Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c8.65

c8.65

The Kathiawada Mhers are a peculiar tribe whose language dress and appearance mark them as foreign settlers from Upper India. Like the Malyas, Jats, Gurjaras, and Pahlavas, the Mhers seem to have passed through the Panjab Sindh and North Gujarat into Kathiawada leaving settlements in Ajmir, Badner, Jesalmir, Kolhapur, and Marvada. How and when the Mhers made these settlements and entered Kathiawada is not known. It may be surmised that they came with Toramana (A.D. 470-512) who overthrew the Guptas, and advanced far to the south and west in the train of some general of Toramana’s who may perhaps have entered Surashtra. This is probable as the date of Toramana who overthrew Budhagupta is almost the same as that of the Maitrakas mentioned as the opponents and enemies of Bhatarka. In the time of Bhatarka (A.D. 509-520?) the Mhers were firmly established in the peninsula, otherwise they would not be mentioned in the Valabhi grants as enemies of Bhatarka, a tribe or mandala wielding incomparable power. As stated above in Chapter VIII, some time after the Mher settlement and consolidation of power, Bhatarka seems to have come as general of the fallen Guptas through Malwa and Broach by sea to East Kathiawada. He established himself at Valabhi and then gradually dislodged the Mhers from Sorath until they retired slightly to the north settling eventually at Morbi, which the Jethvas still recognize as the earliest seat of their ancestors. At Morbi they appear to have ruled contemporarily with the Valabhis. In support of this it is to be noted that no known Valabhi plate records any grant of lands or villages in Halar, Machhakantha, or Okhamandal in North Kathiawada. As the northernmost place mentioned in Valabhi plates is Venuhati known as Vania’s Vanthali in Halar it may be inferred that the Valabhis but the Mhers ruled the north coast of Kathiawada, probably as feudatories or subordinates of the Valabhis. On the overthrow of Valabhi about A.D. 770 the Mhers appear to have seized the kingdom and ruled the whole of Kathiawada dividing it into separate chiefships grouped under the two main divisions of Bardai and Gohelvadia. About A.D. 860 the Mhers made incursions into Central Gujarat. A copperplate dated Saka 789 (A.D. 847) of the Gujarat Rashtrakuta king Dhruva describes him as aided by a powerful Mihira king whom he defeated.¹ At the height of their power the Mhers seem to have established their capital at the fort of Bhumli or Ghumli in the Barda hills in the centre of Kathiawada. The traditions about Ghumli rest mainly on modern Jethva legends of no historical interest. The only known epigraphical record is a copperplate of a king named Jachikadeva found in the Morbi district. Unfortunately only the second plate remains. Still the seal mark on the plate, the locality where it was found, and its date leave little doubt that the date 461 refers to the Kalachuri-Chedi era, and that the date 461 corresponds to A.D. 710. The date 461 of the Kalachuri era is equivalent to A.D. 710-711. The Abhiras are the descendants of the Abhiras of the Puranas. Such is the history of the Abhiras, who, about 200 years after the destruction of Valabhi, at the time at which the form of the letters agrees.