History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s3.6

v3.c34.s3.6

Secondly, the reader must note that the part of the country where the Chaulukyas founded their rule was not called Gujarat yet. Anahilwād Pātan was situate in what was then called Sārasvata Mandala, and we, therefore, still continue in the title of this chapter the mention of Anahilwād and do not use the name Gujarat though it is used by the Gazetteer. A record of Mūlarāja himself, the founder of the dynasty states that he acquired (I. A. VI. p. 1) Sārasvata Mandala and it was only towards the middle of the twelfth century that Chaulukya records begin to speak of this land as Gurjarabhūmi (See Ind. Ant. VI No. 4 dated 1280 St. or 1223 A. D). This is a view which Mr. Divatia also maintains. Gujarat was the name of the territory about Jaipur still in 1030 A. D., when Al-Beruni wrote his India. Why the name Gurjarabhūmi descended from that region southwards and began to be applied first to northern Gujarat and later on southern Gujarat which was called Lāta has yet to be explained. But it is certain that the name was not given to this country because the rulers of it the Chaulukyas were Gurjaras or Gujars. We still adhere to the view expressed in Vol. II (page 32); for we find that the Chaulukyas or Solankhis do not call themselves Gurjaras in any of their records. They are called Gurjara kings no doubt in the records of other kingdoms and they call themselves kings of the Gurjarabhūmi or land from the middle of the 12th century onwards, but they do not style themselves as Gurjaras by caste or race in any of their records and hence we may be certain that this country came to be called Gujarat for other reasons.