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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1926
No trace of Dvipa can be had before the seventh century. If Devabhadra was really its ancient name, Theophila of Ptolemy may be Devabhadra; for Thoopbila or dear to gods 'would be a fair rendering of Devabhadra. But this presupposes that Devabhadra was actually the name; and unless convincing evidence is adduced to prove it, the identification must remain one of many conjectures.
According to Rajput legends, Vachchharaja set up a principality of Parmar Rajputs at Divkot or Divapattana sometime in the middle of the seventh century. Seventy years later, sudden changes in geographic and oceanic configuration caused a sudden inundation, and as a result Dvipa, so long a peninsula, became an island. In this, Venir&ja, the reigning king, was drowned; but his queen, who was with child, escaped and subsequently delivered a son named Vanaråja.
For reasons that will be given in the article on Panchasara, we hold that this legend is & strange admixture of truth and fiction. There was no Parmår principality at Dvipa ag early as the seventh century: the principality in question was at Panchasara. The story of the oceanic transformation is, however, true, and the legend is invented to connect Vanaraja with it. So many stories were told of Vanaraja, the future founder of the Châvotaka dynasty, as narrowly escaping death and destruction in his early babyhood; it was thought possible to represent him as miraculously saved from oceanic floods, and so he was repre sented as sprung from a Chap principality residing at Dvipa, the scene of disaster.
Dvipa seems to have been a fairly prosperous place in the seventh century; Parsi emigrants were first attracted to it. After about twenty years they left the place for Sanjan near Surat.
24. Dhandhuka. Dhanduka, the head-quarters of Dhandhuka sub-division of Ahmadabad district, is a fairly old town. It is not referred to in Valabhi, Rashtrakůta, ChAlukya or Gurjara inscriptions ; therefore it may not be much older than the tenth century. It existed however in the eleventh century; for Hemachandra, the famous Jain priest and author, was born here on the full moon day of Kartika 1145 VIK SAM (1089 A.D.). It was here that Devachandrkohárya saw him in 1097 A.D., thon a lad of only eight, but possessing a face beaming with intelligence and a person characterised by auspicious marks. Finding him to be a boy of exceptional promise, the Acharya prevailed upon his parents to surrender him to the Jain Church,
At this time, Dhandhuka did not belong to the Solanki dominions ; for, before the con. quest of Saurashtra by Siddharâja (1094-1143), the dominions extended only so far as Bahuloda, about 25 miles north-west of Dhandhuka. With the annexation of Saurdahtra by Siddharja, Dhandhuka probably became the head-quarters of a district. During the V&ghela rule, in the thirteenth century, its importance increased owing to its being at the very heart of the Vaghela territories.
25. Dhavalakka. Though towns like Khetaka, Kasadraha, and Karpatavanijya, which are in the vicinity of Dhavalakka or modern Dholka, figure prominently in Valabhi inscriptions, they do not so much as mention Dhavalakka. If it had then boon, as it subsequently became, the head. quarters of a district, it would certainly have been referred to somewhere.
Though traditionally believed to be the site of Matsyapur or Virátanagara (where the Pandavas lived for a year incognito), Dhavalakka was in those early days only a village it probably rose to importance when Anahilapattana became an important capital and commercial emporium in the tenth contary. Stambhatirtha or modern Cambay was the port for the extensive import and export trade of Anahilapattana ; and Dhavalakka Was on the way between those two places, as also on the way between Gujarat and Kathiawad. As all this trade passed through Dhavalakka, it developed into a city and naturally booame the headquarters of a district.
