North Indian Inscriptions

ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS

NAGARDHAN PLATES OF SVAMIRAJA: YEAR 322

records discovered in Vidarbha viɀ., the Tivarakhēḍ¹ and the Multāi² plates, with the slight change of Svāmirāja into Svāmikarāja, it seems very likely that the princes mentioned here also belonged to the same royal lineage³

The plates state, in lines 14-15, that the grants of Nannarāja was made on the occa sion of a (solar) eclipse on Chaitra amāvāsyā in the cyclic year Āshāḍha. This year was evidently of the twelve-year cycle of Jupiter. The system of citing the years of this cycle was current in early times and continued till the sixth century A.C. In North Indian five such dates, with the word mahā prefixed to the name of the year, were discovered in the grants of the Parivrājaka Mahārājas Hastin and Saṅkshōbha, from which Dr. Fleet and Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit calculated the epoch of the Gupta era⁴. Some more dates of this kind have since then been discovered. In South India also, some dates of this kind have been noticed in the records of the Early Rāshṭrakūṭas⁵, the Kadambas⁶ and the kings of Kaliṅga⁷, but they do not admit of verification in the absence of the necessary details. The present grant is thus unique in that it mentions such details together with the name of the cyclic year and the date of an era. Let us see whether the details work out regularly for any of the known eras.

If the year 322 is referred to the Gupta era, it would correspond to 641-42 A.C. There was, however, no solar eclipse in the amānta or Pūrṇimānta Chaitra of that year. Besides, the cyclic year was Phālguna⁸, not Āshāḍha as stated in the grant. The nearest solar eclipse in Chaitra occurred on the 21st March 638 A.C., but then too the cyclic year was Mārgaśīrsha, not Āshāḍha. Again there is no evidence that the Gupta era was current in Vidarbha or, for the matter of that, anywhere in Maharashtra. The year 322 of the present grant cannot, therefore, be referred to the Gupta era.

The only other era to which this date can be referred is the Kalachuri era, which was current in the neighbouring districts of Khandesh and Nasik⁹. Let us next see if the details work out satisfactorily for this era.

The epoch which suits early dates of the Kalachuri era 248-49 A.C. If the year 322 is referred to this era, it should be equivalent to 570-71 or 571-72 A.C. according as it was current or expired. But in neither of these years, was there a solar eclipse in the amānta or pūrṇimānta Chaitra. There was, however, such an eclipse in the immediately following year 573 A.C., on the 19th March, which was the amāvāsya of the amānta Chaitra. The year of the twelve-year cycle was also Ashāḍha according to the mean-sign system. The agreement of these three details, viɀ., the solar eclipse, the lunar month and the cyclic year shows that the 19th March 573 A.C. is undoubtedly the correct date of the grant.
________________

¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XI, pp. 274 ff.
² Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, pp. 230 ff.
³ Svāmirāja and his brother Nannarāja were not, however, identical with Svāmikarāja and his son Nannarāja. The latter flourished at the close of the seventh and in the beginning of the eighth century A.C. as shown by the Multai plates dated Śaka 631 (709-10 A.C.). The Tivarakhēḍ plates, which give the earlier date of Śaka 553 (631-32 A.C.), are undoubtedly spurious. The present grant, on the other hand, was made in 573 A.C., more than a hundred and thirty-five years before, as shown below. For a detailed examination of this question, see Ind. Hist. Quart., Vol. XXV, pp. 138 ff.
⁴ The last known date of this type is G. 209 (528 A.C.) which occurs in the Khōh plates of the Parivrājaka Mahārāja Saṅkshōbha.
⁵ See my article on the Rāshṭrakūṭas of Mānapura, A.B.O.R.I., Vol. XXV, p 42.
⁶ Ind. Ant., Vol. VII, pp. 35 ff. and Vol. VI, pp. 24 ff.
⁷ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIV, pp. 47 ff.
⁸ This is according to the mean-sign system. See Cunningham, Indian Eras, p. 166. The year according to the heliacal rising system also would be that same according to the calculations of Dr. K.L. Daftari.
⁹ See dates of Nos, 2-4, 28 and 31, above.