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कहाऊँ स्तम्भ एवं क्षेत्रीय पुरातत्व की खोज
Appendix-18
The Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society vol 8, 1863-64, 1864-65, 1865-66. Article III-A Brief Survey of Indian chronology by Mr. Bháu Dáji
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That latest date of the Valabh kings is 348, i.e. A.C. 426, and they appear to me to have been succeeded by Kumáragupta and Skandagupta. Regarding the various errorswhich have been committed in reading the dates of the Gupta dynasty, it would be waste of time now to dwell upon; but it is clear from the Junágur inscription, where the date is given three times, as well as from the Kuhaon pillar inscription, that Skandagupta flourished from 129 to 141 of the "Guptakála, an era which was established from the foundation of the Gupta dynasty."
Many attempts have been made to decipher and translate correctly the first lines on the Kuhaon pillar, containing the date. The grand source of error has arisen from putting a visarga after the word Śánte (in the peaceful), the visarga not existing in the original Śánte, being an adjective qualifying Rajyé. The correct rendering and translation, I submit is :"In the month of Jyestha, in the year 141, in the peaceful reign of Skandagupta." The Benares copper-plate grants of Śrī Hastinah are dated in the 163rd year of the Guptakála (Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, by Thomas, Vol. II. page 251), and I have no doubt that the date on Toromána's coins, 187, is from the same era.
When did this era commence ? is a question that cannot be answered with certainty. I am inclined to regard, with Colo
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