The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s10.11

c5.s10.11

Laṭa—1. Southern Gujarat including Khaṇḍesh situated between the river Mahi and the lower Tapti—the Larike of Ptolemy (Garuda P., ch. 55; Dowson’s Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology; Dr. Bhandarkar’s Hist. of the Dekkan, sec. XI, p. 42). It is mentioned in the Kāmasūtra of Vātsyāyana. It comprised the collectorates of Surat, Bharoch, Kheda and parts of Baroda territory (Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kachh by Burgess). According to Col. Yule, Lāṭa was the ancient name of Gujarat and Northern Koṅkaṇ (Marco Polo, vol. II, p. 302 n). It is the Lāṭhikā of the Dhauli inscription and Rāṣṭikā (Riṣṭika) of the Girnar inscription of Aśoka. According to Prof. Bühler, Lāṭa is Central Gujarat, the district between the Mahi and Kim rivers, and its chief city was Broach (see Additional Notes, It-sing’s Records of the Buddhist Religion, by Takakusu, p. 217; Alberuni’s India, I, p. 205). In the Copperplate Inscription found at Baroda, the capital of Lāṭa or the kingdom of Lāṭeśvara is said to be Elapur (v. II). The inscription also gives the genealogy of the kings of Lāṭeśvara (JASB., vol. VIII, 1839, p. 292). But it is doubtful whether Lāṭa and Lāṭeśvara are identical kingdoms. Lāṭa was also called Lāḍa in the Biddhasālabhañjikā; Ollādeśa appears to be identical with Lāṭa (see Ollā). The Nāgara Brahmins of Lāṭa (Gujarat) are said to have invented the Nagri character. The Devanāgarī character, however, is said to have been derived from the Brāhmī alphabet. 2. Rāḍha—the Lāḍa of Upham’s Mahāvaṃśa is a corruption of Rāḍha in Bengal (see Rāḍha).