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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1876.
MISCELLANEA. HASTAKAVAPRA-ASTAKAPRA.
was one of the ports of Saurashtra. Ia Gladwin's Col. H. Yule writes to the Academy of 15th
very incorrect translation of the Ain he calls it (vol.
very inco August as follows:
II. p. 67)" Bandar Goondylucky." But the whole "Astakapra is the name of a city in the
of this passage is incorrect : vide Blochmann's region about modern Gujarat which appeary both
edition of the original text. This "Maabide heen," in Ptolemy's tables and in the Periplus of the Dry
which has puzzled so many, as referring to the throan Sea, and the identification of which is of
temples on Girnår, is simply a place of worsome importance in the adjustment of the classical
ship of the Jainas. The passage ought to run :geography of India. In the preparation of the
And near this, on the summit of Mount Girmap of India for Dr. Snith's Historical and Classical
nar, there is a fortress abounding in flowing Atlas, the present writer, after a good deal of con
springs. It is a celebrated place of worship of the sideration, placed it on the west coast of the Gulf
Jains, and Bandar Gundi-Boliák is near it.' of Cambay, not far below Bhaunagar, where a very
Though the goography is incorrect, Gundi-Koancient site, described by Mr. Burgess in his Notes
liák being a long way from Mount Girnår, it
shows that in Akbar's time, i.e. from the middle on Gujarát, afforded a fair provisional identification. But I was unable to recover any trace of the
of the 16th to the coinmencement of the 17th Greek name. This is now afforded in a paper on
century, Gundi-Kolißk was a port. Valabhi Inscriptions by Dr. G. Bühler, in the
"In the time of the author of the Mirat-2Indian Antiquary for July (vol. V. p. 204), which I
Åhmadi (vol. III., not translated by Bird), Gundi
is down among the bardhs or roadsteads; now have just seen. " One of these inscriptions, a copper grant by
(1876) Gundi-Koliâk is about two miles distant
from the sea, and Hathab (said to have been Dhruvasena I. of Valabhỉ, confers a certain well and pasture in the village of Kukkata, situated
the port) is situated at the mouth of the creek, in the Hasta ka vapra Åharani' (the last word
Gundi lying on the eastern bank, and Koliek supposed to be some territorial subdivision), on a
on the western. Hathab is the only ancient port Brahman residing at H astaka vapra.
along the coast anywhere near Kukad, where the "Kuk kata is identified by Dr. Bühler with
Dhruvasena plate was found, and I should think
Colonel Yule's guese is probably correct. the modern Kakad in the Gogha Talaka, and Hasta kavapra probably with Hathab in
"And, since this creek and river have been siltthe Bhaunagar territory, which is held in great
ing up for the last three hundred years, Háthab esteem by the Bhaunagar Brahmans on account of
may, in still more ancient times, have been really its temple of Nilkantha,' and which is a few miles
an important port." from Kukad.* .... "The identification of Hathab with Hasta ka
LITERARY WORK IN JAVA. vapra may be accepted on Dr. Bühler's judgment: During a recent visit to Java I was surprised and that which I put forward of Hastaka vapra to find how much has been done to elucidate the with the Greek Asta kapra will hardly be
Hindu and Buddhist remains there, and as it apdisputed, and I am glad to have made in the Atlas pears to me that a study of the antiquities of that map so near an approximation to the true site." splendid island will do much to help Indianists, I Major J. W. Watson, the owner of the Dhruva
shall venture to give you a brief account of what sena plates, writes us as follows:-"I suggested to I observed. Dr. Bühler both Kukkata being put for Kukad, and The Batavian Society is by far the oldest in the Hastakavapra for Hathab, and so far agree with East (it was founded some years before that at the identification, Col. Yule's identification also Calcutta), and the long series of its Transactions seems a good one, for the following reasons :- (Verhandelingen) contains, especially of late years, Hathab is situated at the mouth of a small most valuable treatises on the archæology and tidal creek, the embouchure of a small river which philology of the islands which constitute Dutch flows past Gundi-Koliâk. Gundi, formerly Gun- India; the Society has also published some splendigadh, was a town of some importance in ancient did separate works. The chief contributor is, times, and was one of the resting-places of the unhappily, no more; on landing at Batavia I was Nagar Bråhmans (vide Nagara Khanda of the grieved to hear of the recent death of Dr. CohenSkanda Purdua) before they settled at Gogha and Stuart. This most amiable and distinguished Bhavanagar. In the time of Akbar, Gundi-Kolikk Orientalist was born in Holland in 1825, and, as a
• Kakad is in Lat. 21° 29' N., Long. 79° 13' E., or twenty miles south of Bhaunagar and six north-east of Trapy. H&thab is about eight miles south of Gogha.-ED.
