History of Gujarát: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part I.Campbell, James M.
History
History of Gujarát: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part I.
Campbell, James M.
Gujarat (India) -- History
[Descent from Kanaksen, A.D. 150.] The Sesodia or Gohil tradition
is that the founder of the Válas was Kanaksen, who, in the second
century after Christ, from North India established his power at
Virát or Dholka in North Gujarát and at Dhánk in Káthiáváda. [342]
This tradition, which according to Tod [343] is supported by at
least ten genealogical lists derived from distinct sources, seems
a reminiscence of some connection between the early Válas and the
Kshatrapas of Junágadh with the family of the great Kushán emperor
Kanishka (A.D. 78-98). Whether this high ancestry belongs of right
to the Válas and Gohils or whether it has been won for them by their
bards nothing in the records of Káthiáváda is likely to be able to
prove. Besides by the Válas Kanaksen is claimed as an ancestor by the
Chávadás of Okhámandal as the founder of Kanakapurí and as reigning in
Krishna's throne in Dwárká. [344]. In support of the form Kanaka for
Kanishka is the doubtful Kanaka-Sakas or Kanishka-Sakas of Varáhamihira
(A.D. 580). [345] The form Kanik is also used by Alberuni [346] for the
famous Vihára or monastery at Pesháwar of whose founder Kanak Alberuni
retails many widespread legends. Tod [347] says; 'If the traditional
date (A.D. 144) of Kanaksen's arrival in Káthiáváda had been only a
little earlier it would have fitted well with Wilson's Kanishka of the
Rája Tarangini.' Information brought to light since Tod's time shows
that hardly any date could fit better than A.D. 144 for some member
of the Kushán family, possibly a grandson of the great Kanishka,
to make a settlement in Gujarát and Káthiáváda. The date agrees
closely with the revolt against Vasudeva (A.D. 123-150), the second
in succession from Kanishka, raised by the Panjáb Yaudheyas, whom the
great Gujarát Kshatrapa Rudradáman (A.D. 143-158), the introducer of
Kanishka's (A.D. 78) era into Gujarát, humbled. The tradition calls
Kanaksen Kosalaputra and brings him from Lohkot in North India. [348]
Kosala has been explained as Oudh and Lohkot as Lahore, but as Kanak
came from the north not from the north-east an original Kushána-putra
or Son of the Kushán may be the true form. Similarly Lohkot cannot be
Lahore. It may be Alberuni's Lauhavar or Lahur in the Káshmir uplands
one of the main centres of Kushán power. [349]
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