Valabhī

▪ ancient city, India

      city of ancient India that was the capital of the Maitraka dynasty in the 5th–8th century AD. It was situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhāt), northwest of the port of Bhavnagar, in Saurāṣṭra (later Gujarāt), western India. The city is thought to have been established about AD 470 by the founder of the dynasty, Senāpati Bhaṭārka, during the period when the Gupta empire was breaking up. It continued as capital until about 780, when it suddenly and unaccountably disappeared from history. It apparently survived the Arab invasions of Saurāṣṭra about 725–735.

      Valabhī was a celebrated centre of learning, with numerous Buddhist monasteries. It was visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-tsang in the middle of the 7th century and by I-ching at the century's close. The latter described it as equaling the fame of Nālandā in Bihār. According to a Jaina tradition, the second Jaina Council was held in Valabhī in the 5th or 6th century AD; at this council the Jaina scriptures assumed their present form. The city has now vanished, but it is identified with a village, Vala, where numerous copperplate inscriptions and seals of the Maitrakas have been found.

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