Epigraphia Indica Vol 19

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 31

14
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIX.
Now we know that Chashtana's capital was Ujjayini and that his name was known to Ptolemy. After Kanishka had consolidated his power in India he would naturally enter into relations with the Saka rulers of Ujjayini. Now Ujjayini was the centre of the scientific study of astronomy after new methods which were taken over from the Greek astronomers. The results of this study are laid down in the Siddhāntas, and if the late Dr. Thibaut was right in thinking that these works may very well be based on some Greek source older than Ptolemy, I do not see any reason against applying their methods to the date of the Zeda inscription, in order to settle the question about the initial point of its era by calculating which year or years fulfil the condition : Ashadha 20 coupled with Uttara-phalguna.
I have therefore asked my Dutch friend, Dr. W. E. van Wijk, to examine the date in the light of the Siddhäntas. I have taken it for granted that Kanishka's accession cannot be dated earlier than the initial point of the Saks era and not much later than A.D. 135. I have therefore for mulated the question as follows: in which year during the period A.D. 89 to A.D. 150 did the 20th Ashādha coincide with Uttara-phalguna.
Dr. van Wijk has discussed the question in the Acta Orientalia,' and I shall, in this place, only summarize the results of his calculations. If these are made according to the system of the Süryasiddhānta and the equal space system, seven years during the period would answer the conditions, viz., the expired Kaliyuga years 3191, 3216, 3221, 3229, 3240, 3246 and 3248.
This result is not very encouraging. I have, however, already mentioned that we possess & second record, from the same neighbourhood, with the same details regarding the date as in our epigraph, viz., the Und inscription of the year 61, where the 8th Chaitra is coupled with the nakshatra Pūrvăshādha.
Applying the same methods to this date, Dr. van Wijk finds that the choice is, in this case, much more limited. It is, of course, sufficient to examine the state of things in the seven years coming 50 years after those which were found to be possible equivalents to the Zeda date. And among these only three years fulfil the condition : Chaitra 8 coupled with Purvashādha, viz., the expired Kaliyuga years 3241, 3279 and 3296.
If it is allowed to calculate the dates of the Kanishka era at the hand of the Süryasiddhanta, its initial date would accordingly fall in one of the years A.D. 79, 117 or 134. Dr. van Wijk has reckoned with current years. If the years were expired, the corresponding years would be 78, 116 and 133 respectively.
Dr. van Wijk has further calculated the two dates according to the system of the first Aryasiddhanta. His result is that in that case only the expired Kaliyuga years 3229 and 3279 fulfil the conditions required by the Zeda and the Und inscriptions respectively. He therefore thinks that, according to the equal space system, this latter correspondence is most acceptable.
In his second paper, however, he maintains, that the equal space system is a late and artificial one, and that we must, therefore, reckon with unequal spaces. He arrives at the result that June 19 A.D. 139 is the only date which fulfils the conditions of the Zeda record and February 26 A.D. 189 those of the Und inscription. The initial date of the Kanishka era would accordingly be A.D. 128-129. Such a dating would explain the absolute silence about Kanishka in Chinese historical sources, which seems to show that his accession cannot be placed before A.D. 125. It would follow that the earliest known date of Våsudēva corresponds to the rainy season A.D. 202, and the latest one to the rainy season A.D. 226, in which case Vasudeva can very well be identical with Po-t'iao, whose embassy is stated to have reached China in A.D. 229.
Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik, PP. 48 f.
Vol. 111, pp 83 fl.; V. PP 168 t.