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 57

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THE CHRONOLOGICAL SYSTEMS OF GUJARAT
at the time of the rise of their power. Naturally it was the Gupta era which was current in Saurashtra during the Gupta period. But that era seems to have undergone modification in the system of the years soon after the decline of the Gupta power in Suraṣṭra. It is this modified era that received the new nomenclature 'Valabhi era'. The name 'Valabhi' evidently suggests that the modified system must have been adopted and propagated by the Valabhi Kingdom.
On the basis of a critical examination of the dates given in the Valabhi grants, H. G. shastri definitely established that the dates in the Valabhi grants as well as the dates of the Valabhi era given in the later records followed the scheme of Kārttikadi years and Pūrṇimānta months. The Kārttikadi year of the Valabhi era commenc. ed five lunations earlier than the corresponding Caitrādi year of the Gupta era.
As regards the intercalation of months he examined the three cases of intercalation critically and established that all the cases uniformly apply to the system of mean intercalation and that the months were named according to the Meṣādi rule.
Though the Maitraka records do not specify the name of the era used in their dates, it is quite probable that the unspecified era must have been identical with the Valabhi era mentioned in the later records. The years in the Maitraka records range from the year 183 to 447, while the years of the 'Valabhi era' range
8. The original era known as Gupta-Kāla retained its original name even when it was reintroduced into Western Sūrāṣṭra by the Saindhavas.