Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c7.s2.t2: Land Assessment

Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarát c7.s2.t2

Language: English

Land Assessment

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The district of Kaira and the province of Káthiáváda to which the Valabhi grants chiefly refer appear to have had separate systems

of land assessment Kaira by yield Káthiáváḍa by area. Under the Káthiáváḍa system the measurement was by pádávarta literally the space between one foot and the other that is the modern kadam or pace. The pace used in measuring land seems to have differed from the ordinary pace as most of the Káthiáváḍa grants mention the bhúpádávarta or land pace. The Kaira system of assessment was by yield the unit being the pitaka or basketful, the grants describing fields as capable of growing so many baskets of rice or barley (or as requiring so many baskets of seed). As the grants always specify the Kaira basket a similar system with a different sized basket seems to have been in use in other parts of the country. Another detail which the plates preserve is that each field had its name called after a guardian or from some tree or plant. Among field names are Kotilaka, Atimana-kedára, Khaṇḍa-kedára, Gargara-kshetra, Bhíma-kshetra, Khagali-kedára, Sámi-kedára.

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The state religion of the Valabhi kings was Saivism. Every Valabhi copperplate hitherto found bears on its seal the figure of a bull with under it the name of Bhaṭárka the founder of the dynasty who was a Saiva. Except Dhruvasena I. (A.D. 526) who is called Paramabhágavata or the great Vaishnava and his brother and successor Dharapaṭṭa who is styled Paramádityabhakta or the great devotee of the sun, and Guhasena, who in his grant of Sam. 248 calls himself Paramopásaka or the great devotee of Buddha, all the Valabhi kings are called Parama-máheśvara the great Saiva.

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The grants to Buddhist viháras or monasteries of which there are several seem special gifts to institutions founded by female relatives of the granting kings. Most of the grants are to Bráhmans who though performing Vaidik ceremonies probably as at present honoured Saivism. This Saivism seems to have been of the old Páśupata school of Nakulíśa or Lakulíśa as the chief shrine of Lakulíśa was at Kárávana the modern Kárván in the Gáikwár’s territory fifteen miles south of Baroda and eight miles north-east of Miyágám railway station a most holy place till the time of the Vághelá king Arjunadeva in the thirteenth century.¹ The special holiness attached to the Narbada in S'aivism and to its pebbles as lingas is probably due to the neighbourhood of this shrine of Karvan. The followers of the Nakulisa-Pasupata school were strict devotees of S'aivism, Nakulisa the founder being regarded as an incarnation of S'iva. The date of the foundation of this school is not yet determined. It appears to have been between the second and the fifth century A.D. Nakulisa had four disciples Kusika, Gargya, Karusha, and Maitreya founders of four branches which spread through the length and breadth of India. Though no special representatives of this school remain, in spite of their nominal allegiance to S'ankaracharya the Dasanamis or Atits are in fact Nakulisas in their discipline doctrines and habits—applying ashes over the whole body, planting a linga over the grave of a buried Atit, and possessing proprietary rights over S'aiva temples. The Pasupatas were ever ready to fight for their school and often helped and served in the armies of kings who became their disciples. Till a century ago these unpaid followers recruited the armies of India with celibates firm and strong in fighting. It was apparently to gain these recruits that so many of the old rulers of India became followers of the Pasupata school. To secure their services the rulers had to pay them special respect. The leaders of these fighting monks were regarded as pontiffs like the Bappa-pada or Pontiff of the later Valabhi and other kings. Thus among the later Valabhis Siladitya IV. is called Bavapadanudhyata and all subsequent Siladityas Bappapadanudhyata both titles meaning Worshipping at the feet of Bava or Bappa.

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¹ Kárván seems to have suffered great desecration at the hands of the Musalmáns. All round the village chiefly under pipal trees, images and pieces of sculpture and large lingas lie scattered. To the north and east of the village on the banks of a large built pond called Kaśikuṇḍa are numerous sculptures and lingas. Partly embedded in the ground a pillar in style of about the eleventh century has a writing over it of latter times. The inscription contains the name of the place Sauskritised as Káyávarohana, and mentions an ascetic named Vírabahadraráśi who remained mute for twelve years. Near the pillar, at the steps leading to the water, is a carved doorway of about the tenth or eleventh century with some well-proportioned figures. The left doorpost has at the top a figure of Śiva, below the Śiva a figure of Súrya, below the Súrya a male and female, and under them attendants or ganas of Śiva. The right doorpost has at the top a figure of Vishnu seated on Garuda, below the seated Vishnu a standing Vishnu with four hands, and below that two sitting male and female figures, the male with hands folded in worship the female holding a purse. These figures probably represent a married pair who paid for this gateway. Further below are figures of ganas of Śiva. In 1881 in repairing the south bank of the pond a number of carved stones were brought from the north of the town. About half a mile north-west of the town on the bank of a dry brook, is a temple of Chámunda Devi of about the tenth century. It contains a mutilated life-size image of Chámundá. Facing the temple lie mutilated figures of the seven Matrikás and of Bhairava, probably the remains of a separate altar

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This Bava is the popular Prakrit form of the older Prakrit or desi Bappa meaning Father or worshipful. Bappa is the original of the Hindustani and Gujarati Bava father or elder; it is also a special term for a head Gosavi or Atit or indeed for any recluse. The epithet Bappa-padanudhyata, Bowing at the feet of Bappa, occurs in the attributes of several Nepal kings, and in the case of king Vasantasena appears the full phrase:

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Parama-daivata-bappa-bhattaraka-maharaja-Sri-padanudhyata.
Falling at the illustrious feet of the great Maharaja Lord Bappa.

