The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.10

c6.s3.10

During all these transactions Ferishta invariably designates the peninsula, as well as the country to the north of it, by the modern name of Gujarât. The name is not mentioned by Abu Rihân, although he notices both Analwâra and Somnâth. It occurs first in the Mojmal-ut-tawârikh of Rashid-ud-din, who wrote in A.D. 1310, just thirteen years after the conquest of the country by the Muhammadan king of Delhi. Now I have already shown that the name of Gurjjara was confined to Western Râjputâna in the time of Hwen Thsang, and that it was still a distinct country from *Saurashtra* in A.D. 812, when Karka Raja of *Lâteswara* recorded his grant of land. Between this date and A.D. 1310, there is a gap of five centuries, during which period we have no mention of Gurjjara in any contemporary records. I have a strong suspicion, however, that the movement of the Gujars towards the peninsula must have been connected with the permanent conquest of Delhi, Kanoj and Ajmer by the Muhammadans, which ejected the Chohâns and Râthors from Northern Rajputâna and the Upper Ganges, and thrust them towards the south. We know that the Râthors occupied *Pâli* to the east of Bâlmer in the Samvat year 1283, or A.D. 1226. This settlement of the Râthors must have driven the great body of the Gujars from their ancient seats and forced them to the south towards Analwâra Pattan and Eder. This was actually the case of the Gohils, who, being expelled from Mârwâr by the Râthors, settled in the eastern side of the peninsula, which was named after them Gohilwara. In the time of Akbar the Gujars had certainly not penetrated into the peninsula, as Abul Fazl does not name them in his notice of the different tribes which then occupied the Sirkar of *Surât*. But even at the present day there is no large community of Gujars in the peninsula, so that we must look for some other cause for the imposition of their name on a large province which they have never completely occupied.