History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s1.11

v3.c41.s1.11

It is somewhat difficult to determine to whom the above description applies. Lar no doubt according to Arab travellers included Thana and Kolaba districts and had a language of its own called Lari. But Marco Polo later describes the kingdom of Thana separately. We have seen that Śilāhāra kings ruled in Thana. Lardeśa was again distinct from Gujarat which is also separately described by Marco Polo and which with its capital Patan was ruled by Vaghela kings in about 1300 A. D. The language of this part is described again as distinct and peculiar (p. 392). Thus upto 1300 A. D. modern southern Gujarat or Lardeśa was distinct from Northern Gujarat politically as well as in language. The people apparently had a king of their own, though in previous centuries, they were under the Rāshtrakūṭas and later under Western Chālukyas of Kalyan. The Brahmins of Lardeśa are not now, however, known as a separate sub-caste. But probably they were a distinct sub-caste then and went for trade to such distant countries as the countries of Chola and Pāndya which produced diamonds and pearls. The Konkan Brahmins are not much known as traders though their truthfulness as of other Brahmins must have been anciently well known. The surnames Pattavardhana, Ghalisa and Ghaisāsa now found among Konkan and Karhada Brahmins only and mentioned in a Goa Kadamba inscription dated Śaka 1171 or 1249 A. D. (J. R. A. S. Bombay IX p. 243) indicate that these families were traders; what trade these surnames indicated, we are not able to determine. The four Brahmins mentioned in an inscription dated 1190 A. D., of Bhoja II Śilāhāra king of Karhād are named: 1. Adityabhatta 2. Lakshmidharabhatta 3. Karhātaka Prabhākara Ghaisāsa and 4 Vāsiyana Ghaisāsa (gotra nowhere mentioned). The word Karhātaka here plainly indicates a subcaste and Ghaisāsa plainly imports a profession which is not religious. But certainly these did not trade in diamonds and pearls as Marco Polo states. We must, therefore, believe that Lad Brahmins were a distinct sub-caste spread over the whole of southern India who traded in diamonds and pearls and who were known then for their great veracity. It appears that Marco Polo met them in the Pāndya country as he describes Lar Deśa just almost immediately after the Pāndya country. The country named by him as Maabar is certainly the Pāndya country which produced pearls. Of this country he says rightly that "there are no tailors here. All people, men and women, rich and poor, including even the king go about naked with a strip of cloth round their loins. Even the soldiers go to fight naked, with lance and shield," He describes the naked king as distinguished only by the fineness of the loin cloth and the necklace of precious stones, a description which reminds one of that by Kalidāsa in Raghu (पाण्ड्ययमंसर्पितलम्बहारः). The Brahmins of Dravida even now move about almost naked. Marco Polo next describes the kingdom of Mutfili, an inexplicable name; but it is certainly the Andhra kingdom of Warangal as it is described as ruled then by a queen (daughter of Pratāparudra) and as diamonds are said to be found in its mountains, referring probably to the mines of Golkonda. It is in these countries apparently that Marco Polo came across the Brahmins of the Lar country which is described next as lying in the west and which must mean the country of Lāta or modern southern Gujarat.