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NOVEMBER, 1891.)
THE GUPTA-VALABHI ERA.
877
I.- THE ORIGINAL GUFTA ERA IN CENTRAL INDIA.
1.- The Nature and Initial Day of the Years. The dates that naturally require to be first considered, are those which, belonging to the Early Gupta period itself, also contain details that can be actually tested by calculation. Of these, we have five. One is the date in the Eraņ pillar inscription of Budhagupta. The other are the dates in the copper-plate grants of the Parivrâjaka Maharajas.
A.- The Eran inscription of the year 165. A. Here the details (Gupta Inscriptions, Introduction, p. 80) are: - The year 165; Åsbadha śukla 12 ; Thursday. From the Mandasör inscription written in Málava-Samyat 529 expired, with Albêrûni's statements, we know that the English equivalent must lie in, or just before or after, A. D. 484. And by actual trials it is found that the exact day, for the tithi as an ended tithi, is Thursday, 21st June, A. D. 484; on which day the tithi ended, according to Professor Kero Lakshmap Chhatre's Tables, with Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit's corrections for the abdapa, &c., at about 48 ghatis, 55 palas, = 19 hours, 14 minutes, after mean sunrise for Bombay, and 30.palas or 12 minutes later for Ujjain.
In A. D. 485, the tithi ended on Tuesday, 11th Jane ; and thus in that year it cannot be connected with a Thursday in any way.
In A. D. 483, the tithi, ending, according to the same Tables, at about 56 gh. 45 p. (for Bombay), on Friday, 3rd June, began at about 58 gh. 45 p. on the Thursday; and thus it might be connected with the Thursday for the space of 1 gh. 15 p., = 30 minutes, just before the sunrise at the end of that day. This is, however, an altogether improbable time for the completion of the work which is recorded in the inscription ; viz. the erection of the pillar. Moreover, even this result is not obtainable from Professor Jacobi's Tables ; according to which the tithi, ending at about 23 hrs. 22 min., = 58 gh. 25 p., (for Ujjain), on the Friday, began at 26 minutes, = 1 gh. 5 p., on the same day, and cannot be connected with the Thursday at all. The possible result for A. D. 483, therefore, must undoubtedly be rejected on its own merits; to say nothing of the fact that it would not fit in uniformly with the results for the other dates.
The English equivalent, accordingly, is Thursday, 21st June, A. D. 484. This day corresponds to Åshadha bukla 12 of Baka-Samvat 407 current. And, putting aside for the present the question of current or expired Gupta years, Gupta-Saṁvat 165 may have commenced with any day from Ashûdha sukla 13 of 'Saka-Samvat 406 current, up to Ashảdha sukla 12 of S.-S. 407 current.
This, however, leaves the initial day of the year altogether indefinite, within the range of twelve entire lanations. And the next step is to see what can be done to locate it within closer limits.
B. and C. - The Khoh and Majhgawan grants of the years 168 and 191. This can be done, to a very reasonable extent, by means of the dates in two of the grants of the Parivrâjaka Maharaja Hastin.1
B. Here the details (loc. cit. p. 110) are: - The year 163 in the enjoyment of sovereignty by the Gupta kings; the Maha-Asvayaja samvatsara ; Chaitra sukla 2. The MahA-Åsvayuja sasivatsara is one of the years of the twelve-year cycle of Japiter. With the result for the Erañ date as a gaide, it is found that the samvatsaras in this and the other similar dates can be determined, on uniform principles, by nothing but the system which is regulated by the heliacal risings of the planet. And by that system, the Maha-Asvayuja sarivatsara in question
1 In respect of the other two dates in the Parivrfjaka grants, of the years 150 and 209, it is unnecessary on this occasion to say more than that the results for them answer exactly to the conditions established for the two which are now treated of. For the present purpose, we have to choose only the two datos which are the earliest And the latest with referenco solely to the months of the Hindu luni-solar year.
