South Indian Inscriptions

KALACHURI CHEDI - ERA

kingdom and made it current throughout their dominions.¹ Unfortunately, the earliest records of this era found at Saugor and Chhoti-Deori are undated. The first date of the Kalachuri era obtained from North India is K. 593 (841-42 A. C.) of No. 37, furnished by a record from Kārītalāi in the Jabalpur District. It is followed by twenty dates ranging from K. 724 to K. 963. Most of them are from the inscription of the Imperial Kalachuri dynasty of Tripurī. Among these, seven dates, viz., K. 724, 772, 789, 800, 812, 823 (?) and 961 (or 962) of Nos. 44, 47, I (App.), 51, 53, 56 and 70 respectively, come from the former Rewa State in Vindhya Pradesh; two dates, viz., K. 909 of No. 61 and K. 958 of No. 71, are furnished by the former States of Nāgōd and Pannā; two more dates, viz., K. 793 of No. 48 and K. 810 of No. 52, are obtained from Uttar Pradesh and the remaining six, viz., 529 (?), 902, 907, 918, 926 and 928 of Nos. 2 (App.), 58, 60, 63, 64 and 66 respectively, are supplied by the Jabalpur, Damoh and Saugor Districts of Madhya Pradesh. Two dates, viz., K. 926 of No. 65 and K. 944 of No. 67, belong to the feudatories of the Kalachuris, viz., Kīrtivarman and Malayasimha, who were holding parts of the former Rewa State. The territory round Rewa passed into the possession of the Chandēlla Trailōkyamalla (or Trailōkyavarman) in circa K. 962. The Chandēllas were using the Vikrama era in their own records, but in the Dhureti plates which record a transaction made in the beginning of Trailōkyamalla’s rule in the Chēdi country the Kalachuri era, not the Vikrama samvat, is used for the purpose of dating.

K. 963 (1212 A. C.) is the last date of the Kalachuri era which comes from North India. With the contraction of Kalachuri power during the reigns of the weak successors of Yaśahkarna, the era gradually lost ground to its rival, viz., the Vikrama samvat which was current in the adjoining provinces ruled by the Paramāras, the Chandēllas and the Gāhadavālas. The gradual encroachment made by the Vikrama era is illustrated by two dates, V. 1216 (1159 A. C.) of No. 62 and V. 1253 (1195 A. C.) of No. 68. Both of them come from the northern parts of the Rewa State, and mention the contemporary Kalachuri Suzerains Narasimha and Vijayasimha. But instead of being dated in the era of the Imperial family, they refer themselves to the Vikrama samvat. With the downfall of the Kalachuris of Tripurī, the era vanished from North India.

As stated above, the earlier North-Indian dates of the era are not forthcoming, but speaking generally, in the period 750 to 1215 A. C. the era was current some time or other in that portion of India which would be bounded by straight lines drawn from Saugor to Allahabad, then to Banaras, from there through Bandhogarh to the Narmadā and then along the bank of the river to the western boundary of the Jabalpur District.

When a branch of the Kalachuri family established itself at Tummāna towards the close of the ninth century A. C., it introduced the era in Dakshina Kōsala. But here too, as in the other parts of India, the earlier dates of the era are not available. The first date which comes from Chhattisgarh is K. 821 (1069 A.C.) of No. 75. This is followed by 24 other dates ranging from K. 831 to K. 969. They are furnished by the inscriptions of the Kalachuris of Ratnapur and their feudatories, ruling in Chhattisgarh including the former States of Kawardhā and Kānkēr. Down to 1220 A. C. the era was current in that portion of South India which stretched from the eastern boundary of the Balaghat, Bhandara and Chanda districts in the west to that of the Raigarh District in the east and from the Narmadā in the north to the northern part of the Baster District in the south.² After 1220
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¹ The branch of the Kalachuris which established itself in the country of Sarayūpāra does not, however, appear to have used the Kalachuri era.
² Two copper-plate inscriptions, dated in the years 260 and 283 of an unspecified era, have been found at Soro in the Balasore District and Patiākellā in the Cuttack District of Orissa respectively (Ep. Ind., Vol.