Indian Antiquary Vol 21

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 56

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY,
[FEBRUARY, 1892.
18 m., and the moon was in Krittika up to about 807, when the 10th tithi of the bright half ended 23h. after mean sunrise ; and
about 17 h. 26 m. after mean sunrise, and when, for Saka 548 expired, the 3rd April, A. D. 626,
at sunrise, the moon was in the eleventh degree when the first tithi of the bright half ended 4 h.
of Simha. 45 m., and the moon entered Kritika about 6 h. 2.- On p. 54 of the late Dr. Burnell's Elements 34 m. after mean sunrise.
of South Indian Palæography we find the remark
that the Javanese Baka era begins in A. D. 74; In a short inscription from Vat Prey Vier, on
and this remark has ante, Vol. X. p. 214, note 7, p. 74 of the samo volume, we find an even more
been quoted by another distinguished scholar, interesting date, of which it will be sufficient to
apparently in support of the statement that "in quote the words -
ancient times the initial dates from which the Yaté kále Sakánår nava-tanu-vishayair = different Indian eras were counted were subject Mmadhavé shodas-ahe Jivas-chape=fa-suryyo to fluctuations of several years." Whatever may . . . . . . . .. maitram indur; be the practice of quite modern times, it is certain i. e., when the Saka year 589 had expired, on the that down to nearly the end of the 14th sixteenth day of Vaisåkha, Jupiter being in the century A. D. the Baka reckoning in Java did sign) Chapa (or Dhanub), the sun in Monha, not differ from the pustomary Indian reckon, and the moon in (the nakshatra) Anuradha. ing. This may be seen from the following Here again the Vaisakha of the date was clearly
Javanese Saka dates, which all work out properly the amanta Vaisakha, and the 16th day, spoken
with the ordinary epoch A. D. 77-78. of, was Vaisakha-badi 1, and the true equivalent Profesgor Kern has published a Sanskrit in, of the date undoubtedly is the 18th April, A.D. scription from Jave of the Saka year 654. the 687, as may be seen from the following data. The date of which he reads thus: - new-moon which introduced the bright half of
SAkêndre=tigatê śrut-Andriya-rasair = angl. Vaibákba of Saka 589 expired was 9 h. after mean
(nkf)krité vatsare sunrise of the 30th March, A.D. 667. Counted
var - indau dhavala-trayodasi-tithau from that day, the 16th day was the 15th April,
Bha.
drottard KArttikel ; i. e., in the Saka year 654, A.D. 667, when the first tithi of the dark half
expired, on Monday, the 13th lunar day of the (of the amanta Vaisakha) ended 4 h. 28 m., and
bright half of Karttika, the moon being in the when the moon was in Anuradha up to about
nakshatra) Uttarabhadrapada. - The corres. 22 h. 20 m. after mean sunrise. On the same
ponding day, for Saka 654 expired, and with the 15th April the sun was in the sign Mépha, which
ordinary epoch of the Saka era, is Monday, the it had entered on the 20th March; and Jupiter,
6th October, A. D. 732, when the 13th tithi of as required, was in Dhanun, having entered that
the bright half ended 18 h. 17 m., and the moon sign, by the Saryasiddhanta rule without olja, on the 20th January, A.D. 667, and remaining in it
was in Uttarabhadrapada up to about 15 h.
6 m. after mean sunrise. till the 16th January, A.D. 668.
And in a paper of Professor Kern's "over eene The statement that Jupiter was in the 9th
Oudjavaansche Oorkonde van Saka 782" there sign) Dhanuh in this case is really equivalent to saying that the current Jovian year was Kro.
are two other Javanese dates, one of which is - dhana, the (12 + 12 +9=) 33rd year, counted Sakavarshatita 782, KarttikamAsa, tithi trayofrom Vijays as the first; and the special interest dasi suklapaksha,.. Vri-vara, ... Auvini of this date lies in this that, while the Boheme nakshatra, ... Vyatipatayoga,.... of its lunar month is the amanta, so-called Taithilakarana ; i. e., Saka 782, Bțihaspati-vera southern scheme, the system followed in or Thursday, the 13th lunar day of the bright regard to the Jovian year is the northern half of Kärttika, the nakshatra Asvini, the yoga mean-sign system.
Vyatipata, and the karana Taitila; and the On p. 68 of M. Barth's volume the 10th day of
otherVaisakha of the same Saka year 589 is mentioned Sakavarshatita 1295, Asujim&sa, tithi trayodas with, amongst others, the remark that the moon kşishnapaksha,... Bu-vara...; i. e., had reached the middle of the sign Simha. This Saka 1295, Sukra-våra or Friday, the 13th lunar date would correspond to the 9th April, A. D. day of the dark half of Asvina.
From the copy which I owo to the kindness of Pro. In Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Kon. Akad. van fannor Kern I see that the inscription was originally Wetenschappen, Letterkunde, 2 R., 10 D.. Amatardam edited by him in the Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en 1881, pp. 94 and 102. Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indo, de volgt. DI. X.