गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; INTRODUCTION. 97
the 28th April,¹ A.D. 705, at 57 ghaṭîs, 12 palas, after sunrise; that there was the Kṛittikâ
nakshatra up to 11 ghaṭîs, 3 palas, after sunrise, and then the Rôhiṇî nakshatra, which
continued up to 11 ghaṭîs, 18 palas, after sunrise on the next day, Wednesday; and that,
consequently, the Abhijit muhûrta, being the eighth in order among the muhûrtas, and
beginning after the expiration of fourteen ghaṭîs after sunrise, occurred, as required by the
record, while the Rôhiṇî nakshatra was current. He also finds that the same conditions
of the nakshatra and the muhûrta did not occur, if the given tithi is treated as belonging
to Śaka-Saṁvat 627 or 629 current.
The result, therefore, answers, as is required, to the running difference of two hundred
and forty-two years between current Gupta-Valabhî and current Śaka years; and to the
treatment of the Gupta year as a northern Śaka year. And it gives Śaka-Saṁvat 628
current (A.D. 705-706), as the equivalent of the given current Gupta year. But, like the
result for the date in the Êraṇ pillar inscription of Budhagupta, it does not, in itself, prove
conclusively either the exact epoch of the era, or the scheme of the year; for the reason
that, being a date in a bright fortnight, this Jyêshṭha śukla 1 was the same tithi, and
ended on the same solar day, represented by the 28th April, all over India, in the southern
as well as the northern Śaka-Saṁvat 628, and in southern Vikrama-Saṁvat 762, as well
as in northern Vikrama-Saṁvat 763.
The Môrbi Grant of the year 586.
The last date that I have to notice from the present point of view, is contained in the
Môrbi grant of Jâiṅka, from Kâṭhiâwâḍ, published by Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar in the Ind.
Ant. Vol. II. p. 257 f. The record includes two dates. In line 16 f., in connection with
the making of the grant, we have (from the published lithograph)—pañch-âśîtyâ yutê=
tîtê samânâṁ śata-pañchakê l Gôptê dadâv=adô nṛipaḥ s-ôparâgê=rkka-maṇḍalê ll,—
"five centuries of years, together with eighty-five (years), having passed by, the king gave
this (charter) at (the village of) Gôpta, when the disc of the sun was eclipsed;" in which the
year is expressly coupled with a word meaning "expired." And in line 19 f., in connection
with the writing of the charter, we have—saṁvat 585 Phâlguna su(śu) di 5,—"the year
585; the month Phâlguna; the bright fortnight; the (solar) day 5;" without any indication
whether the year is an expired one, or current. The eclipse is also mentioned in line 3, in
the words — mârttaṇḍa-maṇḍal-âśrayiṇi Svavbhânô(read Svarbbhânau),—"while
Svarbhânu (i.e. Râhu, the personified ascending node) is resting on the disc of the sun."
There is some difficulty in disposing finally of the whole bearing of this record;
owing to the fact that the first plate was lost sight of, without being procured for
¹ Śaka-Saṁvat 628 current commenced rather early, on, approximately, Sunday, the 1st March,
A.D. 705. And hence the reason why the month Jyêshṭha, which ordinarily answers to May-June,
commenced on the 28th April, and of course ended before the end of May.
Nb