194 ESSAY ON 



usurped the rank and power of Bala-Rayas. It i^ 

 declared in our list, that the Chauhans were, at 

 some period, rulers of the whole country, as Bala- 

 Ri'iyas ; but our author has forgot to point out, in 

 the list, tlie princes of that famous and ancient 

 tribe. 



In the fifth centur}^ Tamra-nagara^ or Camhat^ 

 was the metropolis of the Bala-ruyas ; and perhaps 

 of the emperors of the west also, when these two 

 dignities happened to be united in the same person ; 

 and it was the place of residence of the father-in-r 

 law of Gardabha, or Bahram-Gur, called Sa- 

 da'sva, 'Sadas'va-pa'la, Vesudha and Ta'mra- 

 SEN'A, from his metropolis, Tamra-nagara^ or 

 Tamra-puraj signifying the Copper city, which is 

 supposed, accordingly, to have been intirely built 

 of that metal. It was near Cambat ; but tradition 

 says that it was swallowed up by the sea; and Cam- 

 bat was a famous place of worship, called, in the 

 PurmiaSj Stambhasfha-Tirfha* from a Stamhha or 

 column, close to the sacred pool. Now, a column 

 is called Camha in the spoken dialects ; and from 

 Cambasta, is derived its present name of Cambat. 

 Stambhasfha and Tamrapura are called Asia and 

 Trapera, by the author of the Periplus ; but Pto- 

 lemy, considering these two places as one only, for 

 they were close to each other, calls it jlsiacampra or 

 Astacapra ; and instead of Tumra, which signifies 

 copper, he writes Camyra or Capra. The reason 

 why he has carried this place so far inland, on the 

 banks of the Alahi, is, that either he, or some other 

 writer, misunderstood the natives, who have no 

 Word for a bay or gulf, and use generally the word 

 river instead of it, particularly when there is one at 

 the bottom of the gulf, as in the present case f. 



* Cuniaric^ C'handa. f ^*>i<* signifies onlj' a Creek. 



