The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s2.8

c6.s2.8

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.