The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s2: II. Gurjjara.

The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s2

Language: English

II. Gurjjara.

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Hwen Thsang places the second kingdom of Western India, named *Kiu-che-lo* or *Gurjjara*, at about 1800 *li*, or 300 miles, to the north of Balabhi, and 2800 *li*, or 467 miles, to the north-west of Ujain. The capital was named *Pi-lo-mi-lo* or *Bálmer*, which is exactly 300 miles to the north of the ruins of Balabhi. From Ujain in a straight line it is not more than 350 miles; but the actual road distance is between 400 and 500 miles, as the traveller has to turn the Aravali mountains, either by Ajmer on the north, or by Analwâra on the south. The kingdom was 5000 *li*, or 833 miles, in circuit. It must, therefore, have comprised the greater part of the present chiefships of Bikaner, Jesalmer, and Jodhpur. Its boundaries can only be described approximately, as extending about 130 miles on the north from Balar or Sirdarkot to Junjhnu; 250 miles on the east from Junjhnu to near Mount Abu; 170 miles on the south from Abu to near Umarkot; and 310 miles on the west from Umarkot to Balar. These figures give a total circuit of 860 miles, which is as close an approximation to the measurement of Hwen Thsang as can be reasonably expected.

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All the early Arab geographers speak of a kingdom named *Jurz* or *Juzr*, which from its position would appear to be the same as the *Kiu-che-lo* of Hwen Thsang. The name of the country is somewhat doubtful, as the unpointed Arabic characters may be read as *Haraz* or *Hazar*, and *Kharaz* or *Khazar*, as well as *Jurz* or *Juzr*. But fortunately there is no uncertainty about its position, which is determined to be Râjputâna by several concurring circumstances. Thus the merchant Sulimân, in A.D. 851,* states that *Haraz* was bounded on one side by *Táfek* or *Tákin*, which, as I have already shown, was the old name of the Panjâb. It possessed silver mines, and could muster a larger force of cavalry than any other kingdom of India. All these details point unmistakably to Râjputâna, which lies to the south-east of the Panjâb, possesses the only silver mines known in India, and has always been famous for its large bodies of cavalry.

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According to Ibn Khordâdbeh,† who died about A.D. 912, the *Tâtariya* dirhems were current in the country of Hazar; and according to Ibn Haukal, who wrote about A.D. 977,‡ these dirhems were also current in the kingdom of Gândhâra, which at that time included the Panjâb. Sulimân says the same thing of the kingdom of the Balhara, or the present Gujarât; and we learn incidentally that the same dirhems were also current in Sindh, as in A.H. 107, or A.D. 725, the public treasury contained no less than eighteen millions of Tâtariya dirhems.§ The value of these coins is variously stated at from 1 1/8 dirhem to 1 1/2, or from 54 to 72 grains in weight. From these data I conclude that the Tâtariya dirhems are the rude silver pieces generally known as Indo-Sassanian, because they combine Indian letters with Sassanian types. They would appear to have been first introduced by the Scythic or Tâtâr princes, who ruled in Kabul and north-western India, as they are now found throughout the Kabul valley and Panjâb, as well as in Sindh, Râjputâna, and Gujarât. Colonel Stacy's specimens were chiefly obtained from the last two countries, while my own specimens have been procured in all of them. In weight they vary from 50 to 68 grains; and in age they range from the fifth or sixth century down to the period of Mahmud of Ghazni. They are frequently found in company with the silver pieces of the Brahman kings of Kabul, which agrees with the statement of Masudi that the Tâtariya dirhems were current along with other pieces which were stamped at Gândhâra.[*] The latter I take to be the silver coins of the Brahman kings of Kabul, whose dynasty began to reign about A.D. 850, or shortly before the time of Masudi, who flourished from A.D. 915 to 956. I have also found some of the Indo-Sassanian or Tâtâr dirhems in central India to the east of the Aravali range, as well as in the Upper Gangetic Doâb; but in these provinces they are extremely scarce, as the common coin of Northern India in the mediæval period was the Varâha, with the figure of the Boar incarnation of Vishnu, varying from 55 to 65 grains in weight. From this examination of the coins I conclude that the kingdom named Hazar or Juzr by the early Arab geographers, is represented as nearly as possible by Western Râjputâna.

