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MARCH, 1925)
ANCIENT TOWNS AND CITIES IN GUJARAT AND KATHIAWAD
21
Why precisely the place was considered so holy, theepic does not state. The Skandapurana, however, informs us 84 that the sanctity of the place is due to Sajkara Laving practised severe penance there in times gone by. When at the end of his austerities he went back to Kailasa, he left behind him on the hill his garment; hence the place is called 'vastrapatha'. This story is not referred to in the Mahabharata and may, therefore, be late. The association of Krshna with the place may possibly be the original cause of its becoming a 'tirtha. In this connection the foot-print of Garuda, still pointed out to the pious pilgrim, is significant.
The Jainas also regard the hill as a holy place. Their 22nd Tirthankara 'Arishtanemi or Neminátha who is said to have been a cousin of Sri Krishna is believed to have died here. Hence the Digambara sect considers the place as particularly holy.
With the publication of the Asokan edicts, the place became sacred to the Bauddhists as well. Several Buddhistic caves are existing even at present.
The hill was also resorted to as a hill-station since very early times. This is clear from the following passage in the Mahabharata :
ती विहत्य यथाकामं प्रभासे कृष्णपांडवौ । महीधरं रैवतकं वासायैवामिजग्मतुः । पूर्वमेव तु कृष्णस्य वचसा तं महीधरम् । पुरुषा मंडयांचकुरुउपनहुश्च भोननम् ।।85 ततः कतिपयाहस्य तस्मित्रैवतके गिरौ । वृष्ण्यन्धकानामभवदुत्सवो नृपसत्तम ।। प्रासादै रत्नचित्रैश्च गिरेस्तस्य समन्ततः । स देशः शोभितो राजन्कल्पवृक्षव सर्वशः ।। वादिवाणि च तत्रान्ये वादकाःसमवादयन् । ननृतुर्नर्तकाश्चान्ये जगुर्गेयानि गायकाः ॥
एते परिवृताः स्त्रीभिर्गन्धर्वैश्व पृथक् पृथक् । तमुत्सवं रैवतके शोभयांचक्रिरे नृप ॥ So it would appear that in early times the hill was used as a hill-station and resorted to by fashionable people for joyous purposes. The description of the improvements made at Girnar by Tejahpala given in Kirtikaumudi also confirms our inference.
With its hill-fort dominating the surrounding rich plains of Saurashtra, Girinagara was an ideal place for the capital. And there is ample evidence to show that it has been its capital since very early times. From the statement अशोकस्य मायस्य कृते यवनराजन सुबाष्पण
984 and especially from the word s e in it, it appears that in the days of Asoka it was the seat of his Kathiawad Viceroy. The reference to Chandragupta's viotroy being unfortunately fragmentary, we cannot positively assert that in the time of Chandragupta also, the capital was the same; but overwhelming chances are in favour of Girinagar. Dur. ing Kshatrapa rule the capital was again at Girinagara ; for the famous Rudradaman inscription of the year 72 states anagra 79
ar reparat 77 atgrui est fag#. When Iswaradatta Abhira conquered Ujjayini and expelled the Khatrapas from their capital, Girinagara probably became the capital of the Western Kshatrapas. From the Junagad inscription of Skandagupta, it is evident that when Saur Ashtra was annexed to the Gupta dominions, the Imperial Viceroy was stationed at this very place. In face of this inscriptional evidence, the statement of the tradition that viceroys of the Guptas and after them of the Valabhis were rosiding at WAmanasthall must be rejected ; Hiuen Tsiang also says that the capital was situated at the foot of the mount Yen-chen-ta (=Ujjayanta). It was therefore Girinagara and not Wamansthali.
Bhattaraka, the founder of the Valabhi dynasty, shifted his capital from Girinagars to Valabhi, leaving behind him a vioeroy to look after his affairs thero. At the fall of Valabhi. the viceroy became independent and founded what is known as the Chudasama dynasty. # Chap. 30. * Moh., I. 218.
* Mh., I. 219.
