The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s1.1

c5.s1.1

Abhira—The south-eastern portion of Gujarat about the mouths of the Nerbudda was called Abhira,—the Aberia of the Greeks. McCrindle states that the country of the Abhiras lay to the east of the Indus where it bifurcates to form the delta (McCrindle’s Ptolemy, p. 140; Vishnu P., ch. 5). The Brahmanda Purana (ch. 6) also says that the Indus flowed through the country of Abhira. According to the Mahabharata (Sabha Parva, ch. 31), the Abhiras lived near the seashore and on the bank of the Sarasvati, a river near Somnath in Gujarat. Sir Henry Elliot says that the country on the western coast of India from the Tapti to Devagadh is called Abhira (Elliot’s Supplemental Glossary, vol. 1, pp. 2, 3). Mr. W. H. Schoff is of opinion that it is the southern part of Gujarat, which contains Surat (Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, pp. 39, 175). According to Lassen, Abhira is the Ophir of the Bible. The Tara Tantra says that the country of Abhira extended from Konkana southwards to the western bank of the river Tapti (see Ward’s History, Literature and Religion of the Hindus, Vol. 1, p. 559).