Gurjaradesa

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Map
Places in Gurjaradeśa, as mentioned in historical texts and determined from the
find spots
of inscriptions (blue). The neighbouring places are shown as triangles (gray).

Gurjaradesa (lit. 'Gurjara country') or Gurjaratra is a historical region in India comprising the eastern

Gurjara-Pratiharas eventually controlled a major part of North India centered at Kannauj. The modern state of "Gujarat" derives its name from the ancient Gurjaratra.[1]

Early references to Gurjara country

Mohammad bin Qasim (712–715), including attacks on Bhinmal
.
Caliphal province of Sind
into Gujarat and Gurjaradesa in 724–740 CE.

Gurjaradēśa, or Gurjara country, is first attested in

Harsha's father Prabhakaravardhana (died c. 605 CE).[2] The bracketing of the country with Sindha (Sindh), Lāta (southern Gujarat) and Malava (western Malwa) indicates that the region including the northern Gujarat and Rajasthan is meant.[3]

Chapa dynasty ruler Vyāgrahamukha, under whose reign the mathematician-astronomer Brahmagupta wrote his famous treatise. It is believed that the young ruler mentioned by Hieun Tsang must have been his immediate successor.[6]
It appears that the Gurjara country at that time comprised modern Rajasthan.[2] Following the death of Harsha, his empire split up into small kingdoms. Gurjaradesa is believed to have become independent.

The Arab chroniclers of

Mohammad bin Qasim (712-715) and, for a second time, by Junayd (723-726).[8] Upon bin Qasim's victory, Al-Baladhuri mentioned that the Indian rulers, including that of Bhinmal, accepted Islam and paid tribute.[9] They presumably recanted after bin Qasim's departure, which made Junayd's attack necessary. After Junayd's reconquest, the kingdom at Bhinmal appears to have been annexed by the Arabs.[8]

Successor Gurjara kingdoms

Main article: Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty

A Gurjara kingdom was founded by Harichandra Rohilladhi at

Mandore Pratiharas
by historians.

The Bharuch line of Gurjaras (

Dadda I, who is identified with Harichandra's youngest son of the same name by many historians. These Gurjaras were always recognized as vassals (sāmanthas) though their allegiance might have varied over time. They are believed to have wrested a fair portion of the Lata province of the Chaulukyas and their kingdom also came to be regarded as part of Gurjaradesa.[13]

A final line of Gurjaras was founded by

Rashtrakutas and Palas, however continued to call them Gurjaras or kings of Gurjaras (Gurjaresa). The Pratiharas became the dominant force of the entire Rajasthan and Gujarat regions, establishing a powerful empire centered at Kannauj, the former capital of Harshavardhana.[17]

Later references

Udyotana Suri's

Kuvalayamala composed in Jalore in 778 CE describes in detail the Gurjara country as a beautiful country, whose residents are also referred to as Gurjaras.[18] They were differentiated from the Saindhavas (people of Sindh), Latas (in southern Gujarat), Malavas (people of Malwa) and Meravas. They were mentioned to be devotees of dharma and clever in matters of peace as well as war.[19]

The term Gurjaratra is first mentioned in the

Jodhpur State.[21]

In later times, the term Gurjaratra is used to connote the present day Gujarat. Jinadatta Suri (1075-1154 CE) mentions a country of Gujaratta with its capital at

Chaulukyas (Solankis) are also referred to as Gurjaras in inscriptions and their country as Gurjaradesa.[22]

Culture and science

Bhinmal was a great centre of learning. According to Kanhadade Prabandha, it had 45,000 Brahmins who never tired of studying the ancient sacred books.[23]

zero, rules for manipulating positive and negative numbers, as well as algorithms for algebraic operations on decimal numbers.[24] His work on astronomy and mathematics was transmitted to the court of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur (r. 754-775 CE), who had the Indian astronomical texts translated into Arabic. Through these texts, the decimal number system spread through the Arab world and later Europe.[25]

The Sanskrit poet Magha, the author of Sisupalavadha, lived here in 680 CE. The Jain scholar Siddharshi Gani, a resident of Bhinmal wrote Upmitibahava prapancha katha in 905 CE. The Jain Ramayana was written by Jain monk Vijayagani in 1595 CE. Jain acharya Udyotana Suri wrote

Kuvalayamala
here.

See also

References

  1. ^ Puri 1986, Chapter 1.
  2. ^ a b c Puri 1986, p. 9.
  3. JSTOR 41694902
  4. ISBN 978-90-04-09249-5
    .
  5. ^ a b Puri 1986, p. 35.
  6. S2CID 161891450
    .
  7. ^ Bhandarkar 1929, pp. 29–30; Wink 2002, p. 208; Blankinship 1994, pp. 132–133
  8. ^ a b Blankinship 1994, p. 133.
  9. ^ Blankinship 1994, p. 319.
  10. ^ Puri 1986, p. 34.
  11. ^ Puri 1986, pp. 37–39.
  12. ^ Sanjay Sharma 2006, p. 191.
  13. ^ Puri 1986, p. 41.
  14. ^ Shanta Rani Sharma 2012, p. 8.
  15. ^ Sanjay Sharma 2006, p. 204.
  16. ^ Blankinship 1994, p. 188.
  17. ^ Puri 1986, chapters 3–4.
  18. ^ V. B. Mishra 1954, pp. 50–51.
  19. ^ Manglani, J. J. (March 2012), "Kuvalayamala - A source of Social and Cultural History of Rajasthan" (PDF), International Journal of Recent Research and Review, 1
  20. ^ Puri (1986, p. 8); Krishna Gopal Sharma (1993, p. 15)
  21. ^ Puri 1986, p. 8.
  22. ^ Puri 1986, pp. 8–9.
  23. ISBN 978-81-85179-54-4
  24. ISBN 978-0-12-804624-1
  25. ISBN 978-0-415-58061-8
Sources
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