Indian Antiquary Vol 20

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

Page 18

10
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1891.
sakla 10 of Saka-Samvat 587 current being, as we have seen above, in his second year, Chaitra sukla 10, also, of Saka-Samvat 586 current fell in his first year; and the first day of his first year might, so far as this date is concerned, be any day from Chaitra śukla 11 of 'Saka-Samvat 585 current. up to Chaitra sukla 10 of Saka-Samvat 586 current. But the two dates together limit the period for the initial day of this reign to a very short time; and indicate that the accession of Vishnuvardhana II. took place in A. D. 683, on some day from Phâlguna sukla 1 of Saka-Samvat 585 current, up to Chaitra śukla 10 of Saka-Samvat 586 current; the corresponding English period is from the 14th February to the 24th March, A. D. 663.
A few words seem desirable here, to present the results which I put forward as the correct ones, in direct comparison with the views that I reject. With Dr. Burnell's opinion as to the date of the lunar eclipse mentioned in the Chipurupalle grant of Vishnuvardhana I., and paying attention to the number by which the month is denoted, the initial point of his years would be the month Vaisakha of 'Saka-Samvat 528 current (see page 4 above, note 5). Adding the reign that then commenced and lasted for eighteen years, and either thirty or thirty-three years for the reign of Jayasimha I., and one complete year of the next reign, we arrive at the period 'Saka-Samvat 576 to 579 current, for the second year of Vishnuvardhana II., in which we have the date of Chaitra śukla 10, coupled with Wednesday and the Magha nakshatra. With Dr. Burgess' opinion as to the date of the lunar eclipse in question, the initial point of the years of Vishnuvardhana I. would be the month Vaisakha of Saka-Samvat 529 current. And, proceeding in the same way, we have the period Saka-Samvat 577 to 580 current, for the second year of Vishunvardhana II. And Dr. Hultzsch has placed the initial point in Saka-Samvat 526 or 527 (expired); which brings us to either of the above periods, according to the date that is to be selected for the lunar eclipse. To suit the above views, we might take either Saka-Samvat 576 current or 580 current (see page 6 above); in both of which years Chaitra śukla 10 was connected with a Wednesday. But they are both inadmissible; in the first place, because in neither case was the moon in the Magha nakshatra on the same day; and in the second place, because in neither instance is there a solar eclipse in the month Phalguna for the fifth year of the same reign; in the first case, the only available eclipses (see page 8 above) are in Saka-Samvat 580 current, which could not fall earlier than in the sixth year; and in the second case, the only available eclipse is that of Saka-Samvat 581 current, which could not fall later than in the fourth year. Moreover, to each of these views there is the objection, which is in itself sufficient to entail their rejection, that they make the initial point of the years of Vishnu. vardhana I. lie before the accession of his elder brother Pulikêśin II. On the other hand, for the lunar eclipse of the eighteenth year of Vishnuvardhana I., I select that of the 7th July, A. D. 632, in Sravana of Saka-Samvat 555 current (see page 4 above). Following one of the alternative statements as to the length of the reign of Jayasimha I., and taking it as thirty years, we arrive quite naturally at Saka-Samvat 587 current, for the second year of Vishnuvardhana II.; and in that year, as required, the week-day for the given tithi Chaitra śukla 10, as an ended tithi, was Wednesday, 13th March, A. D. 664; and on that day the moon was in the Magha nakshatra (see page 6 f. above). And in perfect accordance with this, there was a solar eclipse in his fifth year, on the 17th February, A. D. 688, being the new-moon day of the purnimanta Phalguna of Saka-Samvat 590 current (see page 9 above). These three dates are in perfectly natural accordance with each other; and they entail no straining of the facts in any way, except in following the minority of the records, and taking the length of the reign of Jayasimha I. as thirty years only, on the understanding that some of the records mistakenly included three years of Yuvaraja-ship as part of his actual reign. And, as is required, they place the initial point of the chronology later than the accession of Pulikėsin II., by five or six years. For these reasons, therefore, there can be no doubt that the dates now put forward are the correct ones; and that, as has been shewn in detail above, the first year of Vishnuvardhana I., and with it the chronology of the latter records of his dynasty, commenced in or with the month of Vaisakha of Saka-Samvat 538 current, corresponding to