Book Title: Sambodhi 2005 Vol 29
Author(s): J B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 101
________________ Vol-1, XX1X SŪRYOPĀSANĀ IN PRE-AHMEDĀBĀD.... image has figures of Ashwineekumārs. He is also known as planet and one amongst nine planets. As a planet he is in a human form. Now In the light of the fore-going discussion we now try to explain that the preAhmadabad societies were appeared as sūrya-pujak (sun-worshipper) before this city was rechristened as Ahmadabad from Ashāpalli by Sultanate King Ahmad Shah when he founded it on 4th February, 1413 A.D. Project : Salvage Archaeology When, the known archaeologist of international position Professor R. N. Mehta joined the Gujarat Vidyapith as a visiting faculty as a Professor of Historical Archaeology in the Department of History and culture in 1984 after his retirement from the M. S. University of Baroda in 1982; We (i.e. this author, Dr. R. N. Mehta and Professor Ramlal Parikh, the then V.C. of the Gujarat Vidyapith) had given a thought to explore this city of Amadāvād from historical perspective. For this venture fortunately we got U.G.C.'S minor project grant. The first exploration report was on 'A study of Toponyms of Ahmadabad'. The second task we both had completed was on 'Salvage Archaeology of Ahmadabad'. For this second project we both had undertaken extensive field work to study the salvage archaeology and minutely observed the existing monuments. Our work indicated some of the accomplishments in this field and unfolded the vast field of future work. We have realised that this city area was occupied from the Prehistoric period. Leaving it aside, the urban study from historio-archaeological perspective indicated the presence of a city, then known as Ashāpalli or Ashával, a capital of a small principality from about 8th 9th century A.D. This capital existed in the present day area of Astodiā, Rāipur, Khādiyā, Māndvi-ni-pole. Its suburbs like Bhanderipurā and military camp of Karnāvati developed by the end of the 11th century A.D. The river front presented the Tirthas of Khadgadhāreshvar, Pinchumandārka, Kotarā etc prior to the 14th century. Pincumardārka Sürya Tirtha Sābhramatī Māhātmya' is narrated in the Uttar khanda of the Padma Purāna in the chapters 134 to 173, but of them chapters 154, 155, 156, 157, 158

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242