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CHAPTER IX
THE DYNASTIES OF SAURASTRA
I. THE CAVADA OF ANAHILAPUR
The Capa or Capotkața or Cavotkața is the well-known Ksatriya tribe which we come across during the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era. Căvaḍā is the popular version of the above Sanskṛtised form of the name of this tribe.
Early account and position: The earliest mention of the Căpas is found in the Brahma-siddhänta of Brahmagupta who wrote it at Bhinamāla in 628 A.D. When Yuan-Chwang visited Bhinamāla about the year 642 A.D. a young Ksatriya was ruling there. The Navasari plates of Pulakesi Avanijanāśraya dated 470 A.D. also have a reference to this dynasty. There they are mentioned after Saindhavas, Kacchelas and Saurāṣṭras and before Mauryas and Gurjaras. Thus it seems that they at that time were somewhere on the border of Kaccha, Kathiawara and Gujarata. The same plates record. that they were troubled by the Arabs. They appear to have been a very powerful people and resisted the invasion on their country by the Arabs. But in the beginning of the eighth century (c. 712 A.D.) the incessant raids of the Arabs, it seems, compelled them to transfer their capital from Bhinamāla to Paficāśara. In the opinion of the late Pt. G. H. Ojha, they were attacked at Bhinamāla. Pañcāśara, at present, is a small village near Radhanapur on the border of the Ranna of Kaccha. The reference to Cavotkata in the Navasari plates also suggests their position at that time, which mostly falls upon Pañcāśara. The Prabandha-cintamani mentions Pañcāśara in the region of Vadiyära where Vanarāja Cavaḍā was born." The land between
4
1_HR., pp. 56 and 131 : श्रीचापवंशतिलके श्रीव्याघ्रमुखे नृपे पञ्चाशत् संयुक्तैर्वर्षशतैः पञ्चभिरतीतैः ब्राह्मस्फुटसिद्धान्तः कृतो ब्रह्मगुप्तेन ।
• ABORI, X, p. 13 तरलतारतरवारिदारीतोदितसैन्धवकरछह सौराष्ट्रचा घोटकमोर्य गुर्जरादि राज्ये निःशेषदाक्षिणात्यक्षितिपतिजिगीषया दक्षिणापथप्रदेश प्रथमेव नवसारिका विषयप्रसाधनायागते समरशिरसि विजिते ताजिकानीके।
3 Ibid.
Rajaputana-ka Itihas, Pt. I, p. 146.
D. K. Shastri, Gujaratano Madhyakälin Räjapūta Itihas, Pt. I, p. 50. 6 SJGM., I, p. 12 : गुर्जरभुवि वदियारा भिधानदेशे पञ्चाशरग्रामे चापोत्कटवंश्यम् etc.
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