Indian Antiquary Vol 20

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 13

JANUARY, 1891.)
THE EASTERN CHALUKYA CHRONOLOGY.
July, A. D. 632, which ooourred on the full moon day of Bravans of Sake-Samvat 555 current. Then, this date being in his eighteenth year, the full-moon of Srâvaņa, "Saka-Samvat 538 current, fell in his first year; and the initial point of the years of Vishnuvardhana I. may have hain, so far, anywhere from the purnimanta Bhadrapada kşishņa l of Saka-Samvat 537 current up to Srâvana sukla 15 of 'Saka-Samvat 538 current. As, however, the day of the eclipse, 'Sravana sukla 15 of Saka-Samvat 555 current, is specified as the fifteenth day (of the bright fortnight) of the fourth month in his eighteenth year, that eighteenth year plainly began in or with the month Vaisakha of Saka-Samvat 555 current. Consequently, his first year began in A. D. 616, in or with the month Veisakha of Saka-samvat 538 ourrent ; five or six years after the commencement of the reign of Pulikeáin II. Taking the month as the pürnimánta month, ending with the full-moon tithi, the corresponding English period is from the 21st March to the 19th April, A. D. 615. And, unless the immediately preceding Chaitra śukla 1 of the same year should be preferred, in accordance with an alternative possibility which will be considered further on, this gives the precise period within which lay the exact startingpoint of the Eastern Chalukya chronology. I shall justify this result by means of two other dates of leading importance. Here, it only remains to add, that the historical event which gave this starting-point, was the installation of Vishnuvardhana I., not as the Mahúrája or independent king of a separate kingdom, bnt as Yuvardja, associated in the government with his elder brother Polikeáin II. Reference has been made already to his Sátára grant, dated in the eighth year of Pulikesin II. ; the given month is Karttika, which fell in A. D. 616 or 617, according to what may be the exact initial point of the years of Pulikeáin II. ; and, when he issued this charter, at least eighteen months after the period that has been arrived at above, Vishnuvardhana I. still had only the rank and title of Yuvaraja.
We have now to consider two slightly later dates, of the time of Vishnuvardhana II., the grandson of Vishnuvardhana I. The first of them is contained in a charter, found somewhere in the Nellore District, Madras Presidency, which records that he made a grant of the village of Reyûru to some Brahmaņs, -(ante, Vol. VII, p. 189, line 65 ff.; for a lithograph, see Vol. VIII. p. 320), varddhamâna-rajya-dv[iti]ya7-samvatsarê Chaitra-mêbê sukla-paksha daśamyâm Magha-nakshatrés Budhavareshn, - " in the augmenting second year of the reign, in the month Chaitra, in the bright fortnight, on the tenth tithi, under the Magha nakshatra, on Wednesday." With the earliest starting-point that has been proposed for the years of Vishnuvardhana I., - that of Saka-Samvat 526 (expired) given by Dr. Hultzsch, - and with the shortest period recorded for the intervening reign of Jayasinha I., viz, thirty years, 10 the year in which this date should fall, cannot be looked for before Saka-Samvat 526 + 18 + 30 + 1 = Saka-Samvat 575 current. Still, allowing a slight margin before that year, the caloulations for Chaitra sukla 10 are as follows: Saka-Samvat 573 corrent; Chaitra sukla 10 began on Wednesday, 17th March, A. D. 650, at
about 39 ghafís, 50 palas, after mean sunrise (for Bombay), and ended on the Thursday, at about 42 gh. 10 p. But the moon was
I am not quite certain whether the superscript i of the first syllable was omitted altogether, from want of sufficient space between the top of the du and the subscript y in the line above; or whether it was inserted imper. feotly, and then became damaged and illegible, along with the following of. But the letters dy and ya are so distinct that no reading can be adopted except dvillya, the second (year);"
• When I edited this grant, I thought that perhaps two aksharcs, containing the name of a second nakshulra also, might have been broken away at the end of line 06, after maght. But this is not the case. The last akshina, gha, does not rench quite to the end of the lime, leaving a little more margin than usual, but this seems to be in consequence of an uriginal fault in the copper. There is not room onough for two more aksharas, without out croaching on the margin, where the second of them would be distinctly visible, beyond the fault. Moreover, the name of second nakshatra would be altogether anmesning, without also a word to indicato that the Maghå nakshatra had ended, and the next had commenced.
. Read budhavdrd. This is not an instance of the tune of the instrumental singular ; ubless budhatarishi We written by mistake for "drina. But it appears that the locative plural was wand intentionally under the idea that the tithi, the nakshatra, and the week-day, were being expressed in a compound.
* The granta K. to O., and Q. to W., my thirty-three years; P. and I. my thirty.