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DECEMBER, 1925)
ANCIENT TOWNS AND OITIES IN GUJARAT AND KATHIAWAD
83
which Nature has distributed over these territories. Naturally Gujarat cities were wealthy; of most of the Gujarat cities visited by Hiuen Tsiang, he notes that they were rich. And no wonder; for besides the natural wealth of the province there was the commercial talent of its inhabitants, as remarkable then as it is now, to help the accumulation of wealth. Most of our flourishing cities, we have seen, were noted for their trade and commerce. Valabhi was a capital no doubt, but if there were a hundred in the city whose wealth exceeded a million, as Hiucn Tsiang observed, it was due to the rarest merchandise in India being stored in its mart. Prabhasa was no doubt a 'tirtha 'but part of its wealth was, as we have seen, due to its being the steaming station for boats plying between Africa and China, Bharoch and Mesopotamia. Karpațavânijaya was only a taluka place, but it rose to importance because it was on the trade route between Bharoch and Central India. The rise of Dhavalakka, Stambhatirtha, Ghogha, Mangrol, Bardaximo and Godbra was primarily due to commerce.
Merchants then were an important class in ancient Gujarat. Many of these were merchant princes; we have seen how the Sahasralinga tank could be completed only by the opportune help of a merchant prince, how Tejahpala had to fight an actual battle with another merchant prince who wished to set at nought the authority of his chief Viradhavala. Many of the ministers too of the Solankis were sarafs and bankers. Thus Udayana, the minister of Kumara pala, was a merchant prince. Tejahpåla, the minister of Viradhavala, was a famous banker at Cam bay and had opened soveral branches of his business at other cities in Gujarat 211
The merchants, if rich, were also liberal; many of the city improvements and temple repairs were possible, as is shown by the Girnar and Karli inscriptions, only through their liberality.
The crafts and tra les of each city had a guild of their own presided over by a Sreshtin. The guild had its own rules, its own militia for defence, its own bank to advance money to its members, to receive deposits from them, and to administer guild-charities. All this is clear from the Mandsor inscription which describes the constitution and function of a typical Lata guild of the fifth century. What was true of the fifth was also true of the twelfth century.
From the tenth century onward, Muhammadan traders also began to reside in Gujarat cities. We have seen how there were many Moslem traders both at Cambay and Anahilapura.
Public Education and Libraries.-In Ancient Gujarat as in Mediaval Europe, education was entirely monopolised by the church. Buddhistic' viharas' were not only centres of monasticism but also centres of education and learning. They were nurseries of Buddhistic scholars and possessed libraries of the sacred literature (as is implied by the grant for the purchase of books to a Valabhi vihara). It was in those monasteries then that the Buddhist children were taught and taught freely; hence the numerous public and private endowments which they received. What was true of Bauddha vihåras was also true of the Jain ones : in fact the literary activity of the Jain priests is more prominent than their religious activity. Education of the Hindu boy was entrusted to the Hindu Pandit. We have seen how many of our grants record the gifts of whole villages tó Brahmaņas famous for their learning. They were expected in return, as South India Inscriptions show, to keep the torch of learning burning : one of the Surat plates also records how worthily a Brahmaņa at Bhadrapalli or modern Bardoli was spending the revenues conferred upon him by his sovereign. 212 211 7** T 5TTARE ..-'irnar Inger. 212 विमोऽभूभद्रपल्या बहुजनधनतासंकुलायां धरायांम् । ख्यातः श्रीकोहिनामा जनित जनमुखोऽध्वर्युसनाचारी।
यस्मिन्नार्थजना ददत्यविरतं प्राज्यं कनानाविकम् | निश्चिन्तावरपरणाः समभवन्दुर्भिक्षकालेष्वपि । a car
Y ITAV aangift 1 - Ind. Ant., XII, 185.
