Indian Antiquary Vol 37

SR No.: 032529
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 454
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 59

SOYTHIAN PERIOD OF INDIAN HISTORY.
FEBRUARY, 1908.]
That is, the Bodhisattva image of the Bhiksu Bala, who was well versed in the three pitakas, was set up by the great satrap Kharapallina and the satrap Vanaspara. They may have placed the money at the disposal of the satrap and then left Benares to some other holy place, while the satraps superintended the carving and the erection of the statue. The text of the inscription on the umbrella shaft:
Line (3)... Bhiksusya Balasya Trepiṭakasya (4) Bodhisattvo. . . . . . pratisthāpito
53
Line (8) saha kaatrapena Vanasparena Kharapalla
» (9) nena ca....
In the way expressed above means accordingly that the satraps also acquired merit by their labour of superintendence.
The second and third objections to the use of the Saka era in Northern India in the Kuṣāna period may be answered together. There is no direct proof that the Saka era originated in Western India. On the other hand, the researches of Mr. Bhandarkar clearly prove that the era was originally founded in Northern India, and that Nahapana and Castana were Northerners, and most probably were merely provincial governors. There is no need to assume that the Saka reckoning was adopted for a century in Northern India and then dropped. If we take the Saka era to have begun from the date of the accession of Kaniska, then we find that it was in use in Mathura up to the year 308-9 A. D. Thus the Saka reckoning was not merely adopted for a century but for two centuries or more. Then the invasions of later Kusanas from the North-Western provinces and the rise of the Gupta empire gradually drove it out of Northern India, but it remained in use in the South-Western provinces of the Kuşana empire. The use of the Gupta era affords a parallel case. It originated in Northern India in A. D. 318-19. It remained there in use for three centuries (if we exclude the dates from Nepal, then the latest date is the year 300 on the Gañjam plate of SasankaE. I., Vol. VI, p. 143), then it was driven out of Northern India by the Harga and MalavaVikrama eras. It is possible that if the successors of Harsavardhana had been able and powerful rulers like those of Candra Gupta I, the Gupta era could hardly have remained in use in Nepal for two more centuries. But it is known that the Gupta era was current in Western India up to the 12th or 13th centuries A. D., and that in its later days it was known as the Valabhi Samvat. So it is evident that it is also possible for the Saka era to have originated in Northern India, and after three hundred years to have been driven out of it and to have remained current in one single part of its original area for several centuries longer. It is also probable that the name of the era was given to it long after its formation. The inscriptions of the Western satraps do not mention its name, though it is certain that their dates should be referred to the Saka era. The earliest inseription in which the name is mentioned is the Badami cave inscription of the Calakys Mangalisa,18 The name Salivahana was applied to it for the first time in the year 1194 of this era, i. e., 1272 A. D.19 Thus we find that all serious obstacles to the use of the Saka era in Northern India and in the Kugana inscriptions disappear. But we must admit that there is no direct evidence to show that Kaniska founded the Saka era, and it is doubtful whether any such evidence will ever be found. But it is possible, as Dr. Fleet says, that this era is one of those eras that originated in an extension of regnal or dynastic years.20 It was actually set going as an era by the successor who did not break the reckoning so started by introducing another according to his own regnal years. But between the accession of Kaniska in 78 A. D. and the death of Eukratidas in B. C. 156, we find a host of princes ruling the country between Bactria and the Panjab, whose position and sequence require to be settled before we proceed to deal with the events of the reigns of Kaniska and his
18 L A., Vol. II, p. 805; Vol. VI, p. 363; and Vol. X, p. 58; and E. I., Vol. VII, Appendix, p. 2, No. 8. » Fleet, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. III, p. 149.
1 Kielhorn in I. A., Vol. XXVI, p. 150. 31 V. A, Smith's Early History, p. 217.