Vol. V, No. 6.] Guhilots. - 183 
[V.S.] 
only so far as my knowledge goes, is found attached to the names 
of no other Brahmanas but those who, for the reasons just stated, 
cannot but be considered to be Nagars. Now, the term Nagar 
which designates a specific class of Brahmanas in Gujarat is 
of comparatively recent origin. It is popularly believed to 
have been derived from the name Nagara, by which Vadnagar 
was also known, as will have been seen from verse 7 of a pragasti 
of Nanaka quoted above. The name Nagar could not have been 
much earlier than the time of Kumarapala in whose Vadnagar 
prasasti they are called Nagaras.! But there must have been 
some other caste or tribal name by which they were in early 
days distinguished from other Brahmanas. And I cannot re- 
is nothing, therefore, that runs counter to the supposition that 
the Nagar Brahmanas mentioned in the copper-plate inscrip- 
tions of the Valabhi princes alluded to above gave only their 
caste name, viz., Mitra, after their own and their father’s names. 
I need only add here that this remark is confirmed by what i 
shall have subsequently to say. Let us now see who the Valabhi 
princes were, in other words, to what tribe they belonged. Al- 
most all the copper-plate charters, which mention Bhatarka, 
the founder of the Valabhi dynasty, describe him thus: gay- 
: EN age 
waafaarat «FARMAN AAA ITT aH : 
wmaqyary: etc., ete. When I first began the study of the 
Valabhi inscriptions, I naturally understood Maitrakandm to 
be connected with Bhatarka, concluded that Bhatarka was a 
Maitraka, and wondered why this interpretation did not suggest 
itself to the scholars. But I soon found that this view had already 
been published by no less a scholar than Professor Hultzsch. a 
am, therefore, now confident that this interpretation alone will 
Be lagia 
1 It is worthy of note that in the Vadnagar prasastt of Kumérapala 
alluded to above (Ep. Ind., vol. i, pp. 295, 299 and 303), while the sown 
is cal Anandapura, the Brahmanas residing in it are c Nagara, 
This seems to show, I think, that till this time Vadnagar was not enawn 
is] 
2 be > (Gujarat Population in the 
Bombay dazetteer, vol. ix, pt. i, p. 438, note 9). Naégars were probably 
originally a clan or sept of Maitrakas eM ok 
2 Ep. Ind., vol. iii, pp. 319 and 320. 
