History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c28.s1.32

v2.c28.s1.32

Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar admits that there is *no epigraphic evidence* in their case but he argues that "since Gujarat of to-day bears this name since the Chālukyas occupied or conquered the country, if the Chālukyas had not been of Gujar extraction, it is inconceivable how this province came to be called Gurjaratrā when it was till their advent known as Lāṭa" (p. 24). Now there is no doubt that Gujaratrā in the 8th and 9th or even 10th centuries was the name of southern Rajputana as inscriptions of that period show. Lāṭa was not, however, the name of the whole of modern Gujarat. It was the name of southern Gujarat *i. e.* Surat and adjacent parts. Central Gujarat was Ānarta while northern Gujarat was sometimes called Sārasvata Mandala though all the three were sometimes called Lāṭa. Now it seems that these three parts have latterly acquired the name Gujarat because of the Gujarati language and not because of the establishment of the Chālukya rule. The modern languages of India, as we have already observed, arose about the 9th century and the language of these parts generally assumed the modern Gujarati form. How old the Gujarati language is and how old the word Gujarati is, it is difficult to determine. For while the word Mahārāshtrī as the name of a language is as old as Vararuchi of the 1st century B.C. the word Mahārāshtra as the name of a country is much later, certainly later than Varāha Mihira of the fifth century A. D. It is, therefore, not difficult to suppose that Mahārāshtra assumed this name for the country from the common language namely modern Mahārāshtrī. Similarly it would be proper to believe that the name Gujarat for the province was adopted owing to the prevalence of the Gujarati language.