Kamboi

Bombay Presidency, 1909, northern portion
Bombay Presidency, 1909, northern portion

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

Kamboi is a town located in Chanasma taluka, in Patan district, in the modern Indian state of Gujarat. It is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of Chanasma on the Harij-Mehsana road. It uses the postcode number of 384230.

History[edit]

Historian R. C. Majumdar describes Kamboi as being about 20 kilometres (12 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.[1]

Etymology[edit]

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.[2][3])

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.[4]

Hence KamboiKa == > Kamboi

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

Tourism[edit]

Jain tirtha[edit]

The Kamboi town has an old Jain tirtha (pilgrim place) at its centre. The moolnayak of this temple is a 2.5 feet (0.76 m) white-coloured idol of Bhagawan Manamohan Parshvanath in the Padmasana posture. The idol dates back to King Samprati’s period (224 – 215 BCE). Other idols in the temple have inscriptions dating back to the 16th century. The temple was renovated in 2003.[5][6]

There is also an old temple to Siyojmata, a goddess of the town.[citation needed]

Land-locked trade port[edit]

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 in Taluka Bhroach (ancient Bharukachcha) contiguous to Narbada.[7]

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ 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)."
  2. ^ Shahbazgarhi Rock Edict No 5 The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project Archived 14 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ No 13 The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project Archived 16 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ See: E. B. Cowel, The Prakrita Prakasha, preface pp ii-iv.
  5. ^ "KAMBOI TIRTH – the Jainsite World's Largest Jain Website".
  6. ^ "Shri Kamboi Teerth Patan Gujarat India".
  7. ^ "Ancient ports of Gujarat" Geospatial World.

References[edit]