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These Nepal kings were S'aivas as they are called parama-mahesvara in the text of the inscription and like the Valabhi seals their seals bear a bull. It follows that the term Bappa was applied both by the Valabhis and the Nepal kings to some one, who can hardly be the same individual, unless he was their

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facing the temple with the matri-mandala or Mother-Meeting upon it. The village has a large modern temple of Siva called Naklesvara on the site of some old temple and mostly built of old carved temple stones. In the temple close by are a number of old images of the sun and the boar incarnation of Vishnu all of about the tenth or eleventh century. The name Naklesvara would seem to have been derived from Nakulisa the founder of the Pasupata sect and the temple may originally have had an image of Nakulisa himself or a linga representing Nakulisa. Close to the west of the village near a small dry reservoir called the Kunda of Rajarajesvara lies a well-preserved black stone seated figure of Chanda one of the most respected of Siva's attendants, without whose worship all worship of Siva is imperfect, and to whom all that remains after making oblations to Siva is offered. A number of other sculptures lie on the bank of the pond. About a mile to the south of Karvan is a village called Lingthali the place of lingas.

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common overlord, which the distance between the two countries and still more the fact that his titles are the same as the titles of the Valabhi kings make almost impossible. In these circumstances the most probable explanation of the Bappa or Báva of these inscriptions is that it was applied to Shaivite pontiffs or ecclesiastical dignitaries. The attribute *Parama-daivata* The Great Divine prefixed to Bappa in the inscription of Vasantasena confirms this view. That such royal titles as *Mahárájádhirája*, *Parama-bhattáraka*, and *Parameśvara* are ascribed to Bappa is in agreement with the present use of Mahárája for all priestly Bráhmans and recluses and of Bhattáraka for Digambara Jain priests. Though specially associated with Śaivas the title *bappa* is applied also to Vaishnava dignitaries. That the term *bappa* is in similar use among the Buddhists appears from the title of a Valabhi *vihára* Bappapádíyavihára The monastery of the worshipful Bappa that is Of the great teacher Sthiramati by whom it was built.¹

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¹ Compare Beal Buddhist Records, II. 268 note 76 and Ind. Ant. VI. 9. The meaning and reference of the title *Bappa* have been much discussed. The question is treated at length by Mr. Fleet (Corp. Ins. Ind. III. 186 note 1) with the result that the title is applied not to a religious teacher but to the father and predecessor of the king who makes the grant. According to Mr. Fleet *bappa* would be used in reference to a father, *báva* in reference to an uncle.

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The tribe or race of Bhatárka the founder of the Valabhi dynasty is doubtful. None of the numerous Valabhi copperplates mentions the race of the founder. The Chalukya and Ráshtrakúta copperplates are silent regarding the Valabhi dynasty. And it is worthy of note that the Gehlots and Gohils, who are descended from the Valabhis, take their name not from their race but from king Guha or Guhasena (A.D. 559-567) the fourth ruler and apparently the first great sovereign among the Valabhis. These considerations make it probable that Bhatárka belonged to some low or stranger tribe. Though the evidence falls short of proof the probability seems strong that Bhatárka belonged to the Gurjara tribe, and that it was the supremacy of him and his descendants which gave rise to the name Gurjara-rátra the country of the Gurjaras, a name used at first by outsiders and afterwards adopted by the people of Gujarát. Except Bhatárka and his powerful dynasty no kings occur of sufficient importance to have given their name to the great province of Gujarát. Against their Gurjara origin it may be urged that the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 640) calls the king of Valabhi a Kshatriya. Still Hiuen Tsiang's remark was made more than a century after the establishment of the dynasty when their rise to power and influence had made it possible for them to ennoble themselves by calling themselves Kshatriyas and tracing their lineage to Puranic heroes. That such ennobling was not only possible but common is beyond question. Many so-called Rájput families in Gujarát and Káthiáváda can be traced to low or stranger tribes. The early kings of Nándipurí or Nándod (A.D. 450) call themselves Gurjaras and the later members of the same dynasty trace their lineage to the Mahábhárata hero Karna. Again two of the Nandod Gurjaras Dadda II. and Jayabhata II. helped the Valabhis under circumstances which suggest that the bond of sympathy

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THE VALABHIS, A.D. 509-766.