62 



the former cannot possibly be neolithic ; knowledge ot 

 the manufacture of iron into somewhat elaborate tools — 

 saws, files and drills — must have been possessed by the 

 bangle makers. This would appear therefore to rule out 

 the early iron age, when iron weapons and tools were of 

 primitive design. 



Incidentally this conclusion is likely to affect the 

 estimate of age accorded to the potsherds so frequently 

 associated with fragments of chankbano-les and to render 

 doubtful their identification as neolithic or even of early 

 iron age. 



{c) Three sites alone give other than negative 

 evidence in regard to age. These are Gudivada in 

 Kistna district, Valabhipur in Kathiawar and Mahurl in 

 Gujarat. The remains at the first named are indubitably 

 Buddhistic while the occurrence of a figurine of a bull 

 with a double garland round the hump points distinctly 

 to an aee when the adherents of Brahmanism were in the 

 land holding in especial reverence Siva's sacred bull. 

 Most important find of all was that made in the ruins of 

 Valabhipur, for the history of this old city is fairly well 

 known ; the dates of many of the great events that 

 happened there are on record and the descriptions of two 

 Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited the city are 

 extant. The story of Valabhipur goes back some 

 centuries before the Christian era and for long It was 

 the seat of the Valabhis, a Rajput race, and the centre 

 of their rule, till the middle of the eighth century when 

 the last of the line was overthrown by Arab invaders 

 from Sind. Valabhi was visited by the Chinese pilgrim 

 Hiuen Tsang in the course of his fifteen years' sojourn in 

 India (A.D. 630-645) and by I. Tsing in the succeeding 

 century. Both pilgrims describe it as a large and 

 flourishing city and a great centre of Buddhist learning, 

 its streets and schools crowded with students. The 

 reigning dynasty, themselves of the Brahman faith, 

 appear to have been tolerant of Buddhism like many of 

 their contemporaries. In Hiuen Tsang's days the latter 

 religion was still followed by great numbers of the 

 populace, especially in Orissa and Southern India ; 

 elsewhere Hinduism was rapidly becoming the popular 

 religion and the mass of the people were of this faith 

 when the last Valabhi dynasty ended. 



