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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE GUPTA ERA tri-shashty-uttarē=bda-ṡatē Gupta-nṛipa-rājya-bhuktau Mah-Āṡvayuja-saṁvatsarē Chaitra-māsa-ṡukla-paksha-dvitīy¬āyāṁ1 “when a century of years, increased by sixty-three (had elapsed), the enjoyment of sovereignty by the Gupta kings continuing; in the Mah-Āṡvayuja saṁvatsara; on the
second lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra.” The calculation of this
date has very much exercised both Fleet and Dikshit. But Sengupta calculates reasonably
as follows: “The year 163 of the Gupta era or 482 A.D. was similar to the year 1941 A.D. and
the date to March 30, 1941. In 1,459 sidereal years (1,941-482= 1,459) there are 532,909
days, which are applied backward to the 30th March, 1941 A.D., and we arrive at the tentative date of the inscription as March 8, 482 A.D. On this date as G.M.N.,we had— Thus the heliacal setting of Jupiter took place in two days more according to Brahmagupta’s rule on the 9th April, 482 A.D. and the new-moon happened on the 5th April, 482 A.D. when the sun was on the nakshatra Bharaṇi. Hence the year to come got its name Āṡvayuja. But the tentative date of the inscription was obtained as March 8, 482 A.D., which was 28 days before the new-moon, on about the 5th April, 482 A.D. This needs elucidation.
Here by coming down by 30 days we arrive at the lunar month of Vaiṡ ākha as it is reckoned now. But in the year 482 A.D., i.e., 17 years before the year 499 A.D. when the Hindu scientific siddhāntas came into being, the calendar formation rule was different. In our guage year 1941 A.D. the moon of the last quarter got conjoined with Chitrā or a Virginis on the 20th January before sunrise. Hence, as pointed out before, in this guage year 1941. A.D. also, the lunar Agrahāyaṇa of the early Gupta period ended on the 27th January, 1941. Thus the lunar month that is now called Pausha in 1941 A.D. was called Agrahāyaṇa in 482 A.D. Hence the lunar Chaitra of 482 A.D. is now the lunar Vaiṡākha of 1941. The date of the inscription is thus correctly obtained as the 7TH APRIL, 482 A.D.; the Jovian year begun was Mah-Āṡvayuja year.”2 In the time of J.F. Fleet two more copper-plate charters of the Nṛipati-Parivrājaka family
were known. The dates of both were calculated by S. B. Dikshit as of others. The first of these3
gives us, for calculation, the Mahā-Chaitra Saṁvatsara, as current on the third tithi or lunar day
of the dark fortnight of the month Māgha in Gupta-Saṁvat 191. “By both the systems of
unequal spaces, with the running difference of two hundred and forty-two years between
current Gupta and current Śaka years, the Mahā-Chaitra saṁvatsara was current on the
given date. And the result gives Śaka-Saṁvat 433 current (A.D. 510-11) as the equivalent of
the given current Gupta year”.4 Here, as has been pointed out above, several times, the Gupta
Saṁvat 191 is an expired one. This charter also shows that the Gupta era began from 318-19
A.D. The second charter which we have now to take note of, and which was found at Khoh,
gives for calculation, the Mahā-Āṡvayuja saṁvatsara, as current on the thirteenth tithi or
lunar day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra in Gupta-Saṁvat 209 current. “By both the
systems of unequal spaces, with the running difference of two hundred and forty-two years
between current Gupta and current Śaka years,” says S. B. Dikshit, “the Mahā-Āṡvayuja 1 CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 22.
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