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INTRODUCTION There is a controversy over the issue of deciding the time limit of Akalanka :
(1) A galaxy of scholars led by K. B. Pathak holds that Akalarka flourished during the last quarter of the eighth century A.D. ; this group includes S. C. Vidyābhūşan, R. G. Bhandarkar, Peterson, L. Rice, Winternitz, F. W. Thomas, A. B. Keith, A. S. Altekar, Pt. Nathuram Premi, Pt. Sukhalalji, B. A. Saletore, MM. Gopinath Kaviraj.
(2) The other group of scholars maintain that 7th c. A.D. is the time of Akalanka, on the evidence of a sloka from Akalanka-carita in which the date is given as Vikramārka Saka 700 i.e. 643 A.D., it includes R. Narasimhācharya, S. Srikantha Sāstri, Pt. Jugal Kishor Mukhtar, A. N. Upadhye, Pt. Kailashchandra, Jyoti Pd.1 etc.
The arguments advanced by the first group of scholars are leading us near the truth and they are as follows
(1) That Akala ka is referred to be the son of a minister to king
Subhatunga of Rāșțrakūta dynasty in Prabhācandra's KK.2 That the Mallisena prasasti inscribed on the pillar of Pārsvanātha Basti at Chandragiri refers that Akalarka narrates in the court of Sāhasatunga his victory over Buddhists at the court of king Himaśītala. Probably Sāhasatunga is identical with Dantidurga (744-756 A.D.). That Akalarka-carita refers to Akalarka's debate in Saka 700 (778 A.D.) in these words : “vikramārkaśakābdīya sata saptapramājuși, kale'kalankayatino Bauddhair-vädo mahanabhūt.”4
Now the second group of scholars advances the arguments in the following way:
(1) That KK refers to Mānyakheța as the capital of Subhatunga,
whereas it is Amoghavarsa who made Mānyakheţa the capital . in 815 A.D.; hence, the genuineness of KK is not altogether
beyond doubt5. (2) That the identification of Sāhasatunga with Dantidurga II
is a matter of conjecture only. 1 Vide Hindi. Intro, for the references of views expressed by these Scholars, pp. 44-5. 2 K. B. Pathak, ABORI, vol. XI. p. 155.
Ibid. • ABORI, vol. XI. Art. by K. B. Pathak. 5 NKC, vol. I, Intro. p. 104. & A. N. Upadhya, ABORI, vol. XII, p. 373.
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