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No. 42.]
DATES OF SOME EARLY KINGS OF KAUSAMBI.
301
As regards the evidence of stratification, it may be pointed out that the sealings of Bhimasēna and Sivamagha were found during excavations at Bhițā at the level of the lower floor of Nägadēva's house all the finds of which belong to the Kushāna period. According to Sir John Marshall the house was deserted, owing to some catastrophe, in the Kushāņa period.
Having thus stated the nature of the evidence available for determining the age of these records, let us proceed to examine the theories advanced so far.
(I) Rai Bahadur D. R. Sahni referred the date of the Kosam stone inscription of Bhadramagha to the Gupta era. The years 51-139 of these records would, on this supposition, correspond to A.D. 370—458. This theory does not appear plausible ; for, though these inscriptions exhibit some forms of letters (such as m with unjoined middle, the cursive h and the looped 8) which are believed to have become current in the Gupta period, the general appearance of their characters is pre-Gupta. The evidence of language and the manner of dating is also against this theory as stated above.
(II) The second theory, which has been advocated by Dr. Jayaswal, and Messrs. N. G. Majumder, A. Ghosh and Krishna Deva, refers these dates to the Chēdi era. It is pointed out that these Kosam records show greater maturity than is evident in the Kushāņa, without approximating to the Gupta in cursiveness. They thus belong to the period of transition between the
Kushana and the Gupta. The system of dating and the mixed nature of the language are also - believed to point to the same period. These records are, therefore, assigned to some time from
the third to the fourth century A.D.'. The only era in this period to which the dates could be referred is the Chēdi era of A.D. 248-49.
This theory has much plausibility and the fact that some of these records come from that part of the country which in ancient times was known as Chēdi lends colour to it. The origin of the Chēdi era is still uncertain. The earliest certain date of this era so far known is the year 207 recorded in the Pärdi plates of the Traikūtaka Dahrasēna. The era was current in Gujarat, Konkan and northern Maharashtra down to the beginning of the eighth century A.D. It is found used in the records of the Traikūtakas, Kalachuris, Western Chalukyas and their feudatories. Later on it was taken by the Kalachuris to the United Provinces and Chhattisgarh when they founded their kingdoms there. But no dates of the first two centuries of this era have been found till now. The discovery of these Kosam records which apparently belong to the third or fourth century A. D. seemed to supply the early dates of the era which had been missing so far.
This theory does not, however, appear to be convincing ; for, if these dates are referred to the Chēdi era, Bhadramagha, Vaiśravana and Bhimavarman become the contemporaries of the Gupta Emperors, Chandragupta I, Samudragupta and Chandragupta II. That the Guptas extended their sway to Allahābād and the Ganges-Jumna Doab soon after their rise appears clear from an oft-quoted statement in the Purānas. If these rulers of Kaušāmbi (36 miles from Allahabad) were ruling in the fourth century A. D., they must have acknowledged the suzerainty of the Guptas. It seems strange therefore that none of these records mentions the name of any Gupta overlord. The explanation that these are private records will not avail, because even when Vaisravaņa records his excavation of a cave at Bāndhogarh he does not name any suzerain.
+ An. Rep. A. 8. 1. for 1911-12, pp. 34, 51, 66 ff. ? Above, Vol. XXIV, p. 255.
3 The dates of the Uchchakalpa records which are earlier are referred by some to the Chēdi era, but this does not soem to be the correct view. See above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 171 ff. • anu-Ganga Prayagam cha Sākētam Magadhamg-tatha
ētān janapadan sarvan bhokshyantē Gupta-vambajāb|| Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali Age, p. 53.
