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JANUARY, 1925)
ANCIENT TOWNS AND CITIES IN GUJARAT AND KATHIAWAD
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population nor their dimensions, nor anything about their commercial, religious, social or public activities. The principle of relative importance therefore would have been very diffi. cult in its actual application. Bosides, many of our towns were not contemporaneous, so it is still more difficult to compare the importance of a town (which we know but imperfectly) in one age with that of another in another age.
If we decide to arrange them in groups of capitals, forts, ports, holy places, district head. quarters, etc., the same difficulty would arise in arranging the several constituent towns and cities within these groups. It will not be easy to ascertain the relative importance of capitals, forts, etc., inter se.
Nor can we accept the principle of relative antiquity for our arrangement. It would have been a very good principle, were it only possible to apply it in all cases. As it is, in the majority of our towns and cities, we do not know even the approximate dates of their foundation. We cannot therefore obviously accept the principle of relative antiquity for our arrangement.
In such circumstances the principle of alphabetic order is the only one possible. It is true that it entails the disadvantage of turning our mind from a city of hoary antiquity to a town of medieval origin, from a town, famous as a fort, to another famous as a tirtha. Nevertheless, as we have already seen that other better principles were fraught with great difficulties in their actual application, there was no other course left. The principle of alphabetio arrangement has its own advantage of facilitating reference ; so it has been adopted.
The arrangement however is according to Sanskrit and not according to the English alphabet. The reason is obvious. Most of our towns and cities bore Sanskrit names in the past, and it is but natural that if they are to be arranged alphabetically, they should be arranged according to the Sanskrit alphabet.
CHAPTER III. History of the cities selected.
1. Aokuleswara. Modern Ankleswar, the headquarter of a Taluka of the same name in Broach district, is a fairly ancient town, for it is referred to as the headquarter of a vishaya or district in two copperplate grants of Dadda II.46 In one of these it is spelt Akrüregwara, which Beems to be its original name, Aukuleswara being a popular corruption. That this Akrureswara is not different from Ankleshwar can be proved from the fact that the villages Sisorda and Walner, the modern counterparts of the villages Sirisha padraka and Waraṇera referred to in the above grant, are to be found in modern Ankleshwar Taluka, one, eight miles to the south-east and the other, twelve miles to the south-west of Anklegwar.
From the Begumrå plates of Krshnaraja. AkÁlavarsha dated Saka 810,46 it would seem that Ankleshwar had become the capital of the Gujarat Rashtrakatas some time in the middle of the ninth century. For therein he states अस्तु वः संविदितं यथा मया श्री अंकलेश्वरावस्थितेन मातापिनोरात्मनश्च पुण्याभिवृद्धये...When we remember that the plates in question were not issued from Ankleswar, the above conclusion becomes irresistible. The town shows Bo imposing remains which would bear out its claim to onoe being capital; and no wonder ; for within fifty years after its becoming a capital, the Gurjar Rashtrakūta branch, which was never very powerful, came to an end.
46 Ind.. Ant., Vol. XIII, pp. 116, 82.
46 Ibid., p. 68
