Chronological Systems of Gujarat

SR No.: 006798
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bharati K Shelat
Publisher: Pranav Shelat
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 422
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 35

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THE CHRONOLOGICAL SYSTEMS OF GUJARAT
of this period are given only in years and contained no particulars about months, days etc. On this account we have no data for determining the systems of the commencement of the year and the completion of the month. The Indo-Greek Period
The next epigraphic records in Gujarat belong to the Indo-Greek period. The Periplus records that coins issued by Menander" (cir. 155–130 B. C.) and Apollodotus Il" (cir. 95–80 B. C.) were in circulation for centuries, in Barygaza which was known to be a trading centre.13 Their coins are found off and on. They bear legends but contain no dates. :: On the other hand some casket inscriptions of the time of King Menander, found at Shinkot in Bajaur territary in the North-West Frontier Province are dated.14 The dates of the inscriptions contain years, months and lunar days. The year used in these inscriptions is regnal. The months used here are purely Indian15 and not Macedonian or Greek ones, some of 11. A. K. Narain, The Indo Greeks, p. 181 12. Ibid., p. 181 13. The view that the coins of Menander and Apollodotus were
found to be in circulation at Barygaza was disproved by A. K. Narain, who suggested that these coins come from some outside area, probably from where the warlike nation of the Bactrians ruled, or it may be that the author of the Periplus had seen the coins of a certain Appollodotus and Menander, and noticed Similar coins in Barygaza not necessarily of their owo minting
(A. K. Narain, The Indo-Greeks, p. 68). 14. D. C. Sircar, Select Inscriptions, pp. 102 ff. 15. Kārttika and Vaišākha