Chronology of Gujarat

SR No.: 006799
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M R Majumdar
Publisher: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Publication Year: 1960
Total Pages: 494
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

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CHRONOLOGY OF GUJARAT
The Mahābhārata mentions three divisions of the Abhiras dwelling in the north-west of India, viz., those who lived on the bank of the Sarasvati, fishermen and mountaineers. (Subhāparva, adh. 32, v. 10). We are told that while Arjuna was encamped in that fertile country together with the women of the Vrsnis and the Andhakas, whom he was escorting from Dvarka to Hastinapur after the internecine fight amongst the Yādavas, he was attacked by the Ābhiras. All these references indicate the eastern part of the Punjab between the Satlej and the Yamunā as the original home of the Abhiras. From there they appear to have spread beyond Matbura in the east and Saurastra, Gujarat and Mahārāstra in the south.
Ptolemy mentions Abiria, which was evidently the land of the Abhiras, which was situated above Pattalene on the Sindhu. According to the Vişnupurāna, the Śūdras and the Abhiras inhabited the provinces of Saurastra, Avanti (Western Mālava), Sūra (Mathura), Arbud (Aravali) and Marubhūmi (Marwad). [Vişnu. Pu., amśā V, adh. 38, V. 12).
Parāśara, cited in the commentary of the Brihatsamhitā, groups the Śūdra-Abhira country with Saurāṣtra, Mahārāştra, Sindhu-Sauvīra and other countries of the south-west.
The Märkandeyapurāna groups the Abhiras with the people of Bhrigukaccha, Konkana, Mahāraşțra, Karṇāta, the country on the banks of the Veņi (Waingangā), Nāsikya and others. (Mark. Pu., adh. 58, verses 21 ff.). These seem to point to the modern district of Khandesh as their stronghold in the south, where the Abhīras or Āhiras predominate.-(V. V. Mirashi: CII, Vol. IV, Intro. pp. xxxi-iii).
[For the origin of the Abhiras, and the rise of their power in Western India, see also The Age of Imperial Unity, pp. 221-3. ]
Silver coins were struck by Rudrasimha I as Mahākṣatrapa in the Saka year 103—(Rapson, ibid. 87, f.). This indicates that he rose to the position of Mahākṣatrapa in S. 103, some time after Vaišākha su. 5, the date when he is referred to as 'Kşatrapa ' in the Gundā stone-inscription-(EI, XVI, 233).
The legend on the coins runs as follows:-राज्ञो महाक्षत्रप रुद्रदामपुत्रस राज्ञो महाक्षत्रपस TEH -(Rapson, ibid., 87 f.)
Ś. 1(05): Silver coins struck by Mahākṣatrapa Rudrasimha 1-(D. R. Bhandarkar, ASI. A. R. 1913-14, 227 ff.)
Ś. 106: Silver coins struck by Mahākṣatrapa Rudrasimha 1-(Rapson, ibid. 88).
Ś. 10(7): Silver coins struck by Mahākṣatrapa Rudrasimha I-(ibid, 88). $. 109: Mahākşatrapa Rudrasimha I struck coins in silver.-(ibid. 88).
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