History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s6.5

v1.c14.s6.5

Valabhi may practically be looked upon as Saurashtra, or modern Kathiawar while Broach may be looked upon as modern Gujarat. The grants of the Gurjara kingdom of Broach disclose that there were six kings of this family with authentic dates as given in the margin. They seem to have ruled in Broach and Nandipur (modern Nandori in the Rajpipla state) from the middle of the sixth century to the middle of the 8th. They call themselves Gurjara and in the last two kings' grants they claim to be descended from one Mahārāja Karna. It does not appear who this Karna is. Most take it to be the Karna of the Mahābhārata. But this does not seem correct, for Karna would never be called Mahārāja and Karna was only a Suta or mixed breed and not a Kshatriya. If a false genealogical descent is to be concocted why should a bastard Kshatriya be chosen? Karna seems to be some famous king of the Gurjaras themselves whose history has been lost to us. How the Gurjaras came so far south it is difficult to know but they must have come from Bhinmal which according to Hiuen Tsang was the Gurjara kingdom pre-eminently so called in his days. The kings of Broach call themselves in their grants Sāmantas and not fully independent kings. They must have been dependent upon the Gurjaras of Bhinmal as no other kingdom can be assigned as their overlord.