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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1874.
mention of Valabht by Hwan Thsang as a flourish- Guhasena (grant not yet translated), 250 G. ing city, and of Dhruvapatta as its king, seemed to or 568 A.D. me not to harmonize with my view ; but having
Dharasena II. (grant translated by Wathen), brought the known kings of that dynasty up to
272 G, or 590 A.D. 434 A.D. I was in hopes that further researches Siladitya I. (grant translated by me, Ind. Ant. might bring to light the names of other kings, vol. I. p. 45), 286 G. or 604 A.D. so as to bring the dynasty down to Hwan Thsang's Dharasena IV. (two grants translated by me, time. But three copperplates have since turned Ind. Ant. vol. I. pp. 14 and 45), 326 G. or up, yet none of them goes beyond the last king
644 A.D. of the former plates, Siladitya II. And the cha- SilAditya (two grants), 356 G. or 674 A.D. racters of the Valabhi grants are so different
R. G. BHANDARKAR. from, and so much more modern than, those of Gautamiputra's inscription at Näsik, which I have Bombay, 24th August 1874. recently translated, along with most of the other N&sik inscriptions, that it appears that from two to three centuries must have elapsed between
NOTES. Gautamiputra and the Valabhis. Gautamiputra
A species of slow-worm, or ar phisbona, which I have, in common with Mr. Fergusson, assigned
. I have not seen before, was killed in my comto the first quarter of the fourth century. The
pound on the 15th September. It was about 10 Valabhi characters resemble very much those in
inches long, of a uniform diameter of 1 inch, the Chålukya grants of the early part of the eighth
dark bottle-green, with a narrow seam of pale century. For these and other reasons I have begun
yellow on the belly. Can any reader of the Antito think that the Valabhi dates must be referred to quary recognize it? an era other than the Saka. But that they cannot be referred to what is considered as the era of the The word Kilik signifies an anchor in the dialect dynasty I still maintain, for the reasons I have of the Konkan boatmen. The same word, under given in my paper and explained above. It appears the form "Killock" or Killoch," is used by to me there is some confusion about this era. American boatmen. Query, unde derivatur ? Albiruni calls it the era of Ballaba, and Col. Tod's
W. F. SINCLAIR. Somnath inscription, the era of Srimad Balabhi, as if Ballaba or Balabhi were the name of an individual. But in the dynasty of Bhatarka there INDIAN ARCHÆOLOGY.-The Geographical Magais no king of that name, so that it is doubtful zine announces that the India Office has resolved whether the era was really of Bhatarka's family. to print the account of the recent researches of If the era was not the era of the dynasty, but was Mr. Burgess in the Bombay Presidency, together in use in Surashtra before the foundation of the with its socompanying illustrations. The report dynasty, the Valabhi dates may bo referred to it. ). contains an exhaustivo notice of his discoveries Or, more likely, since the Guptas, who preceded at Belgåm, Konur, Badâmi, Pattadkal, and Aiwalli, that dynasty, introduced their era into the country, in the Kanarese districts. At Badami are some the grants must have been dated in that era. But highly interesting sculptured caves of the sixth there is no difference in effect, since the initial century, a complete delineation of which, with a dates of both are the same. I thus see much few casts, would form & valuable illustration of reason for the present to agree with Mr. Fergusson Hindu art and Vaishnava mythology-only to be in the Valabhi chronology he has given in his rivalled by what Ajanţå affords of Buddhism. paper, except in so far as he has adopted the Mr. Burgess has brought home altogether fiftydates misread by previous translators, though four photographs, between twenty-five and thirty there is difference between us as to the era, which fac-similes and copies of inscriptions, about forty is rather of a verbal nature. I would thereforeground-plans, sections, and other drawings, and arrange the Valabhi kings thus :
forty sketches of sculptures.
• Inc. Ant. vol. I. p. 45, and Jour. Bom. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. X. p. 75.
† Jour, Bom. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. III. 1 Jour. R. As. Soc. vol. IV. N. S.
