Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c13: IX. Gurjara and Kuśa-dvīpa

Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c13

Language: English

IX. Gurjara and Kuśa-dvīpa

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¹ In South Indian inscriptions, the name is generally spelt Gūrjara.

Furdoonjee D. J. Paruck refers to a drachm which he originally attributed² to the Sasanian emperor Hormazd II (303-10 A.D.), but was later inclined, after further study, to assign to Hormazd I (272-73 A.D.).³ In the legend of the coin in question, Paruck reads the names of three territories forming parts of the Sasanian empire as Inde, Iradate and Harezi, which he identifies respectively with Sindh, Mūltān and Rājputānā. Whatever, however, be the value of the reading and interpretation of the words Inde and Iradate, there is absolutely no doubt that the suggestion regarding the third name is wrong.

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² Cf. *Revue Archéologique*, 1930, p. 234 ff.

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³ *J.N.S.I.*, Vol. I, pp. 58-71.

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Paruck says, “The reading of the word in the second line on the upper part of the reverse remained for a long time completely illusive; but now I am able to propose the reading HREZI. According to all the early Arab geographers, the old name of Rājputānā was Haraz. It is probable that the original form of this name was Harez, as on this drachm.”⁴ He refers to Cunningham’s *Ancient Geography of India*, Calcutta, 1924, p. 358, and quotes the following passage in support of the identification of Harez and Rājaputānā: “The name of the country is somewhat doubtful as the unpointed Arabic characters may be read as Haraz or Hazar and Kharaz or Khazar as well as Jurz or Juzr. But fortunately there is no uncertainty about its position which is determined to be Rājputānā by several concurring circumstances...........”

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⁴ *Loc. cit.*, pp. 61-62.

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It is a matter of regret, however, that Cunningham’s views have not been quoted faithfully and completely. For, immediately before the above passage, he says, “All the early Arab geographers speak of a kingdom named Jurz or Juzr which from its position would appear to be the same as the Kiu-che-lo of Hwen Thsang.” Cunningham further says, “Edrisi, quoting Ibn Khordādbeh, states that Juzr or Huzr was the hereditary title of the king as well as the name of the country. This statement confirms my identification of Juzr with Guzr or Gujar, which is a very numerous tribe whose name is attached to many important places in North-West India and the Punjab and more especially to the great peninsula of Gujarāt.”

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It will be seen that, according to Cunningham, the ancient name of Rājaputānā was Gujar or Gurjara (Gūrjara) and not Harez as stated by Paruck. It is a matter of satisfaction that the suggestion of the great Indologist, made on insufficient data as early as 1871 A.D., has later been proved definitely by unquestionable epigraphic evidence. The editor of the Calcutta edition of Cunningham’s work, consulted by Paruck, remarks, “The inscriptions of the 9th century also applied the name Gurjara rāṣṭra to the country north of Ajmer and the Sambhar Lake.¹ Its capital Pi-lo-mo-lo is modern Bhinmāl, 25° N. and 76° 16' E., a town in the Jaswantpur District of Jodhpur.² Bhinmāl or Bhillamāla, the plateau of the Bhils, was the capital of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras who transferred their headquarters to Kanauj.” The statement, although it confuses the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire with the Gurjara country and is not strictly accurate, is sufficient to disprove Paruck’s contention.

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¹ Imp. Gaz. Ind., Vol. XII, p. 350.

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² Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 111.

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That Hiuen-tsang’s Kiu-che-lo and its capital Pi-lo-mo-lo stand respectively for Gurjara and Bhillamāla is supported by the Daulatpura inscription³ of 843 A.D., according to which the Gurjara-Pratīhāra emperor Vatsarāja (circa 775-815 A.D.) granted the village of Śivā in the Deṇḍavānaka viṣaya (modern Didwana in the former Jodhpur State, Rajasthan) of the Gurjaratrā bhūmi. In the days of the early Arab travellers, therefore, the name of the Jodhpur region of Rajasthan was Gurjaratrā or Gujarāt, a name derived from that of the Gurjara people. That, however, this country included the former Alwar and Bharatpur States in Eastern Rajasthan is suggested by the celebrated Arab writer Al-Bīrūnī who composed his work on India about 1030 A.D. Al-Bīrūnī refers to ‘Bazāna, the capital of Gujarāt’ and places it 25 *farsakh* (about 92 miles) to the north of the kingdom of Mewār (capital Jattaraur, *i.e.* Chitrakūṭa or Chitor) and 15 *farsakh* (about 55 miles) from Rājaurī lying on the route towards the south-west from Kanoj.¹ Rājaurī (*i.e.* Rājyapuri) is no doubt identical with Rājyapura (modern Rājor-gaḍh in the former Alwar State of Rajasthan) which was the capital of *Mahārājadhirāja* Mathanadeva of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra lineage according to an inscription of 960 A.D.² Al-Bīrūnī further says, “The distance between Mathurā and Kanoj is the same as that between Kanoj and Bazāna, *viz.* 28 *farsakh* (about 103 miles).”³ The above indications show almost beyond doubt that Bazāna is no other than the modern Bayānā in the former Bharatpur State of Rajasthan. It may be pointed out that Bazāna seems to have ceased to be the capital of Gujarāt in the days of Al-Bīrūnī, as he says, “This town is called Nārāyan by our people. After it had fallen into decay the inhabitants migrated to another place called Jadūra.”⁴ The name Nārāyaṇa was apparently derived from a celebrated temple of that gcd at Bayānā. As regards Jadūra, Sachau says, “This reading is uncertain. Perhaps all the signs of the Arabic text are the name of a place.”⁵ It, however, seems that the reading intended is Rājaurī, i.e. Rājyapurī or Rājyapura which is the same as the modern Rājor. It may further be pointed out that Al-Bīrūnī’s *Canon Masudicus* gives the latitudes and longitudes of both Bazāna (or Nārāyan) and Bhillamāla, longitudes being reckoned from the coast of the Atlantic and Bagdad being located at 70°.¹ As, however, the longitude recorded for Bazāna is palpably wrong, it hardly helps us in locating the city.

