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SOLANKI PERIOD
Hema' along with that of King Kumārapāla indicates the latter's devotion to Acārya Hemacandra, who had great regard for Siddhrāja as well.
Unfortunately, the date given in the Siddha-HemaKumāra Samvat contains no reference to any other era of known epoch, say, for example, the Vikrama era. In the present state of our knowledge we have no adequate data for determining the definite epoch of this era with full certainty. However, it seems quite probable that the era was started by Kumārapāla in V.S. 1216. The verification of the date given in this era does not defy this probability.
345
As regards the system of the year and the month, there is only one date, but it admits of verification with respect to both. The date Vaisakha, ba.di. 2, Guru corresponds to Thursday, March 12, A.C. 116454. It indicates that the year of this era is expired55 Kārttikādi and that the month is Purnimanta.
As the event of Kumarapala's aopting Jainism is dated Sam, 1216, Marga, su. di. 256, the era was then probably counted from the Kārttika that preceded it. (iv) The Saka Era
The know epigraphic records of the Caulukya period are rarely dated in the Śaka era. The dates of these records given in the Śaka era are very few in number. We come across only six dates of the copper-plate inscriptions of South Gujarat, two of which belong to
54. Indian Ephemeris, Vol. III, p. 330; Pillai, IC., p. 88 55. V.S. 1216 in this context, too, is found to be Kärttikädi 56. Jinamandana, op. cit., p. 67
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