Kamboi

Coordinates: 23°41′N 72°01′E / 23.68°N 72.02°E / 23.68; 72.02

Kamboi is an ancient village/town located in chanasma taluka, in Patan district, in the modern Indian State of Gujarat. This place is at a distance of 10 km west of Chanasma on the Harij-Mehsana road. It has post office Postcode number of 384230.

History

The history of Kamboi is said to be very ancient. The town is first mentioned in the 10th century in the Daan Patras (gift letters) of the Chalukya rulers and is referred to as Kamboika.[1]

Historian R. C. Majumdar describes Kamboi as being about 32 kilometres (20 mi) west of Anahilwara Patan. It was the site of a decisive victory in 1392 over Farhat-ul-Mulk by Zaffar Khan, who later founded the Muzaffarid dynasty.[2]

Etymology

Kamboika is stated to have been evolved from the Pali Kambojaka or Kambojika as follows:

Kambojika == > Kamboyika == > Kamboika since hard palatal j is known to change to soft y in Indo-Aryan languages and further yi == > i.

The change of palatal j to soft y is not unusual. The Shabazgarhi Inscriptions of king Ashoka also write Kamboja as Kamboya where j is replaced with y.[3][4])

To give a few more illustrations, the terms SamJogita, SamaJa, Jajman, Jadu, Jogi and GaJni etc. are also found written as SamYokita, SamaYa Yajman Yadu, Yogi and GaYni where also the j has become soft y.

And lastly, the penultimate letter k being sandwiched between two vowels gets eliminated in ancient Indo-Aryan languages following a documented procedure as noted by ancient Prakritic Grammarians. According to third century Prakritic grammarian Acharya Varuchi, the consonants k, g, ch, j, t, d, p etc. falling between two vowel sounds usually get elited.[5]

Hence KamboiKa == > Kamboi

Thus, the 15th century records refer to this town as Kamboi.

Ancient Jain Tirtha

The Kamboi town also has an ancient and famous Jain tirtha (pilgrim place) by the same name located in the centre of the Kamboi town. In Kamboi, There located a Siyojmata Temple(Goddess of Village)which is very ancient.

Land-locked trade port

Recent archaeological excavations have discovered that even though land-locked now, the Kamboi and Kambay had been once well known sea ports on the western coast of Gujarat. Similarly also, there was a port named Gandhar localized in Taluka Bhroach (ancient Bharukachcha) contiguous to Narbada.[6]

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ See: The Indian Antiquary VI, 1877, pp 191-92, G. Buhler
  2. ↑ Majumdar 1960, p. 155. "A battle was fought at Kamboi, situated about 20 miles west of Anahilwāra Patan, in which Muzaffar inflicted a crushing defeat on Farhat who was killed (A.D. 1392)."
  3. ↑ Shahbazgarhi Rock Edict No 5 The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project Archived April 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ No 13 The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project Archived February 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ See: E. B. Cowel, The Prakrita Prakasha, preface pp ii-iv.
  6. ↑ "Ancient ports of Gujarat" Geospatial World.

References

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