Chapter VIII · THE VALABHIS (a.d. 509–766.)
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The ruins of Valabhi show few signs of representing a large or important city. The want of sweet water apparently unfits the site for the capital of so large a kingdom as Valabhi. Its choice as capital was probably due to its being a harbour on the Bhávnagar creek. Since Chapter VIII. The Valabhis, a.d. 509–766. Vaḷeh Town, 1893. the days of Valabhi’s prime the silt which thickly covers the ruins has also filled and choked the channel which once united it with the Bhávnagar creek when the small Ghelo was probably a fair sized river.
Valabhi Administration, a.d. 500–700.The Valabhi grants supply information regarding the leading office bearers and the revenue police and village administrators whose names generally occur in the following order:
(3) Drángika, apparently an officer in charge of a town, as dranga means a town.
(4) Mahattara or Senior has the derivative meaning of high in rank. Mhátára the Maráthi for an old man is the same word. In the Valabhi plates mahattara seems to be generally used to mean the accredited headman of a village, recognised as headman both by the people of the village and by the Government.
(7) Adhikaraṇika means the chief judicial magistrate or judge of a place.
(8) Daṇḍapáśika literally ‘holding the fetters or noose of punishment,’ is used both of the head police officer and of the hangman or executioner.
(9) Chauroddharaṇika the thief-catcher. Of the two Indian ways of catching thieves, one of setting a thief to catch a thief the other the Pagi or tracking system, the second answers well in sandy Gujarát and Káthiáváḍa where the Tracker or Pagi is one of the Bárábalute or regular village servants.
(10) Rájastháníya, the foreign secretary, the officer who had to do with other states and kingdoms rájasthánas. Some authorities take rájastháníya to mean viceroy.
(11) Amátya minister and sometimes councillor is generally coupled with kumára or prince.
(12) Anutpannádánasamudgráhaka the arrear-gatherer.
(13) Śaulkika the superintendent of tolls or customs.
(14) Bhogika or Bhogoddharaṇika the collector of the Bhoga that is the state share of the land produce taken in kind, as a rule one-sixth. The term bhoga is still in use in Káthiáváḍa for the share, usually one-sixth, which landholders receive from their cultivating tenants.
(17) Vishayapati division-lord probably corresponded to the present subáh.
(18) Ráshṭrapati the head of a district.
(19) Grámakúṭa the village headman.
Land Assessment.The district of Kaira and the province of Káthiáváḍa to which the Valabhi grants chiefly refer appear to have had separate systems Chapter VIII. The Valabhis, a.d. 509–766. Land Assessment. of land assessment Kaira by yield Káthiáváḍa by area. Under the Káthiáváḍa system the measurement was by pádávarta literally the space between one foot and the other that is the modern kadam or pace. The pace used in measuring land seems to have differed from the ordinary pace as most of the Káthiáváḍa grants mention the bhúpádávarta or land pace. The Kaira system of assessment was by yield the unit being the piṭaka or basketful, the grants describing fields as capable of growing so many baskets of rice or barley (or as requiring so many baskets of seed). As the grants always specify the Kaira basket a similar system with a different sized basket seems to have been in use in other parts of the country. Another detail which the plates preserve is that each field had its name called after a guardian or from some tree or plant. Among field names are Kotilaka, Atimaṇa-kedára, Khaṇda-kedára, Gargara-kshetra, Bhíma-kshetra, Khagali-kedára, Śami-kedára.
Religion.The state religion of the Valabhi kings was Śaivism. Every Valabhi copperplate hitherto found bears on its seal the figure of a bull with under it the name of Bhaṭárka the founder of the dynasty who was a Śaiva. Except Dhruvasena I. (a.d. 526) who is called Paramabhágavata or the great Vaishṇava and his brother and successor Dharapaṭṭa who is styled Paramádityabhakta or the great devotee of the sun, and Guhasena, who in his grant of Saṃ. 248 calls himself Paramopásaka or the great devotee of Buddha, all the Valabhi kings are called Parama-máheśvara the great Śaiva.
This Báva is the popular Prakrit form of the older Prakrit or deśí Bappa meaning Father or worshipful. Bappa is the original of the Hindustáni and Gujaráti Bává father or elder; it is also a special term for a head Gosávi or Atít or indeed for any recluse. The epithet Bappa-pádánudhyáta, Bowing at the feet of Bappa, occurs in the attributes of several Nepál kings, and in the case of king Vasantasena appears the full phrase:
Parama-daivata-bappa-bhaṭṭáraka-mahárája-Śrí-pádánudhyáta.
