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112
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1876.
of 486 fell on Sunday, and that on that day the eur entered the sign of Karkata.I Professor Bå půdeva states that the grant must have been issued on July 10, 429 A.D. This result agreos perfectly with what we know of the time of Dadda II. For as the earliest grant of the latter is dated Saka 380, or 458-9 A.D., the interval between this and the date 429 in his father's grant is by no means too long
The discovery of a grant older than the year 445 A.D. and dated in the Vikrama era is fatal to the theory, now held by some Orientalists, that the Vikrama era is (sit venia verbo!) a forgery, and has been invented after the battle of Korur,& by a Vikramaditya who wished to add the glories of a more ancient hero to his own. I, for my part, must confess that I have never doubted that the Vikrama era, which begins 57 B.C., wng really established by a king of that name who lived before the beginning of the Christian era, though I do not think that any reliance can be placed on the legends told by the Hindus regarding him, or on the modern attempts at reconstructing the history of his times. As regards the use of his era, Dr. Bhad Daji's statement, that it does not occur before the tenth century, is certainly erroneous. One of the Rashtrakúta plates of the eighth cen. tury is dated both in it and in the Salivahana Saka, and the Pathan inscriptions of Samvat 802, recording the accession of Vanarâja, can be referred to no other era.
The geographical data of Jay a bhata'sinscriptions are as interesting as the chronological ones. As in the case of Professor Bhåndarkar's grant, it is possible to identify almost all the vil. lages mentioned. The village of Kemajja is the present Kim öjor Kimaj.t Straight to the weat from Kimaj at a distance of five or six hun.
dred yards there is the temple of Asameiver, the Asramadeva of our grant. The present temple is a small brick building erected a few years ago; but it contains an ancient Linga, and near it to the east are an old well and depression in the ground which looks like the remnant of a small tank. To the west of the village lies Sig å mor Sigâm, the Sihugráma of the grant; towards the south-west there is the village of Jamadit called also Samadi, which corresponds to Jambha; and to the north we have the ruins of Golel (on the Trigonometrical map erroneously called Galol), the Golia vali of our plate. Chhira ka ha is not to be traced. Solepar Sagari occupies the position assigned to it. The old roads mentioned in the grant, or rather their representatives (for every monsoon effaces them completely), still exist, and it is not difficult to find the limits of the field assigned to the temple in the sâsana. Golel, which has been entirely deserted of late years in favour of Degå m, as well as Kå vi, Ruņâd, and four other villages show remnants of ancient brick wdvs of a very peculiar construction. These structures, whose distinguishing marks Are double front-walls adorned with fighting lions and elephants, and with peacocks in chunam relievos, further attest the great age of the villages. The people ascribe them to the king Manj or Munja, who has been mentioned above. The whole district abounds in ancient temples, lingas, and murtis, and wonld, I think, repay a visit of our Archæological Surveyor. Il
Jayabhata's grant shows, also, that the wholo of the coast country up to the Mahi belonged to the dominions of the Gurjara chiefs, and that the northern part of the Bharuch Zilla, probably comprising the tålukås of Bharuch, Vå
1 I must state that Professor Kero L. Chbatre of Pana, who kindly calculated the date for me, and a Josht of Surat, diment from Professor Bápudeva's statement. Both as. sert that in 186 Vikrama the Karkasankranti fell on the 18th of Ash Maha Sudi, and that Ash. Su. 10 fell on 3 Tues. day. Both agree, also, that the calculation for 486 8Ali. vdhana Saka gives even less satisfactory results. Tatra bahuvidaḥ pramanam. But, even if the Bombay authori. ties should prove to be right, the error in the krant's state. menta is so small that it may be put down to negligence.
S Or Kordr-vide Mr. Fergasson's Notes on the SAka Samvat, and Gupta Emus, in Jour. R. As. Soc. vol. VII. pp. 8-19.-ED.
11 The Samangadh plate of 754 A.D. : see Jour. Bomb. Br. R. As. Soc. vol. II. pp. 371 seqq.
Sue Report on Sanskrit M88. 1873-74. • Having examined this latter, I am in doubts of its
genuineness : possibly, however, it may be a copy of an older one; but if a copy, may the mode of dating not possibly be an interpolation P-ED.
+ The first form occurs on the maps, the second I heard tised by the villagers themselves. On an old Pålià situated to the north of the village on the road to Golel, it is called Kemaj.
Jama-di consists of Jambha (with assimilation of mbh) =Jammu, and with lengthening to compensate for the loss of the second m=Jama and the diminutive affix d=Sans. krit rt or 14.
See the accompanying map.
Besides K &vt and its neighbourhood, the Jains ruins of Gandhar, as well as Chinchwel and Bon, the ancient seats of the Y&dava Thikurs, and Sajodra near H&msot, are well worth a visit if the visitor is prepared to spend some money on excavations.