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³ Ep. Ind., Vol. V, p. 211 ff.

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¹ Cf. Sachau, *Alberuni's India*, Vol. I, p. 202.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. III, p. 266.

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³ Sachau, *op. cit.*, p. 202.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, *loc. cit.*

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⁵ *Ibid.*, Vol. II, p. 319.

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¹ *I. id.*, p. 319.

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The above discussion will show that Harez was never the name of Rājputānā. According to the combined testimony of inscriptions and of Hiuen-tsang (7th century) and Al-Bīrūnī (11th century), the capital of Gurjaratrā or the Gurjara country in Rājputānā was at first at Bhinmāl in the former Jodhpur State, next it was at Bayānā in the former Bharatpur State, and afterwards at Rājorgadh in the former Alwar State. The Arab geographers, therefore, speak of Gurjara and not of Harez.

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One of the *dvīpas* (literally, ‘an island’ or ‘a land lying between two rivers’) constituting the Puranic *sapta-dvīpā* Vasumatī (i.e. the earth consisting of seven *dvīpas*) is called by the name Śaka-dvīpa or Śāka-dvīpa.² This land is generally identified with the country inhabited by the Śaka people, which was called Scythia by the Greeks, the Greek name for the people being ‘Scythian’. Three different settlements of the Śakas are mentioned in the old Persian inscriptions, one of which lay in the plains of the rivers Jaxartes or Syr Darya and Oxus or Amu Darya in Central Asia and these Śakas are believed by some scholars to have settled later in the valley of the Helmund in the eastern part of Iran.³ Both these old and new homelands of the Śaka people were called Scythia, while East Iran is known to have been called Sakastān (modern Seistān, medieval Sijistān) by the Persians and Śaka-dvīpa or Śāka-dvīpa by the Indians. But Śaka-dvīpa or Śāka-dvīpa in the original Puranic conception of the *sapta-dvīpā* Vasumatī may have indicated the Śaka

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² Cf. *Agni Purāṇa*, Chapter 108, verses 1-3 :

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³ See *The Age of Imperial Unity*, p. 120; Dey, *Geographical Dictionary*, s.v.

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जंबुप्लक्षाव्हयौ द्वीपौ शाल्मलिश्चापरो महान् ।
कुशः कौचस्तथा शाकः पुष्करश्चेति सप्तमः ॥
एते द्वीपाः समुद्रस्तु सप्त सप्तभिरावृताः ।
लवणक्षुसरासर्पिर्दधिदुग्धजलैः समम् ॥

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The conception of the *sapta-dvīpā* Vasumatī occurs in Patañjali's *Mahābhāṣya*.

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settlement in the Oxus and Jaxartes valleys in Central Asia. There is another name in the list of the seven dvīpas, viz. Kuśa-dvīpa, which also seems to be mentioned in the old Persian inscriptions.

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The name of a country called Kush and a people called Kushiya (i.e. the people of Kush) are found in several old Persian inscriptions. The Hamadan inscription¹ of Darius (c. 522-486 B.C.), for instance, gives the following boundaries of the empire of that great monarch : ‘from the Scythians that are beyond Sogdiana (i.e. the Bukhara region between the Oxus and the Jaxartes) — from there—as far as Kush, from Hindu (i.e. Sindhu or India meaning the land on the river Indus) —therefrom—as far as Sparda (i.e. Sardis in Asia Minor).’ Some scholars identify Kush with Ethiopia while others place it in Central Egypt.² As Mudrāya (i.e. Egypt) and Kush are both mentioned in the list of satrapies of the ancient Persian emperors, the identification of Kush with Ethiopia seems to be more reasonable. There is no doubt that the country called Kush was situated somewhere in North-Eastern Africa beyond Mudrāya or Egypt. It is possible to connect this country with Kuśa-dvīpa which is, like Śaka-dvīpa or Śāka-dvīpa, one of the seven dvīpas constituting the Puranic sapta-dvīpā Vasumatī.

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¹ Select Inscriptions, pp. 8-9 : *hacā Sakaibish tyaiy para Sugdam amata yātā ā Kushā hacā Hindauv amata yātā ā Sparda* = Sanskrit *सचा *शकेभिः (= शकेभ्यः) *त्ये (= ते = ये) परं सुग्दात् , अमुतः ( = अमुष्मात् स्थानात्) यावत् आकुशात् ( = यावत कुशं) , *सचा *सिंधौ (= सिंधोः = from India, i.e., the land on the Sindhu or Indus), अमुतः यावत् आ स्वर्दात्. The members of the priestly class of ancient Persia (Iran) called Magi (Greek Magos), who settled in India, became known after their absorption in the Indian social system as the Maga Brāhmaṇas of Śaka-dvīpa or the Śākadvīpya Brāhmaṇas. Cf. R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems, Poona ed., pp. 218 ff.

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² Hall, Ancient History of the Near East, 7th ed., p. 225.

Linked texts (3)

Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Bayâna
Rajauri