ANCIENT DIVISIONS.
[Ánartta.] From ancient times the present province of Gujarát consisted
of three divisions Ánartta, Suráshtra, and Láta. Ánartta seems to
have been Northern Gujarát, as its capital was Ánandapura the modern
Vadanagara or Chief City, which is also called Ánarttapura. [11]
Both these names were in use even in the times of the Valabhi kings
(A.D. 500-770). [12] According to the popular story, in each of
the four cycles or yugas Ánandapura or Vadanagara had a different
name, Chamatkárapura in the first or Satya-yuga, Ánarttapura in the
second or Tretá-yuga, Ánandapura in the third or Dvápara-yuga, and
Vriddha-nagara or Vadanagar in the fourth or Káli-yuga. The first
name is fabulous. The city does not seem to have ever been known by
so strange a title. Of the two Ánarttapura and Ánandapura the former
is the older name, while the latter may be its proper name or perhaps
an adaptation of the older name to give the meaning City of Joy. The
fourth Vriddha-nagara meaning the old city is a Sanskritized form
of the still current Vadnagar, the Old or Great City. In the Girnár
inscription of Kshatrapa Rudradáman (A.D. 150) the mention of Ánartta
and Suráshtra as separate provinces subject to the Pahlava viceroy
of Junágadh agrees with the view that Ánartta was part of Gujarát
close to Káthiáváda. In some Puránas Ánartta appears as the name of
the whole province including Suráshtra, with its capital at the well
known shrine of Dwáriká. In other passages Dwáriká and Prabhás are
both mentioned as in Suráshtra which would seem to show that Suráshtra
was then part of Ánartta as Káthiáváda is now part of Gujarát.
[Suráshtra.] Suráshtra the land of the Sus, afterwards Sanskritized
into Sauráshtra the Goodly Land, preserves its name in Sorath the
southern part of Káthiáváda. The name appears as Suráshtra in the
Mahábhárata and Pánini's Ganapátha, in Rudradáman's (A.D. 150)
and Skandagupta's (A.D. 456) Girnár inscriptions, and in several
Valabhi copper-plates. Its Prákrit form appears as Suratha in the Násik
inscription of Gotamiputra (A.D. 150) and in later Prákrit as Suraththa
in the Tirthakalpa of Jinaprabhásuri of the thirteenth or fourteenth
century. [13] Its earliest foreign mention is perhaps Strabo's
(B.C. 50-A.D. 20) Saraostus and Pliny's (A.D. 70) Oratura. [14]
Ptolemy the great Egyptian geographer (A.D. 150) and the Greek author
of the Periplus (A.D. 240) both call it Surastrene. [15] The Chinese
pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 600-640) mentions Valabhi then large and
famous and Suráshtra as separate kingdoms. [16]
[Láta.] Láta is South Gujarát from the Mahi to the Tápti. The name
Láta does not appear to be Sanskrit. It has not been found in the
Mahábhárata or other old Sanskrit works, or in the cave or other
inscriptions before the third century A.D., probably because the
Puránas include in Aparánta the whole western seaboard south of
the Narbada as far as Goa. Still the name Láta is old. Ptolemy
(A.D. 150) uses the form Larike [17] apparently from the Sanskrit
Látaka. Vátsyáyana in his Káma-Sutra of the third century A.D. calls
it Láta; describes it as situated to the west of Málwa; and gives an
account of several of the customs of its people. [18] In Sanskrit
writings and inscriptions later than the third century the name
is frequently found. In the sixth century the great astronomer
Varáhamihira mentions the country of Láta, and the name also appears
as Láta in an Ajanta and in a Mandasor inscription of the fifth
century. [19] It is common in the later inscriptions (A.D. 700-1200)
of the Chálukya Gurjara and Ráshtrakúta kings [20] as well as in the
writings of Arab travellers and historians between the eighth and
twelfth centuries. [21]
The name Láta appears to be derived from some local tribe, perhaps the
Lattas, who, as r and l are commonly used for each other, may possibly
be the well known Ráshtrakútas since their great king Amoghavarsha
(A.D. 851-879) calls the name of the dynasty Ratta. Lattalura
the original city of the Rattas of Saundatti and Belgaum may have
been in Láta and may have given its name to the country and to the
dynasty. [22] In this connection it is interesting to note that the
country between Broach and Dhár in Málwa in which are the towns of
Bágh and Tánda is still called Rátha.