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Dr. Charlotte Krause : Her Life & Literature
Bharthari, as told in some of the Prabandhas, in agreement with the Jyotirvidābharana which adds Varāhamihira, Amarasimha and other literary personalities now generally assumed to have flourished centuries after the beginning of the Vikrama era ?
Besides, the bewildered reader might also ask why there is no unanimity re the important question of the origin of the Vikrama Saṁvat itself, which, according to some texts, was started in commemoration of Vikrama's freeing the earth from debts, according to others in remembrance of his death, according to a third group to immortalize his accession to the throne", and according to one more opinion from the date of his birth®?, while nowhere at all in Jaina literature it is found connected with a victory over the Šakas directly.
Even regarding the very starting point of the Vikrama Samvat, counted in years of the Vīra era, there is no agreement, though the discrepancies are inconsiderable.
A certain amount of anachronisms and other inconsistencies might certainly be conceded to the literature referred to, without denying that it may contain some kernel of historical truth. The task, however, to peel off all secondary matter, and neatly to reveal this kernel, seems hopeless in view of the inadequacy of the expedients available so far. 4. Other Expedients for a Definition of
Siddhasena's Time These expedients mostly consist in passages of literary works containing either citations from Siddhasena's works, or references to them or to the author as such. Much valuable material of this type has been collected and valuated by Pt. S. Sanghavi and Pt. B. Doshi in their Introduction to the Sanmatitarka, as well as by Pt. N. Premies and others66. Still on studying it, one cannot help the impression that even in its totality it is but a feeble structure on which to rest the full weight of Siddhasena's chronology, in view of
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