The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t46.1

c6.s3.t46.1

On leaving Malwa, Hwen Thsang travelled first to the south-west to the "confluence of two seas," and then turning to the north-west reached *O-cha-li*, or *Vaḍari*,* the whole distance being between 2400 and 2500 *li*, or between 400 and 417 miles. By the term "confluence of two seas," I understand the meeting of the waters of the southern and western seas in the Gulf of Khambay. The town of *Surat*, or the ancient *Surpáraka* near the mouth of the Tapti, may be considered as the entrance of the gulf; and as it lies to the south-west of *Dhár*, it was probably this point that was first visited by Hwen Thsang. The distance is just 200 miles. From Surat to Eder the distance is the same, but the direction is to the east of north; I would, therefore, read north-east instead of north-west, and the position of *Eder* will then correspond sufficiently well with that of Hwen Thsang's *O-cha-li* or *Vaḍari*. I am ignorant of the Sanskrit name of Eder, but it seems highly probable that the city of *Vaḍari* mentioned in the Basantgarh inscription† is the same place. In the middle of the eleventh century *Vaḍari* was the capital of a chiefship in the neighbourhood of *Vaḍapura* or *Baṛnagar*, which lies 30 miles to the westward of Eder, and on the opposite side of the Sâbarmati river. The royal family claimed descent from Raja Bhava-Gupta, “who was a great warrior and the illuminator of his line.” This Bhava or *Bhaba* I believe to be the same as the *Bav* or *Bappa* of the Sisodiya annalists of Udaypur, whose immediate predecessors for several generations were the Rajas of Eder. As Bappa lived in the beginning of the eighth century, the date of his predecessors, the Rajas of Eder, agrees exactly with the period of Hwen Thsang’s visit. For these reasons I think that there are fair grounds for the identification of *Eder* with the *Vaḍari* of the inscription, as well as with the *Oṭali*, or *Vaḍari*, of the Chinese pilgrim.