South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

No. 27.- DATES OF CHOLA KINGS.

BY F. KIELHORN, PH.D., LL.D., C.I.E. ; GÖTTINGEN.
(Continued from page 24.)

A.- KULOTTUNGA-CHOLA I.
39.- Near the Nâgêsvara temple at Chêbrôlu.^[2]

1 Svasti Śakha(ka)-varshaṁblu 998 n=êṁṭi Nala-śaṁ(saṁ)vatsa-
2 ra śrâhi svasti Sarvvalôkâśraya-śrî-
3 Vishnu(shṇu)varddhana-mahârâjula pravarddhamâ-
4 na-vijaya-râjya-śaṁ(saṁ)vatsara[ṁblu] 7 n=êṇḍu . . .
6 . . . . . Mâgha-mâsamuna
7 punnamayu Su(śu)kravâramuna sômagrahaṇa-
8 nimittamunan=.

“ In the Śaka year 998, in the year^[3] (which was) the Nala year, (and) in the 7th year of the increasing reign of victory of the asylum of the whole world, the glorious Vishṇuvardhana-mahârâja,─ on the occasion of an eclipse of the moon on Friday, the full-moon tithi of the month of Mâgha.”

As the reign of Kulôttuṅga-Chôḷa I. commenced^[4] between the 14th March and the 8th October A.D. 1070, a date in the month of Mâgha of his 7th year must fall about the commencement of A.D. 1077, in Śaka-Saṁvat 998 expired which was the Jovian year Nala (Anala). In this year the full-moon tithi of Mâgha ended 23 h. 51 m. after mean sunrise of Wednesday, the 11th January A.D. 1077, when there was no eclipse. But there was an eclipse of the moon, visible in India, from 17 h. 9 m. to 20 h. 13 m. after mean sunrise of Friday, the 10th February A.D. 1077, which was the full-moon day of Phâlguna. I have no doubt that this is the day intended by the inscription, and that in the original date the month of Mâgha has been quoted erroneously^[5] instead of Phâlguna.

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^[2] No. 151 of the Government Epigraphist’s collection for 1897 ; see p. 220 above.
^[3] For the word śrâhi compare Ind. Ant. Vol. XXV. p. 285.
^[4] See above, p. 24.
^[5] The case is different with the date of the Nausârî plates of Suvarṇavarsha Karkarâja of Gujarât, edited in Jour. Br. As. Soc. Vol. XX. p. 135 ff., which quotes a lunar eclipse in the month of Mâgha of Śaka-Saṁvat 738 expired. The eclipse undoubtedly is the one of the 5th February A.D. 817, which by the rules now in force would be the full-moon day of Phâlguna. The original date is nevertheless correct, because by the rules of mean intercalation Mâgha in Śaka-Saṁvat 738 was an intercalary month, so that the month which we now should call Phâlguna, in accordance with those rules would have been called in the second (or proper) Mâgha, or simply Mâgha, as it is actually called in the inscription. In Śaka-Saṁvat 998 expired there was no intercalation of either description.