Chapter I.
Boundaries. The portion of the Bombay Presidency known as GujarÁt fills the north-east corner of the coast of Western India.

On the west is the Arabian Sea; on the north-west is the Gulf of Cutch. To the north lie the Little Ran and the MevÁd desert; to the north-east Ábu and other outliers of the ÁrÁvali range. The east is guarded and limited by rough forest land rugged in the north with side spurs of the Vindhyas, more open towards the central natural highway from Baroda to RatlÁm, and southwards again rising and roughening into the northern offshoots from the main range of the SÁtpudÁs. The southern limit is uncertain. History somewhat doubtfully places it at the TÁpti. Language carries GujarÁt about a hundred miles further to BalsÁr and PÁrdi where wild forest-covered hills from the north end of the SahyÁdri range stretch west almost to the sea.

The province includes two parts, Mainland GujarÁt or Gurjjara-rÁshtra and Peninsular GujarÁt, the SaurÁsh?ra of ancient, the KÁthiÁvÁ?a of modern history. To a total area of about 72,000 square miles Mainland GujarÁt with a length from north to south of about 280 miles and a breadth from east to west varying from fifty to 150 miles contributes 45,000 square miles; and Peninsular GujarÁt with a greatest length from north to south of 155 miles and from east to west of 200 miles contributes about 27,000 square miles. To a population of about 9,250,000 Mainland GujarÁt contributes 6,900,000 and the Peninsula about 2,350,000.

The richness of Mainland GujarÁt the gift of the SÁbarmati Mahi Narbada and TÁpti and the goodliness of much of SaurÁsh?ra the Goodly Land have from before the beginning of history continued to draw strangers to GujarÁt both as conquerors and as refugees.

By sea probably came some of the half-mythic YÁdavas (b.c.1500–500); contingents of Yavanas (b.c.300–a.d.100) including Greeks Baktrians Parthians and Skythians; the pursued PÁrsis and the pursuing Arabs (a.d.600–800); hordes of Sanganian pirates (a.d.900–1200); PÁrsi and NavÁyat MusalmÁn refugees from Khulagu KhÁn’s devastation of Persia (a.d.1250–1300); Portuguese and rival Turks (a.d.1500–1600); Arab and Persian Gulf pirates (a.d.1600–1700); African Arab Persian and Makran soldiers of fortune (a.d.1500–1800); Armenian Dutch and French traders (a.d.1600–1750); and the British (a.d.1750–1812). By land from the north
Chapter I.
The Name. have come the Skythians and Huns (b.c.200–a.d.500), the Gurjjaras (a.d.400–600), the early JÁdejÁs and KÁthis (a.d.750–900), wave on wave of Afghan Turk Moghal and other northern MusalmÁns (a.d.1000–1500), and the later JÁdejÁs and KÁthis (a.d.1300–1500): From the north-east the prehistoric Aryans till almost modern times (a.d.1100–1200) continued to send settlements of Northern BrÁhmans; and since the thirteenth century have come Turk Afghan and Moghal MusalmÁns: From the east have come the Mauryans (b.c.300), the half-Skythian Kshatrapas (b.c.100–a.d.300), the Guptas (a.d.380), the Gurjjars (a.d.400–600), the Moghals (a.d.1530), and the MarÁthÁs (a.d.1750): And from the south the SÁtakar?is (a.d.100), the ChÁlukyas and RÁsh?rakÚ?as (a.d.650–950), occasional MusalmÁn raiders (a.d.1400–1600), the Portuguese (a.d.1500), the MarÁthÁs (a.d.1660–1760), and the British (a.d.1780–1820).

Gujars.The name GujarÁt is from the PrÁkrit Gujjara-ratta, the Sanskrit of which is Gurjjara-rÁshtra that is the country of the Gujjaras or Gurjjaras. In Sanskrit books and inscriptions the name of the province is written Gurjjara-ma??ala and Gurjjara-desa the land of the Gurjjaras or GÚrjjaras. The Gurjjaras are a foreign tribe who passing into India from the north-west gradually spread as far south as KhÁndesh and Bombay GujarÁt. The present Gujars of the PanjÁb and North-West Provinces preserve more of their foreign traits than the Gujar settlers further to the south and east. Though better-looking, the PanjÁb Gujars in language dress and calling so closely resemble their associates the JÁts or Jats as to suggest that the two tribes entered India about the same time. Their present distribution shows that the Gujars spread further east and south than the JÁts. The earliest Gujar settlements seem to have been in the PanjÁb and North-West Provinces from the Indus to MathurÁ where they still differ greatly in dress and language from most other inhabitants. From MathurÁ the Gujars seem to have passed to East RÁjputÁna and from there by way of Kotah and Mandasor to MÁlwa, where, though their original character is considerably altered, the Gujars of MÁlwa still remember that their ancestors came from the Doab between the Ganges and the Jamna. In MÁlwa they spread as far east as Bhilsa and SahÁranpur. From MÁlwa they passed south to KhÁndesh and west probably by the Ratlam-Dohad route to the province of GujarÁt.

