South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI CHEDI - ERA

(6) The proportion of expired years to current ones is 27:7, which is in accordance with the general usage of quoting expired years, noticed in the case of the other Indian eras. The uniform agreement of these 34 later dates of the Kalachuri era clearly establishes that the era command on the pūrnimānta Kārttika śu. di. I (the 6th October) in 248 A. C

Now, this conclusion conflicts with the result already obtained from an examination of the available five early dates of the era which contained the necessary details for computation, viz., that the era commenced on the amānta Kārttika śu. di. I (the 25th September) in 249 A. C. It may be noted in this connection that the two types of dates do not come from the same part of the country. The earlier dates come from Gujarat and Maharashtra, while the later ones are obtained from North India and the Chhattisgarh Division of Madhya Pradesh. It seems to me that the only way in which we can reconcile these two epochs of the era is to suppose that when the era was introduced by the Kalachuris in North India, its current years were erroneously supposed to be expired ones. The commencement of the era came consequently to be antedated by one year.¹ Again, though the year continued to be Kārttikādi, its months became pūrnimāta in accordance with the general usage prevailing in North India.

The Kalachuris-Chēdi era, therefore, originally commenced on Kārttika śu. di. I (the 25th September) in 249 A. C.

THE ORIGIN OF THE ERA
We shall next turn to the question, ‘What historical event does this era commemorate?’ For a correct answer to this question we must take the following points into consideration.

(I) Though in some later records, the years of the era are specified as Chēdi-samvat or Chēd-īśasya samvat and Kalachuri-samvat, it by no means follows that the era was known by either of these names from early times; for, in the early records of Māhārājās of Khandesh, the Traikūtakas, the Kalachuris, the Gurjaras, the Sēndrakas and the Chālukyas, the years of the era are introduced simply by the word samvat. The name Chēdi-samvat, Chēdi-dishta (or Chd-iśasya samvat) and Kalachuri-samvat occur in only nine records,² eight of which come from Chhattisgarh. The earliest of them belongs to the last quarter of the eleventh century A.C. The reason why this era came to be known by these names in Chhattisgarh is not far to seek. Before the advent of the Kalachuris, the general custom prevailing in Chhattisgarh, as in several other parts of India, was to date events in the regnal years of the ruling king.³ When the Kalachuris established themselves in Chhattisgarh, they introduced there the era which they had been using in their home province of Dāhala for several centuries. It, therefore, came to be designated as Kalachuri-samvat. The other name Chēdi-samvat or Chēd-īśasya samvat was also appropriate; for, the Imperial family to which the Tummāna branch owed allegiance was then ruling over the Chēdi country.
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¹ A mistake of the opposite type seems to have occurred in recording the date Śaka 1322 of No. 107. The correct date was expired Śaka 1323, but the writer seems to have taken it as current and so put down Śaka 1322. evidently as an expired year. Three other instances of the same type (viz., expired Śaka years erroneously regarded as current ones) were noticed by Kielhorn during his examination of the dates of the Śaka era in inscriptions. Ind. Ant., Vol. XXV, p. 268.
² The phrase Chēd-īśasya sam occurs in the date 831 of No. 76, Chēdi-samvat in the dates 919 and 933 of Nos. 98 and 100, and Chēdi-dishta in the date 902 of No. 58 (which is in verse). The expression Kalachuri- samvatsara is noticed in the dates 885, 893, 896, 898 and 910 of Nos. 122, 87, 88, 110 and 95 respectively. Of these, only the date 902 comes from the country, north of the Narmadā.
³ See, for instances, the dates of the records of the kings of Śarabhapura and those of the Sōmavamśī dynasty. The only early record from Chhattisgarh which is dated in any era is the Ārang plate of Bhīmasēna. Ep.Ind., Vol. IX, pp. 342 ff. It contains the date 182 of the Gupta era. Ibid., Vol. XXVI, p. 228.