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LXXXVIII
Kavyanusasana
Similarly, though the Prāgvātas are also Srīmālis they are often mentioned with them. The same is true about other castes. For example, some of the Vadanagar Brāhmaṇas call themselves Nāgars, and call the others Brāhmaṇas. That does not mean that Nágaras will cease to be Brāhmaṇas if they may be simultaneously mentioned with Brāhmaṇas. If we accept the suggestion that the Chāpas, Pratihāras etc. were Gurjaras we can explain with greater probability and plausibility the spread of Gurjara power as well as the name Gurjaratrā over the whole of the province.*
Mr. Jackson in his excellent monograph on Bhinnamála published as an appendix to the B. G. Vol. I gives a detailed account of the ruins of the city, of the objects of interest in it, of its surroundings, of its history, and inscriptions discovered there.
From this we gether that Bhinnamāla must have been a magnificent city. “The site of the city is in a wide plain about fifteen miles west of the last outlier of the Ābu range. To the east, between the hills and Bhinnamála, except a few widely - seperated village sites, the plain is chiefly a grazing ground with brakes of thorn and cassia bushes overtopped by standards of the camel - loved pilu Salvadora persica. To the south, the west, and the north the plain is smooth and bare passing westwards into sand. From the level of the plain
* According to Dr. Devadatta Bhandarkar Gurjaratrā was originally only a province in Rajputana. The presen:-Jay province got its name after the Solankis became its rulers when the Gurjars first entered it and gave it the name Gurjaratrā or Gujaráta. Mr. N. B. Divetia seems to agree with this view. (Gujarati Language & Literature. p. 38. ).
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