Chapter II.
Ancient Divisions. Ánartta.From ancient times the present province of GujarÁt consisted of three divisions Ánartta, SurÁsh?ra, and LÁ?a. Ánartta seems to have been Northern GujarÁt, as its capital was Ánandapura the modern Va?anagara or Chief City, which is also called Ánarttapura.1 Both these names were in use even in the times of the Valabhi kings (a.d.500–770).2 According to the popular story, in each of the four cycles or yugas Ánandapura or Va?anagara 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 Va?anagar 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 SurÁsh?ra as separate provinces subject to the Pahlava viceroy of JunÁga?h agrees with the view that Ánartta was part of GujarÁt close to KÁthiÁvÁ?a. In some PurÁ?as Ánartta appears as the name of the whole province including SurÁsh?ra, with its capital at the well known shrine of DwÁrikÁ. In other passages DwÁrikÁ and PrabhÁs are both mentioned as in SurÁsh?ra which would seem to show that SurÁsh?ra was then part of Ánartta as KÁthiÁvÁ?a is now part of GujarÁt.

SurÁsh?ra.SurÁsh?ra the land of the Sus, afterwards Sanskritized into SaurÁsh?ra the Goodly Land, preserves its name in Sorath the southern part of KÁthiÁvÁ?a. The name appears as SurÁsh?ra in the MahÁbhÁrata and PÁ?ini’s Ga?apÁ?ha, in RudradÁman’s (a.d.150) and Skandagupta’s (a.d.456) GirnÁr inscriptions, and in several Valabhi copper-plates. Its PrÁkrit form appears as Sura?ha in the NÁsik inscription of Gotamiputra (a.d.150) and in later PrÁkrit as Sura?h?ha in the Tirthakalpa of JinaprabhÁsuri of the thirteenth or fourteenth century.3 Its earliest foreign mention is perhaps Strabo’s (b.c.50–a.d.20) Saraostus and Pliny’s (a.d.70) Oratura.4 Ptolemy
Chapter II.
Ancient Divisions. the great Egyptian geographer (a.d.150) and the Greek author of the Periplus (a.d.240) both call it Surastrene.5 The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang (a.d.600–640) mentions Valabhi then large and famous and SurÁsh?ra as separate kingdoms.6

LÁ?a.LÁ?a is South GujarÁt from the Mahi to the TÁpti. The name LÁ?a does not appear to be Sanskrit. It has not been found in the MahÁbhÁrata or other old Sanskrit works, or in the cave or other inscriptions before the third century a.d., probably because the PurÁ?as include in AparÁnta the whole western seaboard south of the Narbada as far as Goa. Still the name LÁ?a is old. Ptolemy (a.d.150) uses the form Larike7 apparently from the Sanskrit LÁ?aka. VÁtsyÁyana in his KÁma-Sutra of the third century a.d. calls it LÁ?a; describes it as situated to the west of MÁlwa; and gives an account of several of the customs of its people.8 In Sanskrit writings and inscriptions later than the third century the name is frequently found. In the sixth century the great astronomer VarÁhamihira mentions the country of LÁ?a, and the name also appears as LÁ?a in an Ajanta and in a Mandasor inscription of the fifth century.9 It is common in the later inscriptions (a.d.700–1200) of the ChÁlukya Gurjara and RÁsh?rakÚ?a kings10 as well as in the writings of Arab travellers and historians between the eighth and twelfth centuries.11

The name LÁ?a appears to be derived from some local tribe, perhaps the Lattas, who, as r and l are commonly used for each other, may possibly be the well known RÁsh?rakÚ?as since their great king Amoghavarsha (a.d.851–879) calls the name of the dynasty Ratta. La??alura the original city of the Ra??as of Saundatti and Belgaum may have been in LÁ?a and may have given its name to the country and to the dynasty.12 In this connection it is interesting to note that the country between Broach and DhÁr in MÁlwa in which are the towns of BÁgh and TÁnda is still called RÁ?ha.