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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ SEPTEMBER, 1925
Porbunder. Bhūmillika, however, continued to be the principal fort and centre of defence of the principality till the year A.D. 1313, when it fell before a desperate siege by a Moslem army from Sindh.
According to a local legend narrated by General Jacob146, the fall of Ghumli was due to a curse pronounced by Suan Kasarin, a coppersmith's daughter, upon the ruling king for mur. dering her bridegroom-elect with a view to violate her chastity. She first threw herself on the protection of the local Brahmanas, who gladly espoused her causo ; no less than 125 of them performed self-immolation for her sake, but to no purpose. Nothing would soften the tyrant's heart, and finding no way of escape, the virgin bride uttered a fearful curse, that the city and its king would be destroyed, and she then escaped in flames, ' a victim of tyranny, love and superstition. Soon after occurred the Sindh invasion, and the town, after a prolonged siege and desperate battle, fell.
This tradition seems to be not altogether imaginary. It is true that it assigns the Sindh invasion of 1313 to the eleventh century, but such mistakes of dates are common even to true traditions. The tradition seems to be true ; firstly, because there still exists on a hill near Ghumli a temple dedicated to the heroine of the above legend, and secondly, because the fact that even after the withdrawal of the Muhammadan army, the Jaitwas did not attempt to rebuild the fort and restore the city, seems to show that they were influenced by the superstition about the ourse of the dying virgin.
To judge from the extent of the ruins, Bhumillikê was about a milo in length and half a mile in breadth ; its population therefore might well have been about 15,000. The ground plan of the town resembles & widespread fan. The ramparts of the fort were strong and massive and were surrounded by a deep ditch.
35. Mangrol or Mangalapura Pattana. The port of Mangrol, situated a little below Navibunder in Kathiawad, is a very ancient place, widely famous even in the first century as a good port. For Monoglosson, mentioned as a mart in Kathiawad or Syrastrênê by Ptolemy146, is no other than this very port. It cannot be Mangalore on the Malabar Coast, for Ptolemy distinctly says that it is in Syrastrênê. Gohils were ruling here in the twelfth century as feudatories of the Solankis.
86. Matri. MAtri is referred to as the name and headquarter of a sub-division in the Samangad grant of Dantidurga ;147 and tradition, apparently based upon the verse
मातृभाक्तः प्रतिग्रामं प्रामलक्षचतुष्टये ।
ददता भूप्रदानानि यस्य मात्रा प्रकाशिता ॥ in this grant asserts that the sub-division was so named, because in every village thereof a grant to Brâhmanas was made by the mother of king Dantidurga.
Matri, here mentioned, is the same as modern Måtar Taluka with its headquarter at Matar, five miles south of Kaira. From the verse :
महीमहानदीरेवारोधोभित्तिविदारणम् ।
लोका विलोकयन्त्युच्चैः कृतं यज्जयकुनरैः ॥ ooourring in the above plate, it is clear that Dantidurga's sway extended even to the north of Kaira, so there is nothing improbable in Mátrî of the plate being Matar above referred to, especially as the new name is an obvious modification of the old one. .
87. Mottaka. Mota, five miles north of Bardoli, is an ancient town; for it is the same as Mottaka, mentioned in the grant of Dhruva III, dated Saks 789. The grant states that Mottaka was situated in the Karmântapura district; and Mota, the modern counterpart of Mottaka, is 145 JR4S., V, p. 78.
146 P. 38.
147 Ind. Ant., XI, 110 ff.
