Vallabhi (or Valabhi or Valabhipur, modern Vala; Devanāgarī: वल्लभी) is an ancient city located in the
Saurashtra peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
of
Gujarat, near
Bhavnagar
Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...
in western
India. It is also known as Vallabhipura and was the capital of the Suryavanshi
Maitraka Dynasty.
History
Vallabhi was occupied as early as the
Harappan period, and was later part of the
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...
from about 322 BCE until 185 BCE.
The
Satavahana dynasty ruled the area, off and on, from the late second century BCE until the early third century CE. The
Gupta Empire held the area from approximately 319 CE to 467 CE.
The Great Council of Vallabhi, which codified the
Śvētāmbara
The Śvētāmbara (; ''śvētapaṭa''; also spelled ''Shwethambara'', ''Svetambar'', ''Shvetambara'' or ''Swetambar'') is one of the two main branches of Jainism, the other being the ''Digambara''. Śvētāmbara means "white-clad", and refers ...
s
Jain texts, was held there in 454 CE, during the decline of the Gupta Empire.
In the fifth century (CE), the first two
Maitraka rulers, Bhatarka and Dharasena I, only used the title of ''Senapati'' (general). The third ruler, Dronasimha (Dronasena ), declared himself ''Maharaja'' (literally "Great King").
[Roychaudhuri, H.C. (1972). ''Political History of Ancient India'', University of Calcutta, Calcutta, pp.553-4] King Guhasena came after him. Unlike his predecessors, the king stopped using the term ''Paramabhattaraka Padanudhyata'' alongside his name, a term that denotes nominal allegiance to the Gupta overlords. He was succeeded by his son Dharasena II, who used the title ''Mahadhiraja''. The next ruler was his son, Siladitya-I Dharmaditya, who was described by a Chinese scholar and traveller
Xuanzang as a "monarch of great administrative ability and of rare kindness and compassion". Siladitya I was succeeded by his younger brother Kharagraha I.
[Mahajan V.D. (1960, reprint 2007). ''Ancient India'', S.Chand & Company, New Delhi, , pp.594-6]
During the time of Kharagraha I, a copperplate grant was found from 616 CE that shows that his territories included
Ujjain
Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...
. During the reign of the next ruler, his son Dharasena III, north Gujarat was assimilated into the kingdom. Dharasena II was succeeded by another son of Kharagraha I, Dhruvasena II, Baladitya. He married the daughter of
Harshavardhana and their son Dharasena IV assumed the imperial titles of ''Paramabhattaraka Mahrajadhiraja Parameshvara Chakravartin'' and Sanskrit poet
Bhatti
Bhatti () is a clan of Rajputs and Jats found in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Bhattis along with Bhuttos and Bhatias claim to have originated from the Hindu Bhati Rajputs.
In the years preceding the Indian rebellion of 1857 the British ...
was his court poet. The next powerful ruler of this dynasty was Siladitya III. After him, Siladitya V ruled, and it is suspected that during his reign, there was an Arab Invasion. The last known ruler of the dynasty was Siladitya VII.
The rule of the Maitrakas is believed to have ended during the second or third quarter of the eighth century when the
Arabs invaded.
Valabhi inscriptions
Religious inscriptions are known from Valhabi, which were dedicated to the Brahmans as well as the Buddhist and Jains. The Indologist
Sylvain Lévi wrote an article entitled ''"Les donations religieuses des rois de Valhabi"''.
The numerals used in the Valhabi inscriptions and on their coins, dated to circa 600CE, are often mentioned as an intermediary step in the evolution of
Hindu-Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers such as c ...
.
See also
*
Vala State
Vala State or Vallabhipura was a non-salute princely state in India during the British Raj until 1948. The centre was the city of Vallabhi. The last ruler of the state signed the state's accession to the Indian Union on 15 February 1948.
Hi ...
*
Valabhi University
References
{{Bhavnagar district
Cities and towns in Bhavnagar district