Indian Antiquary Vol 40

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 38

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1911.
of being the Sanskritised form of foreign names. And it is, no doubt, these princes who brought from the north the word divira in dirira-pati, which occurs in their copper-plate charters, bat is a Persian word. With the Maitrakas are closely associated the Nagar Brâhmanas; at any rate, they make their appearance first during the regime of the Valabhi dynasty. Mr. Vallabhji Haridatt Acharya of Rajkot has kindly supplied me with a verse which sets forth what are called the "Sarmans,' i.e., Came-endings, of the various gotras of the Nagar Brahmaņas. It has been found by him in three MSS. of the work Pravar adhyána connected with the Nâgars. One of the MSS. is dated Sanwat 1788 Vaidkeha kuda 8 Bhrigu, and all distinctly and unmistakably state that the gotras, pravaras, &c., therein specifred are those which were in existence before Samvat 1283. This verse, which is of great importance, runs as follows:
दत्त-गुप्तौ नन्द-घोषौ शर्म-दासौ च वर्म च ।
नागदत्तस्त्रात-भूती मित्र-देवी भवस्तथा।। Here is a list of thirteen Sarmans,' which were in use amongst the Nagar Brihmaņas nearly 700 years ago. Even now they are affixed to their names, when they perform the religious ceremonies. Here, however, we are concerned with three of them, just to show that the list is not a fiction, but has some foundation in fact. These three Sarmans' are Mitra, Trâta and Datta. In the Pravarddhaya, Mitra has been assigned to two gotras, viz., Sarkaraksha and GÁngyâyana. In my paper on the “Gabilots" I have given extracts from three copper-plates all found at Alina, 5 in whieh the names of the Brahmaņa grantees as well as of their fathers end in mitra. Here then we have three instances of Mitra Sarman. That they were Nagar Brabmaņas is clearly proved by the faet that they all originally belonged to and came from Ånartapura or Anandapura, which is identical with Vadnagar. And the gotra of these donees, as given in the copper-plates, is Sarkarákshi, the same as Sarkaraksha, specified in the Pravarddhydya. The latter again gives for Tráta Sarman' the gotras Bharad vâja and Atreys. Let us see whether this also is borne out by any inscription. The Varadiya-Jogiâ plate336 of Dhruvasena I, and dated 221 G.E. speak of the grantees thus:
भानन्दपुरवास्तव्य-ब्राह्मण- स्कन्दबास--गहनाताभ्यां भरद्वाज
- e rit ut &c., &c. The name Ânandapura shows that the grantees here also were Nagar Brâhmaņas. Their names, it is worthy of note, end in Tráta, and both are of the Bharadvája gotra, which t perfectly agrees with the information contained in the Pravarádlydya about this Sarman Another Valabhi grant7 has the following:
आनन्द्रपुरविनिर्गत-वल्लभिवास्तव्य-विद्यसामान्य-गायेसगोत्र
- i-r anger-AGTT &c., &c. Here also the donee is a Nagar Brâhmaņa, as he is said to have emigrated from Anandapura. His name is Magopadatta, which ends in the Sarman' Datta, and his golra is Gárgya, which agrees with the Pravarádhydya, the last giving no less than nineteen gotras for this Sarman,' of which Gárgya is undoubtedly one.
It is thus evident that the Nagar Brahmaņas figure first in the time of the Valabbi princes, and that the same 'Sarmans that are now, were even then, current amongst them. Now, the question arises : what can these Sarmang' be? These Sarmans cannot possibly be in all cases mere name-endings. For the name-endings that we generally meet with are the names of gods such, e.g., in Manisankar, or some terms descriptive of being devotees of those gods, such, e.g.
# Vienna Ori. Jour., Vol. VII., P. 299.
15 Jour, Beng. At. Soc. for 1909, pp. 181-2. BT Ante Vol. XI., P. 309.