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

104 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
sequent given date in that year. In fact, out of the four leading dates on which any
arguments can be based, with these two epochs this system gives correct results only in
respect of the grant A. dated in Gupta-Saṁvat 156, and the grant D. dated in Gupta-
Saṁvat 209. And, as with the heliacal-rising system, so with this system also, a full
consideration of the details will shew that, even by adopting a scheme for the Gupta year
other than the scheme of the northern Śaka year, with neither of these two epochs is
there any method of bringing out uniform results throughout.
A.—The Khôh Grant of the year 156.
The first inscription is one of the Khôh grants of the Mahârâja Hastin,
No. 21, page 93; in which the date (line 1 ff.) is—shaṭpañchâś-ôttarê=bda-śatê Gupta-
nṛipa-râjya-bhuktau Mahâ-Vaiśâkha-saṁvatsarê Kârttika-mâsa-śukla-paksha-tṛitîyâyâm,
—“in a century of years, increased by the fifty-sixth (year); in the enjoyment of
sovereignty by the Gupta kings; in the Mahâ-Vaiśâkha saṁvatsara; on the third lunar
day of the bright fortnight of the month Kârttika.”
This gives us, for calculation, the Mahâ-Vaiśâkha saṁvatsara, as current on the
third tithi or lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month Kârttika (October-November)
in Gupta-Saṁvat 156 current. And, on the analogy of the Verâwal inscription of
Valabhî-Saṁvat 945, this should be the case in Gupta-Saṁvat 156 + 242 = Śaka-
Saṁvat 398 current;¹ in which year the given tithi corresponds to Sunday, the 19th Octo-
ber, A.D. 475.
Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit finds (see Table IV. page 105 below, Col. A.) that Jupiter’s
rising,² next before the given date, took place on Kârttika śukla 1 of the same year,
Śaka-Saṁvat 398 current, corresponding to Friday, the 17th October, A.D. 475; or,
by the English calendar, on Saturday, the 18th October.³ His longitude then was

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¹ Here, and throughout, the year is treated as a northern year. But the details of these dates do
not furnish any actual proof as to the Pûrṇimânta or Amânta arrangement of the lunar fortnights.
² i.e., throughout, his heliacal rising. But the actual calculation is for his first daily rising after
his becoming capable of rising heliacally.
³ Jupiter’s daily rising, next after his becoming capable of rising heliacally, takes place about
forty-four minutes before sunrise, and therefore in the period during which the Hindu and the English
week-days are not identical (see a note in Appendix II. below). In the present case, it took place
at the time in question before sunrise on the English Saturday, the 18th October. Kârttika śukla 2
did not end till after sunrise on that day. Consequently, as current tithis are not quoted, unless
under certain very exceptional conditions not applicable to such occurrences as this, the tithi
on which he rose was Kârttika śukla 1. And this tithi, ending after sunrise on the Friday (and
before sunrise on the Saturday), has to be coupled with Friday, the 17th October, as its week-day.
Hence the apparent, but not actual, difference of a day, according as we take the Hindu or the
English calendar. And a similar difference runs through all the dates of the heliacal risings given
below.