Vol. VIII, No. 10.] Numismatic Supplement No. XIX. 411 
[V.S.] 
application have undergone a change, so that the Sorath of to- 
day is the district in the south and south-west of the ——. 
Midst all change, however, it has remained the Goodly L 
Here is a glowing eulogy of the province that Sikandar a 
Muhammad, writing in 1611, has recorded in his History :— 
‘*And what a country is Sorath! As if the hand of 
‘a compendium of all,the good people of the world, 
‘and had picked out the noblest and most vigorous 
men from the three countries named, and 
‘* collected them together unto one standard, as a 
‘touchstone of the countries of the world ....... 
‘*God be praised Such is Sorath, even at the 
** present day.” 
ee 
Junagadh, the chief — of the province, lies in a pictur- 
esque valley at the foot of the Girnar and Datar Hills. The 
Purva-nagara. Its more modort names were J sn tate and 
Jirna-gadha, of which the latter would seem to be the original 
of its present name, Jinagadh. Thus from time immemorial 
it has been continuously known as ‘ the Ancient City ’ or ‘ the 
Old Fort. 
The Mir’at-i-Sikandari has preserved for us the story how 
the city came by thisname. Long long ago, so the people of 
Sorath say, for the full five kos between Jiinagadh and the 
former capital, Vanthali (Vamana-sthali), extended a dense 
assage 
through, and lo! on as ths further side high walls of stone and a 
massive gate confronted him. Entering within, he saw a yogi, 
wrapped in contemplation, at whose feet he prostrated himself, 
and begged to be told the name of the city and its builders 
‘Jina’ was the only word vouchsafed in reply. The hardy 
peasant soon thereafter returned in safety to his home; and 
the Raja, hearing of the strange adventure, forthwith had the 
whole jungle cleared away. The mysterious fort now stood 
exposed to vulgar gaze, ec none could tell how or when it had 
come into existence: an nd s o better name could be devised 
for it than just the yogi’s Jain u apie 
Tradition _ that after the fall of toa ri: about 
A.D. 770, the then Viceroy at Vanthali ass independence, 
and checsaiteel a near the close of the fifteenth century, the 
Chiidasamas were rulers of Jiinagadh. Time and again the 


! Sir E. ©. Bayley’s translation of the Mir’ at-i-Sikandari, pp. 180, 
181. 
