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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA A FURTHER NOTE ON THE EPOCH OF THE GANGA ERA V. V. MIRASHI, AMRAOTI Since my article on the Epoch of the Gāṅga era was sent for publication more than six years ago, one new record of that era has been published in this Journal, viz., the Tekkali plates of Anantavarman, above, Vol. XXVI, pp. 174 ff. These plates record the grant of a village by the Gāṅga king Anantavarman on the occasion of a solar eclipse. The plates are dated in the year 358 (expressed in words) of the increasingly victorious reign of the Gāṅgēya family. It would be interesting to see how far this date agrees with the conclusion in my previous article that the Gāṅga era commenced on amānta Chaitra śu. di. [1] in Śaka 420(=A.D. 498). According to the aforementioned epoch, the Gāṅga year 358 should be equivalent to the Chaitrādi Śaka year 777 (A.D. 855-56) if it was current, and to the Śaka year 778 (A.D. 856-57) if it was expired. There was, however, no solar eclipse in Śaka 777, while there were two such eclipses in Śaka 778, viz., on the amāvāsyā of the amānta months Āshāḍha and Pausha (5th July and 31st December respectively in A.D. 856).1 The Tekkali plates do not specifically mention in which particular month the solar eclipse occurred, but their evidence, such as it is, is in agreement with the epoch fixed by me. The date of the plates is thus in an expired year. This is as it should be ; for, as shown above, the usual practice in ancient times was to date records in an expired year. This new date may, therefore, be said to confirm the epoch fixed in my previous article.
On the other hand, the evidence of this date is definitely opposed to some of the epochs proposed by other scholars. Leaving aside such impossible epochs as A.D. 349-50, A.D. 741, A.D. 772 and A.D. 877-78, I shall examine only those that approximate to the one fixed by me, viz., A.D. 494 proposed by Mr. Subba Rao, A.D. 496 by Mr. J. C. Ghosh and A.D. 497-98 by Mr. B. V. Krishna Rao. According to the epoch of A.D. 494, the Gāṅga year 358 would correspond to A.D. 852, but there was no solar eclipse in the latter year. The epoch of A.D. 496 would make the Gāṅga year equivalent to A.D. 854, in which case there was a solar eclipse (on the 1st February), but this epoch would not suit some other dates such as that of the Indian Museum plates of Dēvēndravarman II.[2] According to the third view, the Gāṅga year commenced on amānta Bhādrapada va. di. 13 in Śaka 419 (A.D. 497). The first Gāṅga year, according to this view, extended from Bhādrapada va. di. 13 in Śaka 419 to Bhādrapada va. di. 12 in Śaka 420. It will thus be seen that this year partly coincided with the first Gāṅga year which, according to my view, commenced on Chaitra śu. di 1 in Śaka 420. It is, therefore, not surprising that there was a solar eclipse in the expired Gāṅga year 358 according to this epoch, viz., that which occurred on the amāvāsyā of amānta Āshāḍha (5th July A.D. 856). I have, however, shown that this epoch also does not suit the date of the Indian Museum plates of Dëvēndravarman II. The only epoch of the Gāṅga era which suits all the verifiable dates discovered so far is thus the one fixed in my previous article. According to it, the Gāṅga era commenced on the smānta Chaitra śu. di. 1 in the Śaka year 420 (the 14th March A.D. 498). ______________
[1] See Indian Ephemeris, Vol. II, pp. 114-15. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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