Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c6.2

c6.2

Girnár as Pushyagupta is simply called a Vaisya and a brother-in-law of king Chandragupta and has no royal attribute, particulars which tend to show that he was a local governor subordinate to king Chandragupta. The same inscription¹ states that in the time of Aśoka (B.C. 250) his officer Yavanarája Tusháspa adorned the same Sudarsana lake with conduits. This would seem to prove the continuance of Mauryan rule in Girnár for three generations, from Chandragupta to Aśoka. Tusháspa is called Yavanarája. The use of the term rája would seem to show that, unlike Chandragupta's Vaisya governor Pushyagupta, Tusháspa was a dignitary of high rank and noble family. That he is called Yavanarája does not prove Tusháspa was a Greek, though for Greeks alone Yavana is the proper term. The name Tusháspa rather suggests a Persian origin from its close likeness in formation to Kershásp, a name still current among Bombay Pársis. Evidence from other sources proves that Aśoka held complete sway over Málwa, Gujarát, and the Konkan coast. All the rock edicts of Aśoka hitherto traced have been found on the confines of his great empire. On the north-west at Kapurdigiri and at Shabazgarhi in the Baktro-Páli character; in the north-north-west at Kálsi, in the east at Dhauli and Jaugada; in the west at Girnár and Sopára, and in the south in Maisur all in Maurya characters. The Girnár and Sopára edicts leave no doubt that the Gujarát, Káthiáwáda, and North Konkan seaboard was in Aśoka's possession. The fact that an inland ruler holds the coast implies his supremacy over the intervening country. Farther it is known that Aśoka was viceroy of Málwa in the time of his father and that after his father's death he was sovereign of Málwa. The easy route from Mandasor (better known as Dasapur) to Dohad has always secured a close connection between Málwa and Gujarát. South Gujarát lies at the mercy of any invader entering by Dohad and the conquest of Káthiáwáda on one side and of Upper Gujarát on the other might follow in detail. As we know that Káthiáwáda and South Gujarát as far as Sopára were held by Aśoka it is not improbable that Upper Gujarát also owned his sway. The Mauryan capital of Gujarát seems to have been Girinagara or Junágadh in Central Káthiáwáda, whose strong hill fort dominating the rich province of Sorath and whose lofty hills a centre of worship and a defence and retreat from invaders, combined to secure for Junágadh its continuance as capital under the Kshatrapas (A.D. 100-380) and their successors the Guptas (A.D. 380-460). The southern capital of the Mauryas seems to have been Sopára near Bassein in a rich country with a good and safe harbour for small vessels, probably in those times the chief centre of the Konkan and South Gujarát trade.