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324 / Jijñāsā
"Bhānā prāmae bhinsu ali ch Adhar bhinsu ālī: cuvāṇ bhānā saba kevāṇā kal ānkel van dhra Bhima maiālānā bhana bhoja nrasang je ritae Vaisakh maināni ajuvāli bij bhraspat vare Hathvad jitel ch."19
(Bhāṇā Parma gave buffaloes He gave eighteen buffaloes Cauhan Bhāno got praise from the community. His dynasty will become famous. The sons of Bhima Maiyāpā, Bhāņā, Bhojo and Narsimh, took part in the rivalry of donation at Jeritä village, on Thursday, on the second day of Vaisakh Month and Bhāno became victorious in it.)
The Chronicler's Vahi thus imparts information about the donations given to the chronicler. Let us now study some other relevant details of donations found in the Vahi. The rich utilized the earned money for the noble cause of society, for which they used to donate handsome sums. Even the commoners donated according to the strength of their pockets. The belief that "Money is required for virtuous deeds" was proved wrong in the medieval times, and, instead, a belief that "One should have a large heart for donation" became more widely accepted. We find the importance of large heartedness mentioned in the Vahi. The chronicler's Vahis have examples of such large hearted persons, who, just worked for the cause of general good of people. People faced a severe famine in Vi. San. 1671 (Indian Calendar) It is mentioned in the Vahi of the chronicler of the community of Parajiyā Soni community, that a gentleman named Khela Lodiya helped face the famine successfully to the 180 families of his community. 20
The Vahi of Sagarkumar reveals that one Mr. Kumpa Dhaiya of the Parajiya Soni community helped the 180 families of the Soni community and 12 families of Barot, face the acute famine of Vi. San. 1519 and survive at Bagasara town. He provided food to people continuously throughout the famine and thus quenched the hunger of my people.
Caran Bhujbal Surtāṇia also donated a lot of food to people, which is mentioned in Vahi of the chronicler:
"Bhojbale Pärkar : Dhan didho: Vadḍā kol Manhe "22
(Bhujbal Surtania donated a lot of food during the great famine of Tharpārkar)
Kanyādān (The donation of daughter, which means, getting a girl married,) was considered to be a very virtuous deed in ancient India. Hence, many rich people and those belonging to the royal families used to perform such donations, which is mentioned in the Vahi of the chronicler, and thus will be remembered for long. Most of the sub-castes of the Kanbi community have involved themselves in Kanyadan of three girls, which is recorded in the Vahi of the Barot chronicler of Kanbis.e.g., The Vahi of the Kaṇbis of Sākariyā sub-caste reveals:
"Tran Kanyā vālam gorni dharme parṇāviyu "23
In the same way, it is mentioned in the Vahi that King Mulraj of Chudasamā got 1800 girls married (Kanyadan)
"Mulraje: na: patrani hata bathi hati te mate adarase paraṇvi: Gām Madhavparmā: gām: Manglur: Bhan Jeṭhva hat: savant adhār trāṇvā: Varas: Vaisak sud nam bhraspatvar: Kanadan didhā: 24
(King Mulraja suffered from the sin of his son's murder. He donated 1800 girls (got them married) for the purpose of redemption of the sin. He did it on the ninth day of Vaisakh month of Vi. San. 1893. Bhāṇ Jethvā was at Mangrol then.)
