________________
THE MAITRAKA PERIOD
65 but with Kārttika Sukla in Gujarat.76 The years of the era start seven months later in Gujarat than in North India."? In the North again the months are Pūrņimānta while they are Amānta in Gujarat. The corresponding year of the Christian era is obtained in Gujarat by subtracting 57 years from the year of the Vikrama era from Kārttika Śu. 1 to Dec. 31 and 56 years from Jan. 1 to Āśvina ba 15.
The Hansot plates are dated simply in year 813, but make no mention of the month, fortnight and day. They, however, contain a reference to the occurrence of the solar eclipse on the day of the grant. From the Tables of Pillai78 the eclipse seems to have taken place on the Amāvāsyā of Kārttika of the Vikrama year 813, corresponding to 28th of Oct. 756 A.C. if the year was Caitrādi or Kārttikādi and also on the Amāvāsyā of Vaišākha (corresponding to 23rd April, A.C. 757), if the year was Kārttikādi. As the eclipse took place in the dark half of the lunar month, the name of the month would have been helpful in deciding whether the month was counted Pūrnimānta or Amānta. 76. The years begin with Āsādha Sukla in some parts of Gujarat
and Rajasthan, and with Śrāvaņa Bahula in the Udayapur region of Rajasthan (Ojha, Bhāratiya Prācīna Lipimālā, pp.
169 f.) 77. Ojha, ibid., p. 169
D. C. Sircar observes that the years of the era now start seven months earlier in the South India than in the North India (IE., p. 258). The statement obviously seems erroneous and 'In the South India than in the North India' must be
corrected into 'In the North India than in the South India'. 78. Pillai, Indian Chronology, Table X.
160 f)
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