The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s13.70

c8.s13.70

¹ Sir H. M. Elliot’s *History of India*, edited by Prof. Dowson, Vol. I, pp. 3-40; apparently, the chapter on the Arab geographers is mainly Prof. Dowson’s work (editor’s preface, pp. xi., xii.).—The Balharâs were identified by Prof. Dowson with the kings of Valabhî (*id.* p. 354). It seems that Dr. Bhau Daji first identified them with the Râshtrakûṭas; and this identification, which cannot be questioned, has been endorsed by Dr. Bühler in 1877 (*Ind. Ant.* Vol. VI., p. 64), and by Dr. Bhandarkar in 1884 (*Early History of the Dekkan*, p. 56). It is Dr. Bhandarkar, however, who explained the true origin of the word Balharâ; viz., in the Sanskrit *vallabha-râja*, through the Prâkrit *ballaha-râya*.—In later times, the Arabs used the word Balharâ to denote the Chaulukyas of Aṇhilwâḍ (*e.g.*, Al Idrisi, towards the end of the eleventh century A.D.; *loc. cit.*, pp. 85, 86, 87).