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 372

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
DECEMBER, 1925
In Ptolemy as well as in the Periplus, mention is made of a town called Astakapra. Ptolemy enumerates it among the cities to the east of the Indus; 204 in the Periplus we are told that the extent of the coast from Bartarikon (on the middle mouth of the Indus) to the promontory called P&pike near Astakapra which is opposite Barugaza is 3000 stadia. This precise mention in the Periplus of the locality of Astakapra leaves no doubt as to its being the same as Hathab; for, firstly it is just opposite Bharoch, and secondly its distance from the mouth of the Indus is just what is given by the Greek writer. The Greek form is derived at as Bühler points out not inmediately from the Sanskrit one, but from an intermediate Prakrit förn Hastakampra which had been formed by the dropping of the liquid' va'and the insertion in its place of a nasal as is still the custom among the Gujaratis. The loss of the initial 'ha' will cause no surprise to anyone who knows the difficulty experienced by the Gujaratis in pronouncing that sound; and what is true of the modern Gujarati was probably true also of his ancestor.
Hathab then is a very old place as old at least as the beginning of the Christian era. Though now only a village with a population of 1,000, at that early time it was an important and flourishing port as the Greek references show.
In the sixth century the town was the headquarter of a district in the Valabhi dominions, as the two plates quoted already and the Ganeshgad plates of Dhruvasena IV show. The plates' unfortunately supply us no information whatever about the extent, condition or importance of the town. We may however well suppse that the maritime activity of the place still continued; precisely for that reason perhaps was the place selected for being a district headquarter.
CHAPTER IV.
General Features of City Life. Having given in the last chapter a history of Gujarat oitios, we propose to make in this chapter a few general observations about cities and city-life in ancient Gujarat. Our sources supply only scanty information on this point; nevertheless wo derive some very interesting facts from them.
Dimensions.-Let us first consider the dimensions of our cities. Inscriptions or Praband has hardly make any references to the population of cities; Kumarapalacharita says, as we have seen, that you would then be able to know the number of souls in Anahilapattana when you will be able to ascertain the number of drops in ocean. Even Hiuen Triang who is very careful to give the extent of cities has nothing to say about their population except that it was dense or otherwise. It would therefore appear that the Mauryan practice 206 of taking census of cities was not in vogue in Gujarat.
Nevertheless, we can get a tolerable idea of the dimensions of our cities and towns. Fortunately Hiuen Tsi.ng supplies us with the circuit of many a city. Fortunately Time, the Universal Levellor, has not entirely obliterated the ruins of some at least of the old cities like Ghumli, Chandravati, Valabhi, Simhapura, etc., etc. We are therefore enabled to affirm that Gujarat cities were usually not very big as is the case with modern cities. With the solitary oxception of Anahilapattana, which, as we have seen, was a big city, most of the prominent cities did not contain a population of more than 30,000 to 40,000. Bharoch, an all-India port, was during the time of its highest glory only 20 li208 or four miles in circuit, i.e., only about one square mile in area. The circuit of Valabhi was only six miles, though it was the capital of a flourishing kingdom. The circuit of Anandapura, though the chief city of Anarta and the provincial headquarter under the Malwa rule, was only 20 li or four miles.206 204 Protemy, p. 146. 205 Artha Sastra, chap. xxxv.
306 Beal., II, p. 289.