Vallabhi

Vallabhi (modern Vala) is an ancient city on the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat in western India, near Bhavnagar. It was the capital of the ancient Maitraka dynasty.

Legend has it that a Rajput named Vijayasen founded the city around the 3rd century. The Maitrakas, descended from a Gupta general, ruled Saurashtra and parts of southern Rajasthan from Vallabhi from the sixth to the eighth centuries. Vallabhi was a Jain center, and the Maitrakas may have been Jains. Maitraka rule was ended with the sacking of Vallabhi by Arab armies in 770.