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No. 27.]
DATES OF CHOLA KINGS.
40. In the Bhimêsvara temple at Draksharama.1
1 [Svasti Saka-va[Jahabalu 1036 svasti Sarvvalkádraya-dri-Vishnuvardhanamâ(ma) hârâjula
45 Dhanu-masamuna sukla
2 [pra]varddhamâna-vijaya-rajya-divya-samvatsa
pa[kshamu]na kâda
3 []iya Budhavaramu nânḍu uttarayana-vyatiyipâta-nimittamuna.
"In the Saka year 1036 (and) the 45th heavenly year of the increasing reign of victory of the asylum of the whole world, the glorious Vishnuvardhana-maharaja, on Wednesday, the eleventh tithi of the bright fortnight of the month of Dhanus, on the occasion of the vyatipata of the Uttarayana."
279
A date in the month of Dhanus of the 45th year of the king's reign will be expected to fall near the end of A.D. 1114, in Saka-Samvat 1036 expired. In this year the 11th tithi of the bright fortnight in the month of Dhanus commenced 7 h. 52 m. after mean sunrise of Wednesday, the 9th December A.D. 1114 (when the nakshatras were Asvini and Bharani, and the yogas Śiva and Siddha, Nos. 20 and 21, not Vyatipâta, No. 17), and ended 5 h. 53 m. after mean sunrise of the following day. The sidereal Uttarayana-samkranti took place, by the Arya-siddhânta, 20 h. 18 m. after mean sunrise of Thursday, the 24th December A.D. 1114, which was the last day of the month of Dhanus, and on which the 11th tithi of the dark fortnight ended 14 h. 48 m. after mean sunrise. The nakshatra on the same day was Anuradha, and the yogas were Ganda and Vriddhi, Nos. 10 and 11.- Lastly, the tropical Uttarayana-samkranti took place on Wednesday, the 16th December A.D. 1114, on which ended the 3rd tithi of the dark fortnight in the month of Dhanus.
Having considered these results of my calculations, I have come to the conclusion that the choice of the proper equivalent of the original date can only lie between Wednesday, the 9th, and Thursday, the 24th December A.D. 1114; and the following reasons make me decide in favour of Wednesday, the 9th December A.D. 1114. If we were to accept Thursday, the 24th December A.D. 1114, as the equivalent of the date, the writer would have been guilty of quoting, not only a wrong weekday, but also a wrong lunar fortnight. On the other hand, accepting Wednesday, the 9th December, as the equivalent, we indeed have to admit that the words uttarayana-vyatipata-nimittamuna- supposing them to be intended for 'on the occasion of the Uttarayana-samkranti, have been wrongly added; but similar statements are added, apparently wrongly, in many other dates where the word vyatípáta is made use of. In the date under discussion and in a number of other dates this term can neither denote the yoga Vyatipâta nor convey any of the three other meanings of vyatipata which I have given in Ind. Ant. Vol. XX. p. 292 f. What it means exactly, I do not know; but it may be suggested that e.g. in the present date the writer by uttarayana-vyatipata wishes to say, not that the donation- for such I suppose to be spoken of was actually made at the Uttarayapa-samkrânti, but that it shall be regarded as equivalent in merit to one which may be made on the occasion of an Uttarayana-samkranti.
2.
B. VIKRAMA-CHOLA.
41.-In the Kailasanatha temple at Sevilimėḍu. '
Srimad-Vikrama]-Chôjadêva-ngipatēr=vva[4]
subhe
shôḍaśê grâme tri-Nripasundar-iti vidité Vaisakha-mase-pare [1] pakshe 8-Ottara-Chandravara-vidite kalė.
No. 374 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1893; see above, p. 220 f.
Read -vyatipata..
Uttarayana-vyatipata undoubtedly is equivalent to uttardyanasamkranti-vyatipata which occurs in at least eight other dates.
Compare Ind. Ant. Vol. XXV. p. 292, note 52. The dates referred to in that note are all in Kanarese, and
I have not found yet any Sanskrit date in which the word vyattpdta is similarly employed.
No. 48 of the Government Epigraphist's collection for 1900; see above, pp. 228 and 229,