Falling at the illustrious feet of the great Mahárája Lord Bappa.
First Valabhi Grant, a.d. 526.The first trace of the new power, the earliest Valabhi grant, is that of Dhruvasena in the Valabhi or Gupta year 207 (a.d. 526). In this grant Dhruvasena is described as the third son of the Senápati or general Bhaṭárka. Of Senápati Bhaṭárka neither copperplate nor inscription has been found. Certain coins which General Cunningham Arch. Surv. Rept. IX. Pl. V. has ascribed to Bhaṭárka have on the obverse a bust, as on the western coins of Chapter VIII. The Valabhis, a.d. 509–766. First Valabhi Grant, a.d. 526. Kumáragupta, and on the reverse the Śaiva trident, and round the trident the somewhat doubtful legend in Gupta characters:
Rájño Mahákshatri Paramádityabhakta Śrí Śarvva-bhaṭṭárakasa.
Of the king the great Kshatri, great devotee of the sun, the illustrious Śarvva-bhaṭṭáraka.
This Śarvva seems to have been a Ráshṭrakúṭa or Gurjjara king. His coins were continued so long in use and were so often copied that in the end upright strokes took the place of letters. That these coins did not belong to the founder of the Valabhi dynasty appears not only from the difference of name between Bhaṭṭáraka and Bhaṭárka but because the coiner was a king and the founder of the Valabhis a general.
All known copperplates down to those of Dharasena (a.d. 579 the great grandson of Bhaṭárka) give a complete genealogy from Bhaṭárka to Dharasena. Later copperplates omit all mention of any descendants but those in the main line.
In these grants Dhruvasena’s father Bhaṭárka and his elder brothers are described as ‘great Máheśvaras’ that is followers of Śiva, while Dhruvasena himself is called Paramabhágavata the great Vaishṇava. It is worthy of note, as stated in the a.d. 535 grant, that his niece Duḍḍá (or Lulá?) was a Buddhist and had dedicated a Buddhist monastery at Valabhi. The latest known date of Dhruvasena is a.d. 535 (G. 216). Whether Dharapaṭṭa or Dharapaṭṭa’s son Guhasena succeeded is doubtful. That Dharapaṭṭa is styled Mahárája and that a twenty-four years’ gap occurs between the latest grant of Dhruvasena and a.d. 559 the earliest grant of Chapter VIII. The Valabhis, a.d. 509–766. Dhruvasena I. a.d. 526–535. Guhasena favour the succession of Dharapaṭṭa. On the other hand in the a.d. 559 grant all Guhasena’s sins are said to be cleansed by falling at the feet of, that is, by succeeding, Dhruvasena. It is possible that Dharapaṭṭa may have ruled for some years and Dhruvasena again risen to power.
The beginning of Guhasena’s reign is uncertain. Probably it was not earlier than a.d. 539 (G. 220). His latest known date is a.d. 567 (G. 248) but he may have reigned two years longer.
Śíláditya I. a.d. 594–609.Dharasena II. was succeeded by his son Śíláditya I. who is also called Dharmáditya or the sun of religion.
The Śatruñjaya Máhátmya has a prophetic account of one Śíláditya who will be a propagator of religion in Vikrama Saṃvat Chapter VIII. The Valabhis, a.d. 509–766. Śíláditya I. a.d. 590–609. 477 (a.d. 420). This Máhátmya is comparatively modern and is not worthy of much trust. Vikrama Saṃvat 477 would be a.d. 420 when no Valabhi kingdom was established and no Śíláditya can have flourished. If the date 477 has been rightly preserved, and it be taken in the Śaka era it would correspond with Gupta 237 or a.d. 556, that is thirty to forty years before Śíláditya’s reign. Although no reliance can be placed on the date still his second name Dharmáditya gives support to his identification with the Śíláditya of the Máhátmya.
His grants like many of his predecessors style Śíláditya a great devotee of Śiva. Still that two of his three known grants were made to Buddhist monks shows that he tolerated and respected Buddhism. The writer of one of the grants is mentioned as the minister of peace and war Chandrabhaṭṭi; the Dútaka or causer of the gift in two of the Buddhist grants is Bhaṭṭa Ádityayaśas apparently some military officer. The third grant, to a temple of Śiva, has for its Dútaka the illustrious Kharagraha apparently the brother and successor of the king.
