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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS ; INTRODUCTION. 101
of the disc.¹ This eclipse, therefore, setting aside all other considerations, is not in any way
as satisfactory as that of the 7th May, A.D. 905.
The use of the Twelve-Year Cycle of Jupiter in Records of the Early
Gupta period.
I now come to a still more interesting and important part of my inquiry ; viz. to the
use of the Twelve-Year Cycle of Jupiter in the dates of some of the records of the
Early Gupta period.
These dates are found in the inscriptions of the Parivrâjaka Mahârâjas Hastin and
Saṁkshôbha, No. 21, page 93, to No. 25, page 112. And the extreme value of the
records, from the present point of view, is due to the fact that in each instance, except
in No. 24, page 110,² the date is directly connected with an expression which shews expli-
citly that, at the time mentioned, the Gupta sovereignty was still enduring ; and conse-
quently,—since the figures of the years are naturally referable to the same uniform
series with the years quoted in the records of the Early Guptas themselves ; and since the
palæography of the inscriptions is entirely in favour of such a reference,—which shews
also that the dates are recorded in the identical era that was used by the Early Gupta
kings.
The evidence derivable from these records has hitherto been completely misapplied ;
in consequence of the adoption of the view, that the duration of any saṁvatsara or year
of this cycle, is the same with that of the years of the Śaka era, from Chaitra śukla 1 to
Chaitra kṛishṇa 15; and that the means of exactly determining the saṁvatsaras of this
cycle, are provided by the last remainder obtained from certain rules given by Varâhamihira
and others, which in reality only shews what saṁvatsara of the Sixty-Year Cycle of the
same planet according to the Northern System, and of the Twelve-Year Cycle according to
the mean-sign system, is current at the commencement of any given Śaka or Kaliyuga year,
and which does not provide for the determination of the saṁvatsaras on any other given
date in the year.³
¹ Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit has not made actual calculations for the village of Gôp (see page 98 above,
note 2) ; but is able to state that both the eclipses, of the 7th May, A.D. 905, and of the 10th Nov-
ember, A.D. 904, were visible there ; the circumstances of the former eclipse, in respect of visibility,
being more favourable, and those of the latter being less so, at Gôp than at Môrbî.
² For the possible explanation of the omission in this instance, see page 8 above.
³ See, for instance, Indian Eras, p. 26 ff.—This interpretation of the rules in question leaves un-
utilized, and unexplained, the first remainder, obtained from the division by 3750 according to Varâha-
mihira's rule, and by 1875 according to the rule of the Jyôtishṭava. In connection with the Jyôtish-
ṭava rule, however, Warren has shewn (Kala-Sankalita, p. 202) how this remainder gives the means
of determining the actual commencement of each saṁvatsara.—From the use of some Tables drawn
up by Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit, for determining the actual commencement of each saṁvatsara of the Sixty-
Year Cycle according to the Northern System, and of each saṁvatsara of the Twelve-Year Cycle