwára) and Kambáya (Cambay), and Bánin three days' journey from Mansúrah as desert,⁸ and between Kambáya and Saimur as thickly covered with villages. Al Bírúni,⁹ in his famous Indica about A.D. 1030-31 writes: From Kanauj, travelling south-west you come to Ási, a distance of eighteen *farsakhs*¹⁰ that is of seventy two miles; to Sáliva 17 *farsakhs* or sixty-eight miles; to Chandra 18 *farsakhs* or seventy-two miles; to Rajaurí fifteen *farsakhs* or sixty miles; and to Nárána (near Jaipur) the former capital of Gujarát, 18 *farsakhs* or seventy-two miles. Nárána he adds was destroyed and the capital transferred to another town on the frontier. From Nárána at a distance of 60 *farsakhs* or 240 miles south-west lies Anhilwára, and thence to Somnáth on the sea is fifty *farsakhs* or 200 miles. From Anhilwára, passing south is Lárdes with its capitals Bíruni (Broach) and Rallánjur¹¹ (Rándir) forty-two *farsakhs* (168