The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c34.10

Language: English

v2.c34.10.1

Scholars are unanimous that there are some elements of truth in this tradition. For instance, it is accepted that the ancestors of the Guhila-putras originally migrated from Gujarat. The close association of the early founders with the Brāhmans is also taken to be true. But while one school is still trying to prove the descent of the family from the kings of Valabhī,⁴ others⁵ have pointed out literary and epigraphic evidence to show their origin from the Brāhmans of Ānandapura⁶ in Gujarat. The difficulty of connecting the origin of the Guhila-putras with the death of Sīlāditya VII of Valabhī is obvious. For the latest known date for the latter is A.D. 766,⁷ and we have an inscription dated in A.D. 646 for Sīla,⁸ the fifth prince of the Guhila-putra family. Assigning a period of twenty years for each reign, we must place Guhadatta or Guhila, the first prince, to about the middle of the 6th century A.D., clearly two centuries before his supposed father. The attempt to connect the reigning family of Mewar with Śīlāditya VII and the fall of Valabhī must therefore be given up. In the Atpur inscription of Śaktikumāra, dated in V. S. 1034 (*c.* 977 A.D.), his ancestor Guhadatta is described as a *Mahīdeva* and *Vipra-kula-nandana*, who had emigrated from Ānandapura.¹ It will be observed that this Ānandapura, which is the modern Vadnagar in Baroda State, is quite close to Idar, which according to bardic tradition was the original seat of power of Guhila.

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The Chatsu inscription of the Guhila Bālāditya (about the 10th century) describes his ancestor Bhartṛpaṭṭa as being, like Rāma (Paraśu-Rāma), endowed with both priestly and martial qualities (*brahma kṣatrānvita*).² In the Mt. Abu inscription of Samarasiṁha dated in V. S. 1342, Bappa or Bappaka, the founder of the Guhila-vaṁśa, is said to have 'obtained regal splendour (*kṣātram mahaḥ*) in the guise of an anklet after he had bestowed on the sage priestly splendour (*brāhmaṇya*) under the guise of his devotion.' In the *Rasika-priyā*, a commentary on Jayadeva's *Gīta-govinda* by Rāṇā Kumbhakarṇa, Bappa is referred to as *dvija-puṅgava* and as belonging to the *Vaijavāpa gotra*.³ A verse cited by the Brāhmans of Mewar, in giving the description of the Rāṇās' family, says that the '*gotra* is Vaijavāpa, the *pravaras* are three and the Veda is Yajus.'⁴ The *Gotra-pravara-nibandha-kadamba*⁵ gives Vajavāpi as the name of a *pravara*, and Ātreya, Gāviṣṭhira and Paurvātitha as names of three *gotrarṣis*. Hence it may be concluded with reasonable certainty that the ancestors of the 'Guhila-putras' of Mewar were originally Brāhmans of Ānandapura in Gujarat.

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Very possibly, like the founders of the Kadambas in the South and the Senas in the North-East, the ancestor of the Guhila-putras may have changed his priestly occupation for that of arms, and in due course laid the foundations of a State, which is still ruled by his descendants in Mewar.¹ The statement in the bardic annals that Bappa founded his dynasty by supplanting the Moris (Mauryas) of Chitor seem to be based on fact. The Dabok inscription² of Dhanika, one of the ancestors of the Guhila Bālāditya, of the (Gupta) year 407 (*c.* 725 A.D.), is dated in the victorious reign of *Pb.M.-P.*-Dhavalappa-deva, who has been with some probability identified with the Maurya prince Dhavala referred to in the Kanaswa (Kotah State, Rajputana) inscription dated (V.)S. 795 (*c.* 738 A.D.).³ The Nausari grant of the Cālukya prince Pulakeśi Avanijanāśraya informs us that sometime before 739 A.D. an army of Arabs (*Tājikas*) advanced as far south as Navasārikā in Gujarat after destroying on its way Saindhava, Kacchella, Saurāṣṭra, Cāvoṭaka, Maurya and Gurjara princes. Possibly the bardic tradition about the barbarian invasion from "Gajni" is only a later distortion of this Arab expedition from Sind, which took place sometime before the end of the fourth decade of the 8th century A.D. Bappa, who may have distinguished himself by his bravery in this crisis of the fortunes of his Maurya masters, may have later appropriated the royal power.