Like the modern Ahirs of KÁthiÁvÁ?a the Gujars seem to have been a tribe of cattle-rearers husbandmen and soldiers who accompanied some conqueror and subsequently were pushed or spread forwards as occasion arose or necessity compelled. In the absence of better authority the order and locality of their settlements suggest that their introduction into India took place during the rule of the Skythian or KushÁn emperor Kanerkes or Kanishka (a.d.78–106) in whose time they seem to have settled as far east as MathurÁ to which the territory of Kanishka is known to have extended. Subsequently along with the Guptas, who rose to power about two hundred years later (a.d.300), the Gujars settled in East RÁjputÁna, MÁlwa, and GujarÁt, provinces all of which were apparently
Chapter I.
The Name. subjugated by the Guptas. It seems probable that in reward for their share in the Gupta conquests the leading Gujars were allotted fiefs and territories which in the declining power of their Gupta overlords they afterwards (a.d.450–550) turned into independent kingdoms.

The earliest definite reference to a kingdom of North Indian Gujars is about a.d.890 when the Kashmir king Sankaravarman sent an expedition against the Gurjjara king AlakhÁna and defeated him. As the price of peace AlakhÁna offered the country called Takkadesa. This Takkadesa1 appears to be the same as the Tsehkia of Hiuen Tsiang2 (a.d.630–640) who puts it between the BiyÁs on the east and the Indus on the west thus including nearly the whole PanjÁb. The tract surrendered by AlakhÁna was probably the small territory to the east of the ChinÁb as the main possessions of AlakhÁna must have lain further west between the ChinÁb and the Jehlam, where lie the town of GujarÁt and the country still called Gujar-desa the land of the Gujars.3

Northern Gurjjara Kingdom.As early as the sixth and seventh centuries records prove the existence of two independent Gurjjara kingdoms in Bombay GujarÁt one in the north the other in the south of the province. The Northern kingdom is mentioned by Hiuen TsiangHiuen Tsiang’s Kiu-che-lo, a.d.620. in the seventh century under the name Kiu-che-lo. He writes: ‘Going north from the country of Valabhi 1800 li (300 miles) we come to the kingdom of Kiu-che-lo. This country is about 5000 li in circuit, the capital, which is called Pi-lo-mo-lo, is 30 li or so round. The produce of the soil and the manners of the people resemble those of SaurÁsh?ra. The king is of the Kshatriya caste. He is just twenty years old.’4 Hiuen Tsiang’s Kiu-che-lo is apparently Gurjjara, the capital of which Pi-lo-mo-lo is probably BhilmÁl or BhinmÁl better known as SrimÁl.5 Though Hiuen Tsiang calls the king a Kshatriya he was probably a Gujar who like the later Southern Gujars claimed to be of the Kshatriya race.
Chapter I.
The Name.

Southern Gurjjara Kingdom, a.d.589–735.The Southern Gurjjara kingdom in GujarÁt, whose capital was at NÁndipuri, perhaps the modern NÁndod the capital of the RÁjpipla State, flourished from a.d.589 to a.d.735.6 The earlier inscriptions describe the Southern Gurjjaras as of the Gurjjara Vansa. Later they ceased to call themselves Gurjjaras and traced their genealogy to the PurÁ?ic king Kar?a.

From the fourth to the eighth century the extensive tract of Central GujarÁt between the North and South Gurjjara kingdoms was ruled by the Valabhis. The following reasons seem to show that the Valabhi dynasty were originally Gujars. Though it is usual for inscriptions to give this information none of the many Valabhi copper-plates makes any reference to the Valabhi lineage. Nor does any inscription state to what family SenÁpati Bha?Árka the founder of the dynasty belonged. Hiuen Tsiang describes the Valabhi king as a Kshatriya and as marrying with the kings of MÁlwa and Kanauj. The Valabhi king described by Hiuen Tsiang is a late member of the dynasty who ruled when the kingdom had been greatly extended and when the old obscure tribal descent may have been forgotten and a Kshatriya lineage invented instead. Intermarriage with MÁlwa and Kanauj can be easily explained. RÁjputs have never been slow to connect themselves by marriage with powerful rulers.

The establishment of these three Gujar kingdoms implies that the Gurjjara tribe from Northern and Central India settled in large numbers in GujarÁt. Several Gujar castes survive in GujarÁt. Among them are Gujar VÁniÁs or traders, Gujar SutÁrs or carpenters, Gujar Sonis or goldsmiths, Gujar KumbhÁrs or potters, and Gujar SalÁts or masons. All of these are Gujars who taking to different callings have formed separate castes. The main Gujar underlayer are the LewÁs and Ka?wÁs the two leading divisions of the important class of GujarÁt Ka?bis. The word Ka?bi is from the Sanskrit Ku?umbin, that is one possessing a family or a house. From ancient times the title Ku?umbin has been prefixed to the names of cultivators.7 This practice still obtains in parts of the North-West Provinces where the peasant proprietors are addressed as G?ihasthas or householders. As cattle-breeding not cultivation was the original as it still is the characteristic calling of many North Indian Gujars, those of the tribe who settled to cultivation came to be specially known as Ku?umbin or householders. Similarly Deccan surnames show that many tribes of wandering cattle-owners settled as householders and are now known as Kunbis.8 During the last
Chapter I.
The Name. twenty years the settlement as Kunbis in KhÁndesh of tribes of wandering WanjÁra herdsmen and grain-carriers is an example of the change through which the GujarÁt Kanbis and the Deccan Kunbis passed in early historic times.

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.9