CHAPTER XII

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THE MIHIRAS OR MERS.

A.D. 470-900.

That the Guptas held sway in Káthiáváda till the time of Skandagupta (A.D. 454-470) is proved by the fact that his Sorath Viceroy is mentioned in Skandagupta's inscription on the Girnár rock. After Skandagupta under the next known Gupta king Budhagupta (Gupta 165-180, A.D. 484-499) no trace remains of Gupta sovereignty in Sorath. It is known that Budhagupta was a weak king and that the Gupta kingdom had already entered on its decline and lost its outlying provinces. Who held Suráshtra and Gujarát during the period of Gupta decline until the arrival and settlement of Bhatkárka in A.D. 514 (Gupta 195) is not determined. Still there is reason to believe that during or shortly after the time of Budhagupta some other race or dynasty overthrew the Gupta Viceroy of these provinces and took them from the Guptas. These powerful conquerors seem to be the tribe of Maitrakas mentioned in Valabhi copperplates as people who had settled in Káthiáváda and established a mandala or kingdom. Though these Maitrakas are mentioned in no other records from Suráshtra there seems reason to identify the Maitrakas with the Mihiras the well-known tribe of Mhers or Mers. In Sanskrit both mitra and mihira are names of the sun, and it would be quite in agreement with the practise of Sanskrit writers to use derivatives of the one for those of the other. These Mhers or Mers are still found in Káthiáváda settled round the Barda hills while the Porbandar chiefs who are known as Jethvás are recognized as the head of the tribe. The name Jethvá is not a tribal but a family name, being taken from the proper or personal name of the ancestor of the modern chiefs. As the Porbandar chiefs are called the kings of the Mhers they probably belong to the same tribe, though, being chiefs, they try, like other ruling families, to rank higher than their tribe tracing their origin from Hanúmán. Though the Jethvás appear to have been long ashamed to acknowledge themselves to belong to the Mher tribe the founders of minor Mher kingdoms called themselves Mher kings. The Porbandar chiefs have a tradition tracing their dynasty to Makaradhvaja son of Hanúmán, and there are some Puránic legends attached to the tradition. The historical kernel of the tradition appears to be that the Mhers or Jethvás had a makara or fish as their flag or symbol. One of the mythical stories of Makaradhvaja is that he fought with Mayúradhvaja. Whatever coating of fable may have overlaid the story, it contains a grain of history. Mayúradhvaja stands for the Guptas whose chief symbol was a peacock mayúra, and with them Makaradhvaja that is the people with the fish-symbol that is the Mhers had a fight. This fight is probably the historical contest in which the Mhers fought with and overthrew the Gupta Viceroy of Káthiáváda.

The Káthiáváda Mhers are a peculiar tribe whose language dress and appearance mark them as foreign settlers from Upper India. Like the Málavas, Játs, Gurjjaras, and Pahlavas, the Mhers seem to have passed through the Punjáb Sindh and North Gujarát into Káthiáváda leaving settlements at Ajmír, Bádner, Jesalmír, Kokalmír, and Mherváda. How and when the Mhers made these settlements and entered Káthiáváda is not known. It may be surmised that they came with Toramána (A.D. 470-512) who overthrew the Guptas, and advanced far to the south and west in the train of some general of Toramána's who may perhaps have entered Suráshtra. This is probable as the date of Toramána who overthrew Budhagupta is almost the same as that of the Maitrakas mentioned as the opponents and enemies of Bhatárka. In the time of Bhatárka (A.D. 509-520?) the Mhers were firmly established in the peninsula, otherwise they would not be mentioned in the Valabhi grants as enemies of Bhatárka, a tribe or mandala wielding incomparable power. As stated above in