Indian Antiquary Vol 46

SR No.: 032538
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 508
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 281

NOVEMBER, 1917)
THE DATE OF KANISHKA
267
Emperors did not personally govern India, but a Viceroy ruled there in their name. We have a series of coins (the coins of the so-called Nameless kings) which are in some respects parallel to these inscriptions and have been referred, on independent grounds, to the period of Wema Kadphises.21 These coins and inscriptions may therefore be referred to the period of interval between the first Kushan conquest of India and the assumption of the Indian Government by the Kushan Emperors themselves.
It is legitimate, on numismatic and palæographic grounds, to take all these dates ranging from 72 to 136 as belonging to one era.22 Kanishka, according to this view, would have to be placed after the year 136 of that era, and a great advance may thus be made in the solution of the Kanishka problem, if we can fix the initial point of the era.
Dr. Fleet has emphasised the principle that we should, whenever practicable, avoid the assumption of an era, for the existence of which there is no actual evidence at all.23 Dr. Oldenberg made a similar remark in connection with the Gupta era. "The fundamental mistake," said Dr. Oldenberg, "which bas vitiated several of the most detailed disquisitions about the Gupta chronology, consists in their touching only incidentally upon the direct and very clear ancient tradition, which we possess regarding the Gupta era, instead of placing distinctly this tradition in the foreground and of systematically discussing the question whether any serious objection can be opposed to it. We shall try to proceed in this way so clearly prescribed by the nature of the question." 24
These principles, applied to the question at hand, limit our choice in the first instance. to the two well-known eras which commenced in 58 B. C. and A.D. 78.
On general grounds, the era of A.D. 78 must be preferred to that of 58 B.C., in interpreting the dates of these foreign rulers. In the first place, tradition attributes the inauguration of the first to the accession of a Saka ruler, while it assigns an indigenous origin to the second. Secondly the Western Satraps, ho undoubtedly used the era of A.D., 78 indicate close connection with the north-western parts of India by the Kharoshi letters on their coins, 25 and all the rulers we have to deal with belong to that quarter. Interpreted by the Saka Era', the dates of the various rulers will be as follows - Sodasa ..
A.D. 150 Patika ..
A.D. 156 Gondophares
A.D. 181 Kushan Kings (before Kanishka)
A.D. 191 to 214 Kanishka .. ..
Some time after A.D. 214 21 JRAS., 1913, p. 661.
2 Sir John Marshall has disputed the validity of the generally accepted belief that the date of the Taxila copperplate of Patika and the year 72 of Sodása refer to one and the same era, (JRAS., 1914, pp. 985-86). His arguments, I am afraid, are not quite convincing to me. The inconsistency which he has pointed out may be removed either in the way suggested by Dr. Fleet (JRAS., 1907, pp. 1034-36), or by supposing that the number of small inscriptions which cover the entire face of the Mathura Lion pillar capital were written at different times by different individuals. Both the styles of writing as well as the subject matter support this hypothesis (See M. Barth's remarks in ante, 1908, p. 245). It must also be remembered that the inscription of Satrap sodass need not necessarily be referred to a period earlier than that of Mahakshatrapa Bodisa for though, as a general rule, the transition is from the state of Kshatrapa to that of a Mahâkshatrapa, tho roverse casn is not unknown: cf. e.g., the case of Rudrasimha I. His coins show him to be a MahAkshatrapa in the years 103, 106, 109 and 110 and a simple Kshatrapa in the years 110 and 112. Rapaon's Andhra Coins, &c., pp. 87-91).
23 JRAS., 1905, p. 231. 24 Ante, Vol. X, p. 217. 25 Rapson's Andhra Coins, p. CIV.