Kharagraha, a.d. 610–615.Śíláditya was succeeded by his brother Kharagraha, of whom no record has been traced. Kharagraha seems to have been invested with sovereignty by his brother Śíláditya who probably retired from the world. Kharagraha is mentioned as a great devotee of Śiva.
Dharasena III. a.d. 615–620.Kharagraha was succeeded by his son Dharasena III. of whom no record remains.
Dharasena IV. a.d. 640–649.Dhruvasena II. was succeeded by his son Dharasena IV. perhaps the most powerful and independent of the Valabhis. A copperplate dated a.d. 649 (G. 330) styles him Parama-bhaṭṭáraka, Mahárájádhirája, Parameśvara, Chakravartin Great Lord, King of Kings, Great Ruler, Universal Sovereign. Dharasena IV.’s successors continue the title of Mahárájádhirája or great ruler, but none is called Chakravartin or universal sovereign a title which implies numerous conquests and widespread power.
Dhruvasena III. a.d. 650–656.Dharasena IV. was not succeeded by his son but by Dhruvasena the son of Derabhaṭa the son of Dharasena IV.’s paternal grand-uncle. Derabhaṭa appears not to have been ruler of Valabhi itself but of some district in the south of the Valabhi territory. His epithets describe him as like the royal sage Agastya spreading to the south, and as the lord of the earth which has for its two breasts the Sahya and Vindhya hills. This description may apply to part of the province south of Kaira where the Sahyádri and Vindhya mountains may be said to unite. In the absence of a male heir in the direct line, Derabhaṭa’s son Dhruvasena appears to have succeeded to the throne of Valabhi. The only known copperplate of Dhruvasena III.’s, dated a.d. 651 (G. 332), records the grant of the village of Peḍhapadra in Vanthali, the modern Vanthali in the Navánagar State of North Káthiáváḍa. A copperplate of his elder brother and successor Kharagraha dated a.d. 656 (G. 337) shows that Dhruvasena’s reign cannot have lasted over six years.
Śíláditya IV. a.d. 691.Śíláditya III. was succeeded by his son Śíláditya IV. of whom one grant dated a.d. 691 (G. 372) remains. The officer who prepared the grant is mentioned as the general Divirapati Śrí Haragaṇa the son of Bappa Bhogika. The Dútaka or gift-causer is the prince Kharagraha, which may perhaps be the personal name of the next king Śíláditya V.
Śíláditya V. a.d. 722.Of Śíláditya V. the son and successor of Śíláditya IV. two grants dated a.d. 722 (G. 403) both from Gondal remain. Both record grants to the same person. The writer of both was general Gillaka son of Buddhabhaṭṭa, and the gift-causer of both prince Śíláditya.
Śíláditya VI. a.d. 760.Of Śíláditya VI. the son and successor of the last, one grant dated a.d. 760 (G. 441) remains. The grantee is an Atharvavedi Bráhman. The writer is Sasyagupta son of Emapatha and the gift-causer is Gánjaśáti Śrí Jajjar (or Jajjir).
Śíláditya VII. a.d. 766.Of Śíláditya VII. the son and successor of the last, who is also called Dhrúbhaṭa (Sk. Dhruvabhaṭa), one grant dated a.d. 766 (G. 447) remains.
Valabhi Family Tree.The following is the genealogy of the Valabhi Dynasty:
VALABHI FAMILY TREE, a.d. 509–766.
Bhaṭárka a.d. 509. (Gupta 190?).
Dharasena I. Droṇasiṃha. Dhruvasena I. a.d. 526. (Gupta 207). Dharapaṭṭa.
Guhasena a.d. 559, 565, 567, (Gupta 240, 246, 248).
Dharasena II. a.d. 571, 588, 589 (Gupta 252, 269, 270).
Śíláditya I. or Dharmáditya I. a.d. 605, 609 (Gupta 286, 290). Kharagraha I.
Dharasena III. Dhruvasena II. or Báláditya, a.d. 629 (Gupta 310).
Derabhaṭa.
Śíláditya II. Kharagraha II. or Dharmáditya II. a.d. 656 (Gupta 337). Dhruvasena III. a.d. 651 (Gupta 332). Dharasena IV. a.d. 645, 649, (Gupta 326, 330).
Śíláditya III. a.d. 671 (Gupta 352).
Śíláditya IV. a.d. 691, 698 (Gupta 372 & 379).
Śíláditya V. a.d. 722 (Gupta 403).
Śíláditya VI. a.d. 760 (Gupta 441).
Śíláditya VII. or Dhrúbhaṭa, a.d. 766 (Gupta 447).