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the odd 11 years between the years that Skanda Gupta lived after these events, and the time that Sri Dhara reigned before his grant, and so make the interval exactly the 120 hypothetically assigned to it by me on the paper above referred to.
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
The era to which these dates ought to be assigned does not, and never did, appear to me open to doubt. No one has yet ventured to hint at any reason why it should be called the Balabhi era unless it was used by the kings of that principality, nor has any one given any reason why they should use any other era than that that bears their name. But more than this, no India antiquary except Lassen has dared to look the fact in the face that Balabhi was not destroyed, but was one of the most flourishing cities in India in 640 A. D, when Hiwen Thsang visited it. There was then a Dhruva Sena, or Dhruva Patu, on the throne, and no other person and no other dynasty has been-nor, so far as I can see, can be-suggested except that we are so familiar with, from the copper-plates, and one of whose kings, Dhruva Sena, was, if the date is correctly read, on the throne A.B. 332 or according to this view A.D. 651 (332 and 319).
On the other hand, though it now seems clear that Albiruni was mistaken in saying that the Gupta era was the epoch of their extermination, there seems no reason for doubting that he was correct in asserting that the Gupta era commenced in 319 A. D., 241 years after the Saka, and was identical with that of Balabhi. †
It is no use ignoring or attempting to escape from the fact that Balabhi was flourishing, and this dynasty, with its Silâdityas, its Dhruvas and Dharas, was on the throne when the Chinese pilgrim visited it in A.D. 640, and no Chronology of the period is worth much that does not take this, which is the best-established point at that time, into consideration. Either it must be the basis of the whole system, or something equally valuable and trustworthy must be substituted for it; but no one has yet even attempted this. Lassen, as just mentioned, saw its importance, but his system broke down because he carried the foundation of the Balabhi dynasty back to the Gupta era A. D. 319, making an average of above 30 years for the ten kings who preceded Dhruva. He was not then aware of the import of Skanda Gupta's inscription on the Junagadh rock, since translated by Bhâu Dâji. § If his transcription is to be depended upon-and I see no reason for doubting it-it contains two dates, 130 and 138, which are
[AUGUST, 1874.
both said to be from the Gupta era (Guptasya kala); and no other era that I know of ever bore that name except the one commencing 319 A.D. Not knowing this, he did not perceive that the Guptas preceded the Balabhis in the use of that era, and that the latter took it up only in 141 or 145. Major Watson's discovery of this fact removes the last difficulty, and I do not now see one single fact that militates against the chronology of this period as explained in my paper which Professor. Bhandarkar so curiously misquoted.
JAS. FERGUSSON.
London, June 24th, 1874.
Jour, Bomb. B. A. 8. R. VIII. 245.
Thomas's Prinsep, vol. I. p. 269.
id. Alterth. vol. III. pp. 528 and 1159. Jour. Bomb. B. R. A. 8. vol. VIII. p. 124. Heb. Pardes.-ED.
Query.
Paradesi, a stranger, a person of another country, is common Tamil, that is to say, Sanskrit, from Paradesa. A man will say, meaning he does not belong to that village, nán Paradeéi. The simple noun Paradééd is not so common.
Query-Is this the English word "Paradise" ? It was used in Latin, of a later period, as from the Greek Paradeisos, primarily a garden, then the abode of the blessed.
Then there is the Arabic or Persian-for one author gives it as Persian, the other as ArabicFirdaus, which of course is the same word. The pit to be bridged over is that between the Sanskrit Paradeśa and the Arabic Firdaus. Paralokah is the Sanskrit in use for the next world. T
R. B. S.
Last year in trying a case from Rânpur, Tâluka Dhandhuka, Ahmedâbâd Collectorate, I came across the fact that among Kolis the ceremony of nátra or second marriage can be accomplished by the father of the bridegroom just knocking together his son's head and that of the bride, as they sit together on the ground, after which they are left alone together. In this case only the bridegroom's parents were present.
The other day I learnt from a petition from a Bhangiya at Gogo that if one of that caste runs away with another's wife leaving a wife or wives behind him, it is incumbent on his relations, if so ordered by the caste panch, to supply the sufferer with a new wife out of the number of these relicts, and he for his part will be quite content with, the substitute.
C. G. C.
coun.
Pardest from par beyond, without, and de la try, a man from an outside country. In Marathi there are many similar compounds, as parganot in another village (never used in any other case); parjila another district; Parwdrta dweller without the walls, &c.-ED.
