Review of Archaeological Research on Medieval Gujarat
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Review of Archaeological Research on Medieval Gujarat Avradeep Munshi1 1. Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Deemed to be University, Pune – 411 006, Maharashtra, India (Email: [email protected]) Received: 03 August 2017; Revised: 21 September 2017; Accepted: 02 November 2017 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5 (2017): 631‐643 Abstract: Regardless of innumerable developments in Indian archaeological research through the ages when it comes to understanding the medieval mind of our ancestors over material cultures, we normally remained silent. Therefore this paper is intended to acknowledge the works of those scholars who initiated and tried their level best to put medieval archaeology into mainstream archaeological research. By correlating literary records with existed material cultural remains to understand the past derived from recent events. Hence, for a case study, this paper will focus on the research work that had been done over the years in Gujarat. With the help of published and a few unpublished works, the main aim of will be to give a brief review of the overall development of archaeological research in the medieval period of Gujarat. Keywords: Archaeology, Excavation, Exploration. Gujarat, Medieval, Material, Culture Introduction As we all agree with the point that archaeology is the only discipline which can investigate through material cultures the lifestyle of our predecessors, so, it is not difficult to judge what we should comprehend by the term ‘Medieval Archaeology’. As Prof Mate pointed out, it is an approach towards archaeological methods to know more and more precisely about various aspects of the life of medieval society, a society which has bequeathed much of the daily lifestyle of modern society (Mate, 2005:14). Medieval Archaeology or Archaeology of Medieval world essentially focused on studying those part of the history which is not longstanding more than several hundred of years. Thus it has been focused essentially to bridge the gap by combining its own methods with the evidence taken from written documents and oral traditions (Mehta,1979:7) to give a complete story of a particular society. Keeping the above outlook in mind, this paper will focus to provide a brief review of the archaeological research works that had been done over the past few decades in the Medieval period of Gujarat. But, before doing the assessments of previous works, briefly, we will look at the political and economic segment of the contemporary region to have a better understanding of the plot above which the entire research work had been based upon. ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5: 2017 Political and Economic Formation of ‘Medieval Gujarat’ The history of medieval Gujarat and its consequent repercussions in the arena of contemporary polity started alongside the demise of the centralized authoritarian control of Delhi over her subjugated regions. After Firuz Shah’s demise and Timur’s sack of Delhi around 1398 A.D – 1399 A.D, Delhi failed to control her provincial governments (Sheikh.2010:39) and with the disintegration centralized domination, many regional powers made their way to the mainstream polity and Gujarat was no exception in this case. It was the Muzaffaris who directed the new upliftment in political history of Gujarat province led by Zafar Khan, also known as Muzaffar Shah, founder of the new regime in Gujarat A.H 810 (1407 C.E) (Bayley, 1886: 67 – 68) by dethroning the former chief of the expense Farhat – u’l – mulk Rasti Khan (Misra, 1962 : 137).Essentially, it didn’t help him to inaugurate the beginning of new government rather it was just a commencement of the processes which ultimately lead them to a beginning of the new independent dynasty of Gujarat. During his sway along with his son Tatar Khan, he did a few expeditions, among which popular once are like his marching towards the Mandu in 1395 A.D, followed by towards the infidels of Idar around 1398 A.D (Bayley, 1886. 