Note 36 — BHINMÁL.

Appendix III. Bhinmál. History. A short sketch of the history of the Gurjjaras, so far as it can be pieced together from contemporary sources, may help to show the probability of these identifications. The Gurjjaras apparently entered India in the fifth century a.d. The earliest notice of them occurs in the Śrí Harshacharita, a work of the early seventh century, in which during the early years of the seventh century Prabhákaravardhana the father of Śrí Harsha of Magadha (a.d. 606–641) is said to have conquered the king of Gandhára, the Húṇas, the king of Sindh, the Gurjjaras, the Láṭas, and the king of Málava.36 The date of their settlement at Bhinmál is unknown, but as their king was recognised as a Kshatriya in Hiuen Tsiang’s time (c. 640 a.d.) it probably was not later than a.d. 550. Towards the end of the sixth century (c. 585) they seem to have conquered northern Gujarát and Broach and to have forced the Valabhis (a.d. 509–766) to acknowledge their supremacy. (See above page 465.) They took very kindly to Indian culture, for in a.d. 628 the astronomer Brahmagupta wrote his Siddhánta at Bhinmál under king Vyághramukha, who, he states, belonged to the Śrí Chápa dynasty.37 This valuable statement not only gives the name of the Gurjjara royal house but at the same time proves the Gurjjara origin of the Chápoṭkaṭas or Chávoṭakas, that is the Chávaḍás of later times. This Vyághramukha is probably the same as the Gurjjara king whom in his inscription of S. 556 (a.d. 634) Pulakeśi II. claims to have subdued.38 A few years later (c. 640 a.d.) Hiuen Tsiang describes the king (probably Vyághramukha’s successor) as a devout Buddhist and just twenty years of age. The country was populous and wealthy, but Buddhists were few and unbelievers many. The Gurjjaras did not long retain their southern conquests. In Hiuen Tsiang’s time both Kaira (Kie-cha) and Vadnagar (Ánandapura) belonged to Málava, while the Broach chiefs probably submitted to the Chálukyas. No further reference to the Bhinmál kingdom has been traced until after the Arab conquest of Sindh when (a.d. 724–750) the Khalifa’s governor Junaid sent his plundering bands into all the neighbouring countries and attacked among other places Márwád (Márwár), Maliba (Málwa), Barus (Broach), Uzain (Ujjain), Al Bailamán (Bhilmál ?), and Jurz (Gurjjara).39 As noticed above the contemporary Chálukya plate of a.d. 738–9 also mentions Gurjjara as one of the kingdoms attacked. After these events the Arabs seem to have confined themselves to raiding the coast towns of Káthiáváḍa without attacking inland states such as Bhinmál. Immediately after the Arab raids ceased the Gurjjaras had to meet a new enemy the Ráshṭrakúṭas who after supplanting the Chálukyas in the Dakhan turned their attention northwards. Dantidurga in his Samangad grant of a.d. 753–440 speaks of ploughing the banks of the Mahí and the Revá (Narbada), and in his Elura inscription41 of conquering among other countries Málava Láṭa and Tanka.42 A few years later (a.d. 757–58) a branch of the main Ráshṭrakúṭa line established its independence in Láṭa in the person of Kakka.