Historical Geography of Ancient India c9.239

c9.239

According to the Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsang, the capital of Surāṣṭra lay at the foot of Mt. Yuh-shan-ta (Prākṛit Ujjanta, Skt. Ūrjayat of the inscriptions of Rudradāman and Skandagupta and is identified with Junāgaḍ, ancient Girinagara, i.e., Girnār). At the time of the Mahābhārata the Surāṣṭra country was ruled by the Yādavas. It appears from Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra (p. 378) that Surāṣṭra had a Saṃgha form of government. According to Strabo (Bk. XI, section XI, i; H. & F., Vol. II, pp. 252-3) the conquests of the Bactrian Greeks in India were achieved partly by Menander and partly by Demetrios, son of Euthydemos. They gained possession not only of Patalene but also of the kingdom of Saraostos (Surāṣṭra) and Sigerdis. Ptolemy refers to a country called Syrastrene which must be identical with Surāṣṭra (modern Surat on the Gulf of Cutch). Syrastrene which extended from the mouth of the Indus to the Gulf of Cutch, was one of the three divisions of Indo-Scythia in Ptolemy’s time. Syrastrene is also mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as the sea-board of Aberia which is identified with the region to the east of the Indus above the insular portion formed by its bifurcation. After the Scythian occupation Surāṣṭra seems to have passed into the hands of the Guptas (B. C. Law, Tribes in Ancient India, pp. 347-48). We find its decisive evidence in the Junāgaḍh Inscription of Skandagupta, cir. 455-480 A.D. (C.I.I., Vol. III). The Udayagiri Cave Inscription tells us that Skandagupta ‘deliberated for days and nights before making up his mind as to who could be trusted with the important task of guarding the land of the Surāṣṭras’. Surāṣṭra at the time of Samudragupta was ruled by the Śaka lords or chieftains (Śaka-Muruṇḍas) (cf. Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta). The Surāṣṭra country came to be included in the Maurya empire as early as the reign of Candragupta for the Junāgaḍh Rock Inscription of Rudradāman refers to Candragupta’s rāṣṭriya (Viceroy) Puṣyagupta the Vaiśya, who constructed the Sudarśana lake. It was included in Aśoka’s dominions,¹ for the same inscription refers to Tuṣāspha, a Persian contemporary and vassal of Aśoka, who carried out supplementary operations on the lake. It is evident from Rudradāman’s inscription that the Yavanarāja Tuṣāspha became an independent ruler of Surāṣṭra. The ancient name of Junāgaḍh indicates that the city with the hill-fort was built by a Yavana ruler (I.C., Vol. X, 87ff.). That Surāṣṭra was autonomous in Aśoka's time seems probable from Rock Edict V.¹ For further details, vide B. C. Law, *Indological Studies*, Pt. I, pp. 50-52.