________________
404
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1891.
proper and Anhilvâd (including Kathiâvad). And, speaking generally, down to about A.D. 1300 the use of the era was confined to that comparatively small portion of India which would be included by straight lines drawn from the mouth of the Narbadâ to Gaya, from Gayâ to Delhi, and from Delhi to the Runn of Cutch, and by the line of coast from the Runn of Cutch back to the mouth of the Narbadâ. Within these limits and down to the time mentioned the era was officially employed especially by the Chaulukya and Vâghêla princes of Anhilvâd, the Paramaras of Malava, the Chandellas of Bundelkhand, the earlier and later dynasties of Kanauj, and the chiefs of Rajputânâ.
Names of the Era.
By far the greater number of dates contain nothing to show what era was followed by the writer. It is true that from early times the word 'year,' in dates of this era, has been mostly expressed either by the full word samvatsara or by the abbreviated terms samvat or sami, and that in consequence the term samvat has been supposed to denote exclusively a year of this particular era, and that the era itself has been described as the Samvat-era.' But in reality samvat and sam may be used of the years of any era, and only in quite modern times are those terms by the Hindus themselves employed to distinguish Vikrama from Saka years.5
Irrespectively of this modern usage, the years of only 63 dates of my chronological list are qualified by certain words or phrases which were intended to specify .the era used; and it is in consequence of the employment of such words or phrases that the era is spoken of as either the Malava or the Vikrama era. The number of dates which have given rise to the former designation is only five; 58 dates of my list are expressly referred to the Vikrama era.
The Malava Era.
The five dates (Nos. 3, 4, 7, 14, and 115), the years of which are qualified by phrases containing the word Málava, occur all in inscriptions which are in verse, and are from places close to, or included in, Malava. The expressions actually used by the poets are three in the Mandasôr inscriptions of V. 493-529 and V. 589, Málavánám ganasthitya and Málava-gana sthiti-vasút, years according to the reckoning of the Malavas'; in the Kapaswa inscription of V. 795 and the Menalgaḍh inscription of V. 1226, Málav-éśánám samvatsara- and Málavésa-gata-vatsara-, 'years of the Mâlava lords' or 'years elapsed of the Malava (lord. or) lords'; and in the Gyârispur inscription of V. 936, Málava-kálách chharadám, 'years (elapsed from (the commencement of) the Mâlava time (or era).' As regards these phrases, the poet who recorded the late date of V. 1226 probably took the expression which he employed from some earlier poem; and altogether the phrases need not necessarily be considered to contain an indication regarding the origin of the era; but they show that from about the 5th to the 9th century this era was by poets believed to be especially used by the princes and people of Mâlava, while another era or other eras were known to be current in other parts of India. At the same time, considering that our earliest dates are actually from south-eastern Râjputânâ and the parts of Malava adjoining it, the employment of the word Múlava in connection with the era may be taken to point out fairly accurately the locality in which the era was first employed. What special circumstances may have given rise to its establishment, I am unable to determine at present.
The Vikrama Era.
When we examine the dates of my list to about V. 1400, the first thing to strike us is that while among the first fifty dates (down to V. 1100) we find only three which the writers expressly refer to the Vikrama era, there are seven such dates among the dates 51-100 (from V. 1100 to V. 1215), fourteen among the dates 101-150 (from V. 1215 to V. 1269), and seventeen among the dates 151-207 (from V. 1269 to V. 1384). For these figures would seem to indicate that the
5 See Professor Bhandarkar's Report for 1883-84, pp. 158-160.
