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as I learn from his private letters, is attended with good results, will eventually throw a great deal of light on this dark period of Kasmirian history. Full certainty regarding the era of the Guptas, which now seems to be near at hand, will also assist in settling the dates of some kings, especially of Toramâna, Matrigupta, and
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
Pravarasena.
For the period which begins with the K&rkota dynasty not much remains to be done. The discovery of the initial date of the Saptarshi or Laukika era, which I obtained in Kasmir, makes it possible to fix the reigns of the kings after Avantivarman with perfect accuracy. The beginning of the Saptarshi era is placed by the Kaśmirians on Chaitra Sudi 1 of the twenty-fifth year of the Kaliyuga, and the twenty-fourth year, in which Kalhana wrote, is consequently the Saptarshi year 4224. For
From Kaliyuga 25 to the beginning of the Saka era is From Saka Samivat 1 to Kalhana's time.. 1070
3154
Total-Saptarshi years....... 4224
My authorities for placing the beginning of the Saptarshi era in Kali 25 are the following. First, P. Dayarâm Jotsi gave me the subjoined verse, the origin of which he did not know :-kaler gatail sayakanetravarshaih saptarshivaryds tridivam prayatá loke hi samvatsarapattrikdym saptarshimanam pravadanti santal "When the years of the Kaliyuga marked by the arrows and the eyes' (i.e. the five and the two, or, as Indian dates. have to be read backward, 25) had elapsed, the most excellent Seven Rishis ascended to heaven. For in the calendar (used) in the world the virtuous declare the computation of the Saptarshi (years to begin from that point)."
Pandit Dayaram explained the verse as I have done in the above translation, and added that each Saptarshi year began on Chaitra Sudi 1, and that its length was regulated by the customary mixing of the chandra and saura mánas.
[SEPTEMBER, 1877.
The correctness of his statement is confirmed by a passage in P. Sâhebrâm's Rajataranginisamgraha where the author says that the Saka year 1786 (A.D. 1864), in which he writes, corresponds to Kali 4965 and to Saptarshi or Laukika Samvat 4940.§ One of the copyists, too, who copied the Dheanydloka for me in September 1875, gives in the colophon, as the date of his copy, the Saptarshi year 4951. These facts are sufficient to prove that P. Dayaram's statement regarding the beginning of the Saptarshi era is not an invention of his own, but based on the general tradition of the country. I do not doubt for a moment that the calculation which throws the beginning of the Saptarshi era bac!: to 3076 B.C. is worth no more than that which fixes the beginning of the Kaliyuga in 3101 B.C. But it seeras to me certain that it is much older than Kalhana's time, because his equation 24 = 1078 agrees with it. It may therefore be safely used for reducing with exactness the Saptarshi years, months, and days mentioned in his work to years of the Christian era. The results which will be thus obtained will always closely agree with those gained by General Cunningham, who did use the right key.
The word loke, in the world,' alludes to the appellation Lokakula, Laukika samvatsara. Rajataranginisangraha, fol. 4b, 1.7: tatrádya sike 1786 kaligate 4965 saptarshicharânumatena sahvat 4940. The use of the Saptarshi era in Kasmir and the adjacent hill states, which continues even in the present day, has first been pointed out by General Cunningham.
The text has been corrected according to two collated copies written by Ganakák Pandit, G and G2, and the copy in the Government collection, Ch.
To avoid confusion in the reference marks for the notes following, the respectiveslokas are referred to by their numbers. 'G' and other MSS. read bhashahina instead of bhashabhogi. Hara or Siva wears a serpent instead of a jenvi or Brahmanical string, and smaller serpents instead of bracelets. The Kasmirians, being Saivas, consider Siva to be the Universal soul, and expect to be absorbed by him. The preposition pra in pralina, which adds force to the meaning of the root, indicates that absorption is complete,
In concluding this long discussion on the Rajatarangint, I will add that the specimen of a new translation given below is merely intended to show some of the results which may be obtained by means of the new materials brought by me from Kasmir. I do not pretend that all the difficulties requiring consideration have been brought to a final solution.
Specimen of a translation of the Rájatarangini.*
Canto I. sl. 1-107.
1Reverence to Hara, who (grants his worshippers' desires) like the tree of Paradise, who is beautified by a seam of light emitted by the jewels that are concealed in the heads of the serpents adorning him, and in whom those freed (from the circle of births) find eternal rest. May both the halves of the body of the god. whose cognizance is the bull, sayujya, not salokya. This verse, it seems to me, is an imitation of Bana's srtharshacharita I. 1.
A translation of this verse being impossible, I have given a araphrase. Almost the whole of its first three pádas is made up of a succession of puns. Siva is invoked in his form of Ardhanari, in union with Pârvati. The words describing the appearances of the two halves are chosen in such a manner that they apply to the female form and its dress as well as to the male. Kundalin, lit. 'containing a ring,' must be taken as, I think, in the sense cf earring or necklace' when it refers to Parvati. Jaladhijachhhayachha if referred to Pârvati must be dissolved into jaladnijachhâyâvadachchha; if referred to Siva into jaladhijachchhayaya chha or achchha áchhadita. In the description of Siva, ahina must be dissolved into ahinam ina, 'the lord of of snakes,' Vasuki, who serves Siva instead of the jenot. Near the ear may also be referred to the sentence beginning with dadhat. The ocean-born poison is the Halahala which Siva swallowed.
