Chronological Systems of Gujarat

Author(s): Bharati K Shelat
Publisher: Pranav Shelat

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THE GUPTA PERIOD Valabhī in Saurashtra continued the use of this era, the earliest record of that family being the Bhamodra Mota plates of Dronasimha dated in the year 183.12 The continuous use of the era by Dronasimha's successsors for a few centuries made the era designated Valabhi Samvat13 in that region. In connection with this fact the tradition recorded by Alberuni is to be judged. He says ‘As regards the Gupta Kāla, people say that the Guptas were wicked, powerful people and that when they ceased to exist, this date was used as the epoch of an era. It seems that Valabhī was the last of them because the epoch of the Guptas falls like that of the Valabhī era 241 years later than the Saka Kāla.'!4 Here Alberuni is right when he says that the Gupta and the Valabhī eras are identical and that the said era started in A.C. 319. But his statement that the era started from the extermination of the Guptas is wrong as it is obvious that the Maitrakas of Valabhī did not start any new era but continued the use of the era of their sovereigns, the imperial Guptas.15
As regards the origin of the Gupta era, it is generally accepted that the era has been founded by Candragupta I, the first imperial monarch of the Gupta 12. Select Inscriptions, pp. 403 f. 13. El, Vol. IX, p. 6 14. Sachau, Alberuni's India, Part II, p. 7 15. This fact is also proved on the basis of the epigraphical evid
ences, such as the date of the Girnar rock inscription of Skandagupta dated in G.E. 136, 137 and 138 and the date of the Bhamodra Mota plates of Droņasimha dated (Valabhi) sam, 183, which is the earliest date of the Maitrakas (D.C. Sircar, IE, p. 286).