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SEPTEMBER, 19:07]
THE GUHILA KINGS OF MEWAR
171
quoting at length the Massiru-l-Umara, from which the following is a literal translation: 'It is well-known that the Rajas of Udaipur are exalted over all the princes of Hind. Other Hindu princos, before they can succeed to the throne of their fathers, must receive the khushka, or tilak of regality and investiture, from them. This type of sovereignty is received with humility and veneration. The khushka of these princes is made with human blood : their title is Rana, and they deduce their origin from Noshirwan-i-Adil (i.e., the Just), who conquered the countries of-, and many parts of Hindustan. During his lifetime his son Noshizad, whose mother was the daughter of Kaiser of Rum, quitted the ancient worship and embraced the faith of the Christians,' and with numerous followers entered Hindustan. Thence he marched a great array towards Iran, against his fether Noshirwan ; who dispatched his general, Rambarzin, with numerous forces to oppose him. An action ensued in which Noshizad was slain ; but his issue remained in Hindustan, from whom are descended the Ranas of Udaipur. Noshirwan had a wife from the Khakhan of China, by whom he had a son called Hormuz, declared heir to the throne shortly before his death...
"In A. H. 17 Abu Musa of Ashur seized Hormuz, the son of the uncle of Yazdegird, whom he sent with Yazdegird's daughter to Imam Husain, and another daughter to Abubakr ....
"It is also told, that when the fortunes of Yazdegird were on the wane, his family dispersed to different regions. The second daughter, Shahr Banu, was married to Imam Husain,... The third daughter, Bann, was seized by a plundering Arab....
“Of the eldest daughter of Yazdegird, Maha Banu, the Parsis have no accounts; but the books of Hind give evidence to her arrival in that country, and that from her issue is the tribe Sesodia. But, at all events, this race is either of the seed of Nushishad, the son of Nushirwan, or of that of the daughter of Yazdegird.
"Thus have we adduced, perhaps, all points of evidence for the supposed Persian origin of the Rana's family. The period of the invasion of Saurashtra by Nushishad, who mounted the throne A.D.531, corresponds well with the sack of Valabhi, A.D.524... Khusru Parvez, grandson of Nushirwan the Great, and who assumed this title according to Firdausi, married Marian, the daughter of Maurice, the Greek emperor of Byzantium. She bore him Shiraaah (the Siroes of the early Christian writers), who slew his father. It is difficult to separate the actions of the two Nushirwans, and still more to say which of them merited the epithet of adil, or just.
"According to the Tables' in Moreri, Nushishad, son of Khusru the Great, reigned from A.D. 531 to 591. This is opposed to the Maasiru-l-Umara, which asserts that he was slain during his rebellion. Siroes, son of Khusru (the second Nushirwan) by his wife Marian, alternately called the friend and foe of the Christians, did raise the standard of revolt, and met the fate attributed to Nushishad ; on which Yazdegird, his nephew, was proclaimed. The crown was intended for Shirauah's younger brother, which caused the revolt, during which the elder sought refuge in India.................. .. We have a singular support to these historic relics in a geographical fact, that places on the site of the ancient Valabhi a city called Byzantium, which almost affords conclusive proof that it must have been the son of Nushirwan who captured Valabhi and Gajni, and destroyed the family of Siladitya; for it would be a legitimate occasion to name such conquest after the city where his Christian mother had had birth. Whichever of the propositions we. adopt at the command of the author of the Annals of Princes, namely, that the Sesodia race is of the seed of Nushishad, son of Nushirwan, or of that of Mahabanu, daughter of Yazdègird,' we arrive at a singular and startling conclusion, viz., that the Hindua Suraj, descendant of a hundred kings,' the undisputed possessor of the honours of Ramy, the patriarch of the Solar race, is the issue of a Christian princess : that the chief prince amongst the nations of Hind can claim affinity with the emperors of the mistress of the world'....
6 It is really a town called Vaijayanti in Deccan,
