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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1881.
Śaka era is considerably weakened by the further south, certainly as far as the Nardiscovery that Gujarât east of the Gulf of mad A. But if that be so, an advocate of the Cambay during a considerable period formed genuineness of our plates might argue that part of the dominions of the Rajás of Vala bhi. there was no particular objection to assuming For a long time I distrusted the arguments used Dharasena II, too, having held Southern to prove the supremacy of the Valabhians over Gujarat, and having used in this grant the continental Gujarat, because the geographical Gurjara characters and Saka era in conformity names such as Kheta ka, Godraha ka, &c. with the usage of the country. For though whose occurrence on the plates of the Silâdityas each Indian dynasty tsually adopts one kind was supposed to furnish the requisite proof, of alphabet only, and a change in the characters occur not unfrequently in various parts of usually occurs with a change of the dynasty only, Western India. But I am now compelled to still there are some clear cases where princes, admit the correctness of the view which I have in obedience to local usage, either used different formerly combated. For the facsimile of the alphabets for different parts of their dominions, grant of Dharasena IV, dated Sainvat 330, or changed the alphabet on acquiring or settling distinctly shows that that document was issued in a new province. Well known instances of at Bharukachchha or Bharuch. It is not the former kind are furnished by the inscrippossible to assume that two towns of this name tions of Asoka and of the Indo-Scythian existed in Gujarât. On the contrary it must be kings who used the so-called Ariano-Páli alphaadmitted that Dharasena IV, when issuing bet for their northern inscriptions and the Indohis sásana of Samvat 330, had pitched his camp PAli for those in Central India. A case of the on the banks of the Narmada, and for the latter kind we meet in the grants of the Rashtime, at least, had conquered Central Gujarat. trakūtas, who, on conquering Gujarat about But if Dharasena IV held Bharûch, it becomes 800 A.D., gave up the Devanagari alphabet of exceedingly probable that the town of Khetaka, their Dekhan inscriptions, and substituted for it which is mentioned in his grant and in those of Gujarati characters. Nor can it be denied that the later Valabhian kings, Kharagraha II, the kings of Valabhỉ sometimes used characters Siladitya III, Siladitya IV, and Sile- differing from those on their plates. The Museum ditya VI, both as the pitching-place of the of the Asiatic Society of Bombay contains a muroyal camps and as the head-quarters of an tilated stone-slab, found at Valabhi, which shows Áhdra or Zilla,* is the ancient capital of the
the curious pointed characters of DurgagaKheda Collectorate on the confluence of the
na's Jhalrâ pâthan inscription. It must be Våtrak and Sheri rivers. Further, it now seems
admitted that these facts, taken together, would advisable to identify Godra ha ka, where
make the use of Gurjara characters on plates SilAditya V issued his så sana of Samvat 441,
issued by a king of Valabhi in Gujarat, perwith the modern Godhra, the capital of the
fectly explicable, and that they certainly prePanch Maháls. Finally, it is hardly possible to
vent its being used as an argument against the take the Kheta ka, which is mentioned in the
genuineness of our grant. The same remarks grant of Dharasena II, dated Samvat 270, apply to the argument drawn from the use of to be different from the modern Kheda, especially
the Saka era. The latter was, as we know, as the name of the village granted, Asila
from Dadda's and the Rathod inscriptions pallikâ, agrees very closely with that of the usually employed in Gujarât previous to the modern Aslali near Ahmadabad. In short, I
accession of the Solanki dynasty. can no longer deny that the kings of Valabhi | But in spite of the removal of these two ruled from the time of Dharasena II over grounds of suspicion, there remains enough continental Gujarat as far as the Mahi, and to condemn our śasana as a forgery. The first that later they extended their sway much
argument against it is furnished by a mistake
Ind. Ant., vol. VII, p. 73. I prepared my transcript of the grant from the plate itself, not from the frenimile, and was unable to make out more of the name of the king's camp than Bbara. The facsimilo has clearly vijayaskandhavarad bharukachchhavdeakat. From the victorious camp, located at Bharukachchha! The
stroke marking the u han, however, been attached to the left of the ra instead of to the right.
See Ind. Ant., vol. I, p. 45, vol. VII, pp. 73, 81; Journ. Bo. Br. Roy. As. Soc., vol. XI, p. 335.
Ind. Ant., vol. VI, p. 17. Ind. Ant., vol. VII, p. 71. Ind. Ant., vol. V, p. 180.