67 – 68) and lastly his ambitious campaign towards Malwa region on 1407 A.D. According to historians this last campaign basically scripted the initiation of long and eventful ‘inter – state’ relations between the two states of Gujarat and Malwa (Misra, 1962: 158). After him, it was his grandson Ahmad Shāh who took the epithet of Sultān Nāsir – ud – din and ascended the throne around 1411 A.D at Patan. But then, the initial days were not smooth for him until he made his mind to root out the semi‐independent Rajputs from Gujarat after solving other problems related to his annexation to the throne. For this cause he initiated campaigning seasons against his antagonists like Raja Narsing Das of Champaner on 1419 A.D followed by other campaigns towards Dhar , Malwa around 1421 A.D and 1438 ‐ 39 A.D , Mandu in 1422 A.D, Idar on 1426 and 1428 A.D and a few more (Misra, 1962 : 128 ‐ 222). Next, to him, it was his son Muhammad Khan (ascended the throne around 1442 A.D) and later Mahmud Begada (1459 A.D) who actually put an utmost effort to concrete the position of the Muzaffaris in the history of Gujarat. “The Defender of the Faith” Mahmud Shāh Begada, ascended the throne in Ahmedabad on 18th June 1459 (Faridi, 1899; 42). The voyage of Begada for expansion of his territory started from 1460 C.E. (A.H 864) when he sets his army towards the land of Kapadvanj (Faridi, 1899; 50). Later on, he marched all the way to Nazabār, in the land of Nizam Shāh, who seeks assistance, for throwing Mahmud Khilji out of Deccan region. However, among his expeditions, one of the most significant ones was to grab a hold over Girnar fort. For capturing the entire area he made a series of expeditions starting from the year of A.H 871 (1466 C.E) to A.H 877. Later on, he also made some invasion to capture other places like Sindh (Commissariat, 1938; 172), Sankhodwārā (Commissariat, 1938; 173), Sanjan (Commissariat, 1938; 181) etc. Nevertheless, the most important landmark of the Muzaffaris in Begada’s lifetime was to capture Champaner – Pavagadh, the land of Chauhans. After a long siege for 20 months on 21st Nov of 1484 C.E. he took control of Pavagadh by defeating the former (Faridi, 1899:66). Next, 632 Munshi 2017: 631‐643 to him, it was Muzaffar Shah II, then Sikandar and Mahmud II followed by Bahadur Shah. It was during his reign when the Sultanates engaged in a conflict with Mughals at Gujarat and as a consequence, they were dethroned by their rivals around 1526 A.D. The capital was again gradually shifted back to Ahmedabad. Lastly, it was Muzaffar II who was on the throne from 1561 A.D ‐ 1572 A.D and with his demise Sultanate rule in Gujarat finally come to an end (Faridi, 1899). Nevertheless, the key factor behind successful political mobilization of Muzaffaris within Gujarat was their better understanding of the land divisions. With respect to geographical features, the entire Gujarat can be divided into four parts – mainland, peninsula, coastal and desert region. And this respect Muzaffaris actually made different types of settlement plans and political strategies for each region. Like, making corridors in different provinces for maintaining smooth and successful trade network between Gujrat and the rest of northern India (Sheikh, 2010: 25‐100). And they did this via initiating long‐term policies of trade along with the political stability in the regions by constructing of big forts, city walls and even towns close to the trade routes. Like Ahmedabad, Champaner the capital cities of Gujarat and Kheda (not capital), these were laid down along with trade routes of Eastern Corridor and at Panchmahal region respectively. These areas were also fertile but forested and the material remains in this regions signifies that the Sultanates put an effort to make the areas suitable for cultivation by mounting wells along with step wells, reservoirs around the region which resulted in the production of chief crops like cotton, indigo, food grains etc. Not only hinterlands even the coastal Gujarat also witnessed some developmental processes as they grew up as important trading centres along the sea route. However, documents suggest us that they were mostly independent of hinterland political activities. (Towns like Chaul, Bassein, Mahim, Diu were perfect example of this kind. Because, during 14th C A.D all provincial rulers of these areas engaged in tussles against the Sultan in search for claiming their sovereignty over the supreme and to have their on share over trading activities (Faridi, 1899 : 75). Even places like Kachchh and Somanath were infamous for the pirates who also played an important role in the control of trade (Sheikh, 2010:87). There were many small port towns which gradually came into existence by 14th C A.D. Like the port of Cambay or present‐day Khambat, due to its geographical location the port used to be a safe corridor for hinterland trading from Patan to the coast which with the coming of the Sultanates emerged as one of the most important ports of Gujarat. So in nutshell, these were the overall state of affairs upon which the sultanate rule of Gujarat was established and the material culture what we find right now where the consequences of this process. Medieval Archaeological Research in Gujarat The urge for finding new sites during the initial days in post‐independent era also indirectly affected the medieval segment of Indian Archaeology. It was under the 633 ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 5: 2017 leadership of late Prof.