Vallabhi

Vallabhi (or Valabhi or Valabhipur) is an ancient city located in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat, near Bhavnagar in western India. It is also known as Vallabhipura and was the capital of the Kingdom of Valabhi, an early medieval state ruled by the Chandravanshi Maitraka Dynasty.

Vallabhi Vallabhipur
Town
Vallabhi
Coordinates: 21.8878°N 71.8795°E / 21.8878; 71.8795
Country	India
State	Gujarat
Region	Saurashtra
District	Bhavnagar
Established	319; 1706 years ago (319)
Founded by	Maharaja Kanak sen
Population  (2011)
• Total	15,852
Languages
• Official	Gujarati
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	364310
Vehicle registration	GJ-04

History

Five Bronzes recovered from Valabhipur

Vallabhi was occupied as early as the Harappan period,^[1] and was later part of the Maurya Empire 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.^[2]

The Great Council of Vallabhi, which codified the Śvētāmbaras Jain texts, was held there in 454 CE,^[3][4] 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 ^[5]), declared himself Maharaja (literally "Great King").^[6] 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 the 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.^[7][8][9]

During the time of Kharagraha I, a copperplate grant was found from 616 CE that shows that his territories included Ujjain. 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 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.^[6][7]

The rule of the Maitrakas is believed to have ended during the second or third quarter of the eighth century when the Arabs invaded.^[10][11]

List of Rulers

1. Senāpati Bhaṭārka (c. 470-c. 492)
2. Senāpati Dharasena I (c. 493-c. 499)
3. Drona Sen (title: Maharaja) (c. 500-c. 520)
4. Dhruva Sen I (520-550 AD)
5. Dhanapatta Sen (550-556 AD)
6. Graha Sen (556-570 AD)
7. Dhara Sen II (570-595 AD)
8. Siladitya Sen I (Dharmaditya) (595-615 AD)
9. Kharagraha I (615-626 AD)
10. Dhara Sen III (AD 626-640)
11. Dhruva Sen II (Baladitya) (640-644 AD)
12. Chakravarti Raja Ghana Sen IV (Titles: Parambhattarak, Maharajadhiraja, Parameshwar) (644-651 AD)
13. Dhruva Sen III (651-655 AD)
14. Khagraha Sen II (655-658 AD)
15. Siladitya Sen II (658-685 AD)
16. Siladitya Sen III (690-710 AD)
17. Siladitya Sen IV (710-740 AD)
18. Siladitya Sen V (740-762 AD)
19. Siladitya Sen VI (Dhruvatta) (762-776 AD)

Valabhi inscriptions

Evolution of Brahmi numerals from the time of Ashoka, including the numerals from the Valahbi inscriptions c. 600 CE.

Religious inscriptions are known from Valhabi, which were dedicated to the Brahmans as well as the Buddhist and Jains.^[12] The Indologist Sylvain Lévi wrote an article entitled "Les donations religieuses des rois de Valhabi".^[13]

The numerals used in the Valhabi inscriptions and on their coins, dated to c. 600 CE, are often mentioned as an intermediary step in the evolution of Hindu-Arabic numerals.^[14]

See also

• Vala State
• Valabhi University

References

1. Shirvalkar, Prabodh (2013). "Harappan migrations: A perspective about the Gujarat Harappans" (PDF). Heritage Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology. 1: 301–318. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 October 2022.
2. Patel, Ambika (2007). "Material Culture and Technology of Early Historic Gujarat, Western India". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 68 (Part Two): 1377–1400.
3. Stevenson, Margaret (1915). The Heart of Jainism. London: Oxford University Press. p. 13.
4. Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1916). The Beginning of Hindu Culture as World-power (A.D. 300-600). Shanghai: Commercial Press. p. 29. OCLC 613143923.
5. "Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen: Unter Aufsicht d. Akademie der Wissenschaften". 1839.
6. Roychaudhuri, H.C. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, University of Calcutta, Calcutta, pp.553-4
7. Mahajan V.D. (1960, reprint 2007). Ancient India, S.Chand & Company, New Delhi, ISBN 81-219-0887-6, pp.594-6
8. Monroe, Paul (28 August 2014). Paul Monroe's encyclopaedia of history of education. p. 177. ISBN 9788177550917. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
9. "Hiuen Tsang's Gujarat travel: 'Valabhi was at par with Nalanda' - TOI Mobile". The Times of India Mobile Site. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
10. History and Culture of Indian People, Classical age, p 150, (Ed) Dr A. D. Pusalkar, Dr R. C. Majumdar.
11. Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. SUNY Press. pp. 187–189. ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
12. "M. Sylvain Levi (Les donations religieuses des rois de Valhabi) analyse, d'après les documents de l'époque, les donations faites, du VI au VIII siècle de notre ère, par les souverains de ce petit royaume bindou ou plutôt rajpoute, en faveur des communautés brahmaniques, bouddbiques et jainas, avec un éclectisme que Tauteur rappelle n'être pas rare dans l'Inde préislamique." Revue de l'histoire des religions (in French). Presses Universitaires de France [etc.] 1896. p. 345.
13. Revue de l'histoire des religions (in French). Presses Universitaires de France [etc.] 1896. p. 345.
14. Smith, David Eugene; Karpinski, Louis Charles (1911). The Hindu-Arabic numerals. Boston, London, Ginn and Company. p. 25.