Indian Antiquary Vol 54

SR No.: 032546
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1985
Total Pages: 376
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 365

NOVEMBER 1925)
ANCIENT TOWNS AND CITIES IN GUJARAT AND KATHIAWAD
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the plates free for Ta araiu STI TEHETTE forretrgate II gives us no clue to its situation, but Merutunga's statement that Siddharaja Jayasimha had encamped at Sribhavana on his way back from Malwa to Apabilapattana shows clearly that it must be somewhere on the way from Malwa to Gujarat. Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji suggests that this Śribhavana might be modern Sarbhon about six miles east of Amoda in Bharoch district. There is no philological difficulty in this proposed identification ; but some diffioulty arises owing to there being another Sarbhon in Surat Taluka about five miles south of Bardoli. This latter Sarbhon however cannot be our Sribhavana, for it is too much to the south to be a convenient place of stoppage for Siddharaja on his return from Malwa to Anahila pattana. Even Sarbhon near Amod is rather too much to the south; but we may well suppose that the king may have decided to visit Bharoch before his return to the capital.
From its desoription given by Merutunga, it would appear that Sribhavana was a city of considerable importance. It had several temples and public buildings which were illuminated on the arrival of the victorious monarch. In the eighth oentury also it must have been no small town, for it oould conveniently accommodate and meet the needs of a victorious army of considerable numerical strength.
48. srimala. N.B.-Being situated outside the boundary of Gujarat, Srimala ought to have been excluded from this thesis, nevertheless as it was the capital of the only kingdom long known as the Gurjars kingdom, it was decided to include it.
Pielo-mo-lo was, according to Hiuen Tsiang, the capital of the Kieu-che-lo or Gurjar kingdom. Cunningham had proposed to identify it with Balmer, but it is now generally admitted that Pi-lo-mo-lo is Bhinmal, situated about 80 miles to the north of Anahilapattana and 40 miles west of Mount Abu.
According to Srimala-Mahatmya in Skanda Purdna, the city has been changing ito name every 'Yuga,' Srimala, Ratanmala, Pushpamala and Bhinmal being its names in Krta, Treta, Dw&para and Kali Yugas respectively. All these names may not perhaps have been in vogue; but SrimAla certainly was ; for in about 16 inscriptions discovered at Bhinmal, the town is referred to as Srimala. Cf. : GOT Herera EAT:
Srimala MAhAtmya tells a number of legends about the city, how it was founded by YayAti, how Gautama practised severe penance there, how Laxmi remembered here her former birth, eto. We need not however stop to consider them; they are useful only in attesting to the antiquity of the place which, however, can be otherwise proved.
Srimala was the capital of the main Gurjara principality ever since its establishmet in Marwad. This event took place, as we have already seen, early in the sixth century ; BO it was then that the town was founded. At the time when Hiuen Tsiang visited it, it was in flourishing condition, its circuit was six miles, population dense and establishments rich and well supplied.
The prosperity of the town, however, increased as years rolled on. For, the Gurjara rulers of the place grew very powerful and their principality ranked fourth in India ; so the town too must have increased in importance. Extensive fortifications were constructed and according to Uffet. the English traveller (who visited it in 1611), they enclosed a circuit of 36 miles. 181 Within the enclosed wall were constructed several tanks which served the double purpose of facilitating defonce and meeting the various needs of citizens. All these tanks are now stonestripped and many of them are filled up. In fact only three remain, Brahma Sarovara, Karada Lake and Jaikop tank. The town possesses an ancient temple the sun called
101 Yleh in Korr's voyages quoted in BG., 1.1, p. 449.