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May, 1894.) ON THE DATES OF THE SAKA ERA IN INSCRIPTIONS.
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ON THE DATES OF THE SAKA ERA IN INSCRIPTIONS,
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C. I. E.; GÖTTINGEN. THE number of dates of the Saka era which I have collected from the texts of inscriptions,
1 or from accounts of inscriptions published by other scholars, especially by Dr. Vleet, amounts to about 370. Of these, about 100 dates contain no details for calculation or verification, and in rather more than thirty others the wording of some of the details is donbtful. Of the rest, the calculation of about 140 dates has yielded results which theoretically satisfy the require inents of the cases, while that of about seventy has proved unsatisfactory; and in the case of about twenty dates my examination has shewn, either, how a particular term of the original date ought to be understood, or in what manner the wording of the date should be amended. In the following I give a list of what may be called regular dates. These will be followed by a list of irregular dates, and by such remarks as have suggested themselves to me regarding the prctice of dating followed in connection with the "Saka era. For obvious reasons, I shall include in my lists the dates which have been already treated of by Dr. Flect, and feel sure that he will approve of my doing so.
I. – REGULAR DATES. A. - DATES IN LUNAR MONTHS.
1. - Dates in Expired Years.
(a). - Datos in Bright Fortnights. 1. - 3. 654. - Ante, Vol. XXI. p. 48. Date in a stone inscription from Java :(L. 1). - Så kêndre=tigatè śrat-Indriya-rasair=angiksitê vatsarê
vår-êndau dhavala-trayodasi-tithau Bhadrottard Karttikê. 3. 654 expired: Monday, 6th October, A. D. 732; the 13th tithi of the bright half ended 18 h. 17 m., and the nakshatra was Uttara-bhadrapada up to 15 h. 6 m. after mean sunrise.
2. - 9. 670.-- Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XVI. p. 106; ante, Vol. XVIII. p. 55. ÂntroliChhårôli copper-plate inscription of a Rashtrakata king Kakka of Gujarat : -
(L. 29). – vishuva-samkrantau ...
(L. 36). - Sakanripa-kal-&tita-samvatsara-sata-shatké ekonâsity-adhikê Aśvayuja-suddha. (ddhê=n)katê (tôpi sam 600 70 9 tithi 7.
In S. 679 expired the Vishuva(Tula)-sankranti took place 18 h. 53 m. after mean sunrise of the 23rd September, A. D. 757, during the 6th tithi; and the 7th tithi of the bright half of Āśvina ended 22 h. 1 m. after mean sunrise of the 24th September, A. D. 757.
3. – 3. 785. - Notulen Bataviaasch Genootschap, Vol. XXVI. p. 21. Date in a stone inscription from Java :
Svasti Sakavarsh-åtfta 765 Chaitra-masa tithi pañchadasi chandragrahaņa Sómavara ..
5. 765 expired: A lunar eclipse, visible in Java, 18 h. 50 m. after 6 a. m. (local time) of Monday, 19th March, A. D. 843.
4.-9. 782.- Jour. Bo. As. Soo. Vol. IX. p. 219, and Vol. XII, p. 329; ante, Vol. III. p. 320, and Vol. XVIII. p. 94. Date of the Kalyan Ambarnath temple inscription of the Mahamandalesvara Mamvåņirajadêva, as read by Dr. Bhâu Daji and Dr. Fleet:
(L. 1). – Saka-saṁvat 782 Jyêshtha-buddha 9 Su(u)kré.
1 Those dates in which a tithi is joined with the week-day on which it commenced I shall give, under a separato heading, in the list of irregular dates, but by doing so I do not wish to intimato that those dates are incorrect. Under irregular dates will also be given several regular dates from (apparently) spurious documents.
Tho regular dates which have been already examined by Dr. Fleet are Nos. 2, 4, 6, 13, 25, 27, 28, 32, 35, 55, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 69, 74, 85, 98, 102, 106, 108-112
