Epigraphia Indica Vol 26

SR No.: 032580
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1945
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 24 MB

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186
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXVI.
contracted into Bhūmilikā, as shown by the Dhiniki plates of Jāikadēva. Bhūmilika was later on contracted into Bhumli, and the present name Ghumli is a mere variant of it.
As very little is known at present about the history of the Saindhaves of Ghumli, it will be convenient to discuss it here in a connected manner in the light of the valuable information supplied by the present six charters and other contemporary epigraphs. This will obviate the necessity of repetition, while editing the different charters. The dynasty was ruling in Westeri Käthiāwar, with its capital at Bhūtāmbilikā or Ghumli, which is situated about 25 miles north-east of Porbandar in a gorge of the Barda hills. Though once the capital of a fairly prosperous dynasty for about two centuries, its present site is nothing but a heap of ruins. All is now a jungle, where once a multitude of human beings resided. Very little remains at present as evidence of its former glory save a few remnants of a royal palace, a huge image of Hanumān with a large bathing reservoir by its side and some ruins of insignificant temples. To judge from the present ruins, ancient Bhūtāmbilikā was about a mile in length and about half a mile in breadth. Its population may, therefore, have been about 15,000. The ground-plan of the town resembles a widespread fan. The ramparts of the town were strong and massive and were surrounded by a deep ditch.
Before the discovery of the present plates, very little was known about the Saindhavas of Saurashtra. The earliest reference to them is in a grant of the Gujarāt Chālukya ruler Pulakēsi Janasraya, dated in the year 490 of the Traikutaka era, corresponding to A. D. 738-9, where they are mentioned among the kings defeated in the Arab raid that was repulsed at Naosari by the Chalukyas'. The next reference to them is in the Gwalior Prasásti of Bhöjadēva, the 8th verse of which describes the Saindhavas as being overwhelmed by the Pratihāra emperor Nägabhatat. Nothing, however, was known about the precise locality of the Saindhava kingdom or the history and achievements of any particular ruler of the house. The Morbi plate, issued by king Jāīka whom we can now assign to this dynasty, was known, but as the plate recovered was the second one of the set, it could not be ascertained to which dynasty the grantor belonged.
The discovery of the present copper-plates now enables us to state definitely that the Saindhavas, who are referred to in the above records, were ruling in Westeru Käthiāwār. Charter F of the present set, issued by Jāika II in Gupta Era 596 or A.D. 915-6 gives us the longest genealogy of the family. According to it, king Pushyadēva, who flourished seven generations earlier, was its founder. The name of the family is given here as Jayadratha-vama al. 2). All the other charters, however, state that Saindhava was the name of the family. This discrepancy can be easily explained. According to the Mahābhārata king Jayadratha, the son-in-law of Dhritarashtra, was a ruler of the Sindhu-dēša or Sindh. So those rulers who claimed descent from him could be described both as hailing from Sindh (Saindhava) and as ornaments of the Jayadratha family (Jayadratha-vamsa-sēkhara). In the earlier charters the first name is preferred, while in the latest one, the last one is introduced. The reason for this is not far to seek. As will be shown presently, Pushyadēva was probably an immigrant in Kathiawår from Sindh; so though he himself claimed to be descended from Jayadratha, he was known to his contemporaries as a Saindhava ruler. This name, therefore, was long in vogue. Later on when the tendency to claim an origin from a Puranic hero became quite
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 155. : J. R. A. 8., Vol. V, (1839), pp. 73-80. • Bombay Gazelteer, Vol. I, part 1, p. 109.
An. Rep. A. S. 1., 1903-04, p. 281. . Ind. Ant., Vol. II, pp. 257-8.