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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
FEBRUARY, 1897.
FEBR
more those of the Chambâ plate of Bhôțavarmadêva.95 Owing to the nature of these character it would be somewhat difficult to assign the inscription on palæographical grounds to any particular century; it is sufficient to say that it cannot well be earlier than the 11th, nor later than the 14th century A. D.
In line 1, after tlie words ir svasti [on] 11, the inscription contains a date which I read
Sammvat26 563 Jetha-badi 9 våra Sakraḥ.27 Three of the four numeral figures of this date are not drawn very accurately in Sir A. Cunningham's photozincograph. In the original, the figure for 5 is like the figure for 5, e. g., in line 33 of the Harsha inscription of Vigraharaja (Ep. Ind. Vol II. p. 124, Plate); the figure for 6 is a more ornamental form of the figure for 6, used in the Bakhshali manuscript (e. 9., in lines 25 and 26 of Plate ii., ante, Vol. XVII. p. 276); and the figure for 9 resembles the figure for 9 in the Siyadôņi inscription (Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 173 ff.) The figure of the unit of the number of the years (which is fairly well drawn in the photozincograph) may be compared with some of the figure-numerals for 3 in the table of Prof. Bendall's Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts29; there is just a possibility that it might be interpreted as 2, but I believe that it is really 3. Put into proper Sanskrit, the date would be
Samvat 563 Jyaishtha-budi 9 Sukra-vare, i. e., Friday, the oth of the bright
half of Jyaishtha of the year 583. Considering the locality where the inscription is, and the fact that on paleographical grounds it has to be assigned to some time between the 11th and 14th centuries A, D., I feel sure that the era to which the date must be referred here also is the Harsha era. The only other date with details for verification, which may be confidently referred to this era, is the date of the Dighwa-Dubault plate of the Maharija Mahendrapala,30 the 10th of the bright half of Mâgha of the year 155, which has been shown to correspond to the 20th January A. D. 761, Now, judging from that date, and assuming the years of the Harsha era to have been Chaitridi years, our date of the month of Jyaishtha of the year 563 would be expected to fall in A. D. 1168, in Kaliyuga-Samvat 4269 expiredAnd for that year the date really does work ont fanltlessly. For in Kaliyuga-Sari vat 4269 expired the 9th of the bright half of Jyaishtha corresponded to Friday, the 17th May A. D. 1168,31 when the 9th tithi of the bright half ended. 10 h. 50 m. after mean sunrise,
That we should have so late a date of the Hatsha era, I consider no more strange than the occurrence of dates of the 10th century of the Gupta-Valabhi ers; and I expect that more such dates will be dicovered, when the country about Thaneswar and Pañjaur is carefully searched for inscriptions
15 See ante, Vol. XVII. pp. 7 and 10.
26 It may be stated that the dental sibilant is denoted here by the sign which in the Barada alphabet denotes the palatal sibilant, nnd vice versa.
11 This may have been altered in the original to rare Sukre. In a date of Baka-Sarvat €54 from Java we have várandau instead of Indu-vare; see ante, Vol. XXIII. p. 113, No. 1.
% The fixore for 9 resembles even more closely the figure for 9, used in the Cambridge MS. Add. 1693, which was written in A. D. 1166 ; see Prof. Bendall's Catalogue, Table of figure numerals.
29 Seo especially the figure for 3 of the MS. Add. 1648, written in A. D. 1216. * See anto, Vol. XV. p. 112, and Gupta Inscr. Introduction, p. 178.
m As there inay be some slight doubt as to whether the year of the date is 563 or 532-it must be either one or the other-I would add that, judging from the date of the month Magha of the year 155, the above Friday, the 17th May A. D. 1168, would be the proper equivalent of Jyaishtha-fudi 9 of the year 562 also, if the year commenced with the month Karttiks, or in fact with any of the months from Ashha to Mágha.
