Mahavira Jain Vidyalaya Rajat Jayanti Mahotsava

Author(s): Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya Mumbai
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 212

SILVER JUBILEE 1
THE CAVADAS
55
of the origin of the Jethavas as to support Darwin's story of evolution. Bardic notes relate that when Hanuman was crossing a bridge from India to Ceylon, a drop of perspiration fell into the sea, which a crocodile swallowed and the result was the birth of the first Jethava. The veracity of this account need not be stressed.
It may also be argued that the Cavaḍas were probably the first of the great Rajput clans to invade the peninsula of Kathiawaḍ. They came from Gujarat and established themselves at various places on the coastline notably at Dvāraka, Paṭṭana and Div. The astronomer Brahmagupta speaks of the Căpa dynasty reigning at Bhinmal or Srimal in A.D. 628. From Bhinmal came the clan, which settled at Pañcasar and emigrated to Anhilapattana, after the sack of that city in the eighth century. The existence of a Cavadă chiefship at Pañcăsar is proved by the Navsari grant dated Samvat 490 (A.D. 78889) of the Gujarat Calukya king Pulakesi Janasraya, which records the suc cess of the army of Tajikas or Arabs from Sind to Navsari." The Cavotakas mentioned in the grant are no other than Cavaḍas of Pañcasar on the border of Kacch. The origin of the name Cavaḍā, sanscritized into the high sounding Capotkata or strong bow resembles the Gujarāti "cor" (Prakrța, Caura or Corata) meaning thieves and robbers. Jāvada is the further corruption of Cavaḍā. The original text of Ain-i-Akbari and the Mirat-i-Ahmadi call Cavada, Jawudan and Jawudah respectively, but this transition is due to Indian and Arabic spellings and pronunciations. Cor or Coura appellation from Cavadā seems to be more likely apun. No contemporary Gujarat plate or inscription refer to the Cavaḍās except the Navsari plate."
It has been said by some chroniclers that the Cavadas belong to the great Gurjjara race. Special interest is attached to the Cavaḍās because they have been labelled as Gurjjars and secondly because it was mainly through the Capas that the name Gujarat was given by the Gurjjaras. The statement that the Capas are Gurjjaras is the account of the astronomer Brahmagupta, who writing at Bhinmal in A.D. 628 under the Gurjjar king Vyaghramukha, states that the king belonged to the Sri Capa Dynasty. The entry runs
1. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. VIII, p. 109.
2. Forbes, Rasamālā, Vol. I. p. 37 in. 2.
3. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, Part I, p. 149.
5. Bird, Political and Statistical History of Gujarat, p. 140, fn.
6. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, Part I, p. 109.
7. Dwivedi, Gujaratna Aitihasik Sadhana, p. 4, fn.
8. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. IX, Part I, p. 488.
4. Ibid., p. 150.