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∗ Dowson's Sir Henry Elliot, i. 4.

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† Dowson's edition of Sir Henry Elliot's Muhamm. Hist., i. 13.

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‡ Ibid., i. 35.

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§ Sir Henry Elliot, ‘Arabs in Sindh,’ p. 36. Dowson's edit. i. 3.

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Edrisi,[†] quoting Ibn Khordâdbeh, states that Juzr or Huzr was the hereditary title of the king, as well as the name of the country. This statement confirms my identification of Juzr with Guzr or Gujar, which is a very numerous tribe, whose name is attached to many important places in north-west India and the Panjâb, and more especially to the great peninsula of Gujarât. It is not known when this name was first applied to the peninsula. In early times it was called Saurashtra, which is the Surastrene of Ptolemy; and it continued to bear this name as late as A.D. 812, as we learn from a copper-plate inscription found at Baroda.* In this record of the Saurashtra kings, Gurjjara is twice mentioned as an independent kingdom. About A.D. 770 the king of Gurjjara was conquered by Indra Raja of Saurashtra, but was afterwards reinstated; and about A.D. 800 Indra's son Karka assisted the ruler of Malwa against the king of Gurjjara. These statements show most clearly that Gurjjara still existed as a powerful kingdom, quite distinct from Saurashtra, nearly two centuries after Hwen Thsang's visit in A.D. 640. They show also that Gurjjara must have been adjacent to Malwa, as well as to Saurashtra, a position which clearly identifies it with Râjputâna, as I have already determined from Hwen Thsang's narrative.

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∗ Dowson's edition of Sir Henry Elliot's Muhamm. Hist., i. 24.

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† Geogr., i. 175, Jaubert's translation.

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In the seventh century the king is said to have been a Tsa-ti-li or Kshatriya; but two centuries earlier a dynasty of Gurjjara or Gujar Rajas was certainly reigning to the north of Mahârâshtra, as we have contemporaneous inscriptions† of a Châlukya prince of Paithan, and of a Gurjjara prince of an unnamed territory, which record grants of land to the same persons. These inscriptions have been translated by Professor Dowson, who refers the dates to the era of Vikramaditya, but in the total absence of any authentic example of the use of this era before the sixth century A.D., I must demur to its adoption in these early records. The Saka era, on the contrary, is found in the early inscriptions of the Châlukya Raja Pulakesi, and in the writings of the astronomers Arya Bhatta and Varâha Mihira. The inscription of Pulakesi is dated in the Saka year 411, or A.D. 489, from which I conclude that the record of the earlier Châlukya Prince Vijaya, which is dated in the year 394, must refer to the same era. The contemporary records of the Gurjjara prince, which are dated in S. 380 and 385 must therefore belong to the middle of the fifth century A.D. All these copper-plate inscriptions were found together at Khaidra, near Ahmedabad. The first inscription of the Gurjjara Raja records the grant of lands to certain Brahmans "who having left the town of Jambusara, dwell in the village of Sirishapadraka, included in the district of Akrureswara." Five years later the same Brahman grantees are described as those "who are to dwell in the town of Jambusara;" and accordingly in the Châlukya inscription, which is dated nine years subsequent to the latter, they are described as actually dwelling in the town of Jambusara. This town is no doubt Jambosir, between Khambay and Baroch, and as it belonged to the Châlukya princes, who ruled over Maharashtra, the kingdom of Gurjjara must have been situated to the north of Khambay, that is, in Râjputâna, where I have already placed it on the authority of Hwen Thsang, and other independent evidence.