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
[Gujars.] Besides resembling them in appearance and in their skill
both as husbandmen and as cattle-breeders the division of Gujarát
Kanbis into Lewa and Kadwa seems to correspond with the division
of Málwa Gujars into Dáha and Karád, with the Lewa origin of the
East Khándesh Gujars, and with the Lawi tribe of Panjáb Gujars. The
fact that the head-quarters of the Lewa Kanbis of Gujarát is in the
central section of the province known as the Charotar and formerly
under Valabhi supports the view that the founder of Valabhi power was
the chief leader of the Gujar tribe. That nearly a fourth of the whole
Hindu population of Gujarát are Lewa and Kadwa Kanbis and that during
the sixth seventh and eighth centuries three Gujar chiefs divided
among them the sway of the entire province explain how the province
of Gujarát came to take its name from the tribe of Gujars. [10]
CHAPTER II.
ANCIENT DIVISIONS.
[Ánartta.] From ancient times the present province of Gujarát consisted
of three divisions Ánartta, Suráshtra, and Láta. Ánartta seems to
have been Northern Gujarát, as its capital was Ánandapura the modern
Vadanagara or Chief City, which is also called Ánarttapura. [11]
Both these names were in use even in the times of the Valabhi kings
(A.D. 500-770). [12] According to the popular story, in each of
the four cycles or yugas Ánandapura or Vadanagara had a different
name, Chamatkárapura in the first or Satya-yuga, Ánarttapura in the
second or Tretá-yuga, Ánandapura in the third or Dvápara-yuga, and
Vriddha-nagara or Vadanagar in the fourth or Káli-yuga. The first
name is fabulous. The city does not seem to have ever been known by
so strange a title. Of the two Ánarttapura and Ánandapura the former
is the older name, while the latter may be its proper name or perhaps
an adaptation of the older name to give the meaning City of Joy. The
fourth Vriddha-nagara meaning the old city is a Sanskritized form
of the still current Vadnagar, the Old or Great City. In the Girnár
inscription of Kshatrapa Rudradáman (A.D. 150) the mention of Ánartta
and Suráshtra as separate provinces subject to the Pahlava viceroy
of Junágadh agrees with the view that Ánartta was part of Gujarát
close to Káthiáváda. In some Puránas Ánartta appears as the name of
the whole province including Suráshtra, with its capital at the well
known shrine of Dwáriká. In other passages Dwáriká and Prabhás are
both mentioned as in Suráshtra which would seem to show that Suráshtra
was then part of Ánartta as Káthiáváda is now part of Gujarát.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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