According to Abu Rihân,* the distance of the city of Dhâr from the Narbada was 7 parasangs, and thence to the boundary of Mahrat-das, 18 parasangs. This proves that the territory of Dhâr must have extended as far as the Tapti, on the south. Hwen Thsang mentions that there were two kingdoms in India that were specially esteemed for the study of the Buddhist religion, namely, Magadha in the north-east, and Malwa in the south-west. In accordance with this fact he notes, that there were many hundreds of monasteries in Malwa, and no less than twenty thousand monks of the school of the Sammatiyas. He mentions, also, that 60 years previous to his visit, Malwa had been governed for 50 years by a powerful king, named Siladitya, who was a staunch Buddhist. 35. KHEDA. The district of Kie-cha, or Kheda, is placed by Hwen Thsang at 300 li, or 50 miles to the north-west of Malwa. As both M. Stanislas Julien and M. Vivien de Saint-Martin render Kie-cha by Khacha, which they identify in the peninsula of Kachh, I am bound to state the ground on which I venture to propose a different reading. On looking over the other names in which the peculiar symbol cha is used, I find that it occurs in the well-known names of Patali-putra and Kukkuta, where it represents the cerebral t, and again in O.cha-li, which M. Julien renders by Aṭali, and M. de SaintMartin identifies with the desert region of the Thal, or Thar. Consistently, therefore, the name of Kie-cha should be rendered Khe-ta. Now Kheda is the true · * Reinaud, Fragments Arabes et Persans,' p. 109. Sanskrit form of Kaira, a large town of Gujarât, situated between Ahmadâbâd and Khambay; and I would therefore identify the pilgrim's Kie-cha with Kheda. It is true that Hwen Thsang's recorded distance is only 300 li, but there are so many mistakes in the bearings and distances of this part of the pilgrim's journey, that I have no hesitation in proposing a correction of the text, by reading 1300 li, or 217 miles, which is very nearly the exact distance between Kaira and Dhâr. When we remember that the province of Malwa was bounded on the east, within 25 miles, by the independent territory of Ujain, it is difficult to perceive how there could have been any other state within 50 miles of Dhâr, otherwise the territory of Malwa would have been compressed to a breadth of about 50 miles, between Ujain and Kheda. But this difficulty is entirely removed by adopting my proposed correction, by which the district of Kheda becomes the extreme western division of the kingdom of Malwa. Hwen Thsang estimates its circuit at 3000 li, or 500 miles, a size which agrees very well with the probable limits of the district of Kaira, which may be stated as extending from the bank of the Sabarmati on the west, to the great bend of the Mahi river on the north-east, and to Baroda in the south. In shape it is a rough square. 36. ANANDAPURA. Hwen Thsang places O.nan.to.pu.lo, or Anandapura, at 700 li, or 117 miles, to the north-west of Vallabhi.* This town has been identified by M. Viven de SaintMartin with Barnagar, on the authority of the Kalpa Sutra of the Jains; but the bearing is to the east of north, and the distance is 150 miles, or 900 li. Barnagar has already been mentioned as the Sanskrit Vadapura, or Barpur. The district was 2000 li, or 333 miles, in extent, and was a dependency of Malwa. This estimate of its size will be fully met by limiting its territory to the triangular tract lying between the mouth of the Banâs river on the west, and the Sâbarmati river on the east. 37. VADARI, OR EDER. On leaving Malwa, Hwen Thsang travelled first to the south-west to the "confluence of two seas," and then turning to the north-west reached O-cha-li, or Vadari, the whole distance being between 2400 and 2500 l, or between 400 and 417 miles. By the term "confluence of two seas," I understand the meeting of the waters of the southern and western seas in the Gulf of Khambay. The town of Surat, or the ancient Surpáraka near the mouth of the Tapti, may be considered as the entrance of the gulf; and as it lies to the south-west of Dhár, it was probably this point that was first visited by Hwen Thsang. The distance is just 200 miles. From Surat to Eder the distance is the same, but the direction is to the east of north; I would, therefore, read north-east instead of north-west, and the position of Eder will then correspond sufficiently well with that of Hwen Thsang's O-cha-li or Vadari. I am ignorant of the Sanskrit name of Eder, but it seems highly probable that the city of Vadari mentioned in the Basantgarh inscriptiont is the same place. In the * Julien's Hiouen Thsang,' iii. 160. † Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, x. 668. middle of the eleventh century Vadari was the capital of a chiefship in the neighbourhood of Vadapura or Barnagar, which lies 30 miles to the westward of Eder, and on the opposite side of the Sâbarmati river. The royal family claimed descent from Raja Bhava-Gupta, who was a great warrior and the illuminator of his line." This Bhava or Bhaba I believe to be the same as the Bav or Bappa of the Sisodiya annalists of Udaypur, whose immediate predecessors for several generations were the Rajas of Eder. As Bappa lived in the beginning of the eighth century, the date of his predecessors, the Rajas of Eder, agrees exactly with the period of Hwen Thsang's visit. For these reasons I think that there are fair grounds for the identification of Eder with the Vadari of the inscription, as well as with the Oṭali, or Vadari, of the Chinese pilgrim. The size of the province is estimated at 6000 li, or 1000 miles, in circuit. This large extent shows that Atali or Vadari must have comprised the whole of the unassigned tract of country lying between Vairât on the north, Gurjjara on the west, Ujain on the east, and Malwa on the south. Its boundaries, therefore, must have been Ajmer and Ranthambhor to the north, the Loni and Châmbal rivers on the east and west, and the Malwa frontier on the south, from the mouth of the Banâs river in the Ran of Kachh to the Châmbal near Mandisor. The circuit of these limits is about 900 miles measured on the map, or 1000 miles by road distance. In Pliny's account of the different nations to the eastward of the Lower Indus I find the following passage, which would seem to apply to Eder and the surrounding districts.* "Next the Narea, who are bounded *Nat. Hist., vi. c. 23. by Capitalia, the loftiest mountain of India, on the other side of which the people dig up much gold and silver. Beyond them are the Oratura (or Orala), whose king has only ten elephants, but a large force of infantry, (and) the Varetatæ (or Suaratatata), whose king has no elephants, but a strong force of horse and foot. (Then) the Odombære" etc. The last nation has already been identified with the people of Kachh, and the high mountain of Capitalia can only be the holy Arbuda, or Mount Abu, which rises to more than 5000 feet above the sea. The Nareæ must therefore be the people of Sarü, or the "country of reeds," as nar and sar are synonymous terms for a "reed." The country of Sarüi is still famous for its reed arrows. П The Orature I would identify with the people of Vaḍapura, or Barpur, which is the same name as Barnagar. By reading instead of in the Greek original of Oratura, the name will become Orapura, which is the same as Barpur, or Vadapura. The last name in Pliny's list is Varetata, which I would change to Vatareta, by the transposition of two letters. This spelling is countenanced by the termination of the various reading of Suaratarate, which is found in some editions. It is quite possible however, that the Suaratarata may be intended for the Surâshtras. The famous Varâha Mihira mentions the Suráshtras and Badaras together, amongst the people of the south-west of India. These Bâdaras must therefore be the people of Badari, or Vadari. I understand the name of Vadari to denote a district abounding in the Badari, or Ber-tree (Jujube), which is very common in southern Rajputana. For the same * Dr. Kern's Brihat Sanhita,' xiv. 19 1 |