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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(Vol. XXVI.
The town of Barada attacked by the Muslims may have been either the village Bardia, which is ton miles to the north-west of Porbandar, or Bhutambilikä itself, which is situated in the vicinity of the Barada hills. From the Muslim version of the expedition it appears that though the Muslims were successful in the beginning, they had eventually to leave the country. For aught we know, the sickness of the army may have been as much responsible for this evacuation as the bravery of the Saindhava defenders. It is really a pity that Charters A and B, which take the genealogy back to the time of Agguks I should have indulged in merely a general description of his bravery, instead of giving us a vivid account of this definite historic achievement. In Charter F, however, we have a vague reference to the repulsing of the Muslim invasion, when we are told that Agguka showed the greatness of Varáha when he easily rescued his country, which was being drowned in an ocean of naval force sent by powerful enemies (11. 4-5). The naval supremacy of the Saindhavas, to which five of our charters expressly refer, must have been of great help to them in driving back the Arabs. This achievement of theirs was indeed noteworthy, when we remember the modest size of their principality.
Agguks I was succeeded by his son Rāņaka, who may be presumed to have ruled from c. G. E. 475 tu 496 (A. D. 794 to 814). M. M. Shastri Hathibhai Harishanker has attributed Charter C (his Plate A) to this ruler; it will, however, be shown in the introduction to that plate how this attribution is untenable. We have so far recovered no grant given by this ruler.
No contemporary grants of the first four rulers of the Saindhava family have so far been recovered, but there is no doubt that they were mere feudatories as statod above. The epithet Apara-Surāshträmandala-mandana used in connection with the members of this family in most of its genuine records shows that its sphere of influence never extended much beyond Western Käthiawår. It would, however, appear that they had developed considerable naval strength, for our charters invariably describe them as the masters of the Western Ocean. The Mers, who were prominent among the subjects of the Saindhavas, were well known for their maritime activities. Arab historians admit that they were a great maritime power in Käthiawår during the 8th and the 9th centuries. They must obviously have enabled their rulers, the Saindhavas, to rule the Western Ocean. The title A para-samudr-ūdhipati taken in all our complete charters by the Saindhavas is therefore no empty boast. In seeking to retain the command over the seas, the Saindhavas had shown a foresight evinced by few rulers of ancient India.
Two sons of king Rāņaka figure in Charters A and B. Of these Kộishộarāja II was the elder and Jalka I was the younger. They were half-brothers, for Jāika is expressly described 88 & vaimātro bhrätä in Charter A. Krishnarāja II succeeded his father in due course in c. 495 G. E. (A. D. 814). A large number of florid epithets have been used to describe his glory and valour in Charter A and one or two of them undoubtedly refer to some contemporary political events. He is described as full of enthusiasm in troubling the host of his enemies, the Chäpins, in 1. 15 of Charter A. The same observation has been made in almost identical words about his younger brother Jāika I and the latter's two sons, kings Chămunda and Agguka. These four rulers were ruling from o. 814 to 874 A. D., as will be shown, and they all seem to have been at war with the Chäpins or the Chapas. There were two Chapa families ruling in Northern Gujarat and North-east Käthiäwär at this time. The one founded by Vanarāja was ruling at Apahilapattana since o. 765 A. D., while the other to which king Dharanivarāba of the Haddala plates of the Saka year 836 belonged, was ruling at Wadhwan since c. 850 A. D. Since in all our records the Saindhavas describe themselves as the lords of Western Saurāshtra
Elliot and Dowson, History of India, Vol. I, p. 114 and pp. 619-31. . See the genealogical and chronological tablo, p. 196.
