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AUGUST, 1874.) TRIBES AND LANGUAGES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.
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Jhåld wad, so named from the present princi- Indus, denominated in Ptolemy's Geography pal proprietors of its soil, the Jhål & Rajputs. Abiria. Among the earliest so-called "Rajput "
Bard & (the capital of which is Porbandar), in inhabitants of the country are the Jaitwas, who which the Jaitwa Rajputs are settled.
(notwithstanding their claims of kindred with the Kathiawad, the province of the Kathis, monkey god) are probably a branch of the Skythian properly so called.
Get a now occupying the north-western portion of Sorath, in which we have the remains of the the province (and who, as is well known, had to a name Saurashtra, anciently applied to the considerable extent practised infanticide); the whole peninsula.
Chudas & mås, whom we agree with General Gohil w&d, in which the Gohil Rajputs are Jacob in supposing to have proceeded from the settled.
Chå vad &s who long reigned at Anhilwada, Und Sarwaiya , imbedded in the preceding. or Piran Pat tan; the Solankis, who are
B&bri&w&d and Jafar & båd, the country supposed by Colonel Tod to have succeeded the of the B&briâs, and the district of the town of Châ vadås at Anhilwå då about A.D. 931; Jả far a b a d.
the Jhål & s, whom we take to be probably a The ancient notices of the rulers and ruling branch of the Makwan & Kulis converted to classes of the province are worthy of notice in con- Brahmanism; the W& l&s, reckoned the pronexion with its present population. The Buddhist bable descendants of the Wal&bhi princes; the edicts of the great emperor Asoka, of the third Surwaiya s and R&z& d&s, obscure representcentury preceding the Christian era, are engraved atives of the Sauryas or Sinhas, and of the with an iron pen on the granite rock of Girnar, kindred of the R&o of Junagadh conquered by near Junagadh. In juxtaposition with the same Mahmud Shah Begada about A.D. 1472; and the commemorative tablet are notices of the charitable Gohils, who entered the country on their exdeeds of succeeding kings. The Så h or Sinhs pulsion from Marwar about the end of the twelfth kings of Saurashtra-probably the revivers century. The Pra måras, a detachment from of a more ancient dynasty of the same designation, the 'Agnikula' tribes of Mount Abu-like the who perhaps gave that name to the country which
others under the same fictional denomination, is found in Ptolemy's Geography, and which it are probably descendants of Kulis. The Muham. would have been most convenient to retain-pos- madans (whose most important Chief is His Highsessed it as the seat of their sovereignty from ness the Nawab of Junagadh) are principally the about the Christian era, or the century following, offspring of invaders of the province, from the their capital in all probability being Sihor, time of Mahmud of Ghazni (A.D. 1024) to that of anciently Sinhapur, now the second town in Mahmud Bêgada (A.D. 1472) as now mentioned, Gohflwid. The Walabhi dynasty, the era and of subsequent adventurers. The K Athisof which dates from the overthrow of the preced- from whom, in consequence of the terror which ing dynasty, A.D. 318 to A.D. 524, according to they inspired in the predatory Markthâs when Colonel Tod, or, according to a Chinese traveller, they first visited the province, the whole peninsula rather more than a century later, was formed by has in late time been denominated-are undoubtthe declaration of independence of Vijaya Seng, edly of Skythian origin, as indicated both by their one of the SAh commanders-in-chief, and had its name and physiognomy. They are mentioned by capital at the now ruined town of Wald, formerly Arrian in connexion with the passage down the Walâ bhipur, in modern Gohilw&d; and its valley of the Indus by Alexander the Great; but members, though followers of Siva, were the pa- it is only in late times that they have entered trons of the Jainas, or Buddhist seceders, yet Saurashtra. The Játs, found in various parts numerous in the provinces, two of whose most contiguous to the Indus, are admitted to be also renowned high places, with wondrous temples Skythians, corresponding with the Getæ, with and religious structures, are at Girnar, the whom we have already connected the Jaitw&s. highest mountain of the peninsula, rising 3500 The J Adej & s (with whom we have had so much feet above the level of the sea, and P&li. to do in the prevention of infanticide) entered the t&&, about two marches from Wald and country from Kachh. They are the descendants half that distance from Sihor. The Kulis, of the Rajpats of Sindh, ard allege that they are whose denominations are numerous, are probably the representatives of the Y&da vas of the the aborigines of the country. The Ahir Mahabharata. The accounts which are corof the peninsula are a pastoral tribe, the Åbhirs rent of their entrance into Kachh and Kåthiếwią of the ancient Hindu writings, originally inhab- are very inconsistent with one another; but an itants of the country about the mouths of the attempt is made to harmonize the discrepancies in
• See Ind. Ant. vol. I. p. 61, and vol. II. p. 812.-ED.
