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

be named Mahâ-Chaitra; and the Mahâ-Vaiśâkha saṁvatsara would not begin till Jupiter's
rising next after the given date, when, by the same system, his position was in Anurâdhâ.
Accordingly, the system of equal spaces could be applied to the present record, only with a
running difference of two hundred and forty-three years between current Gupta and current
Śaka years; which would be in contradiction with the fact that, to prove the saṁvatsaras of
all the remaining records, it must be applied with the running difference of two hundred and
forty-two years. It is evident, therefore, that, in dealing with these records, the system of
equal spaces is not the correct one; and that we have to apply one or other of the
systems of unequal spaces. This, however, is only natural; for they are both more
ancient than the system of equal spaces; and, the older the system, the greater the cer-
tainty that it is the one in use in the Early Gupta period. Also, the Dêôgaḍh inscription
of king Bhôjadêva of Kanauj, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 784, indicates very plainly that one or
other of the systems of unequal spaces, if not both of them, continued in use, in what had
formed a part of the Early Gupta territory, down to at least the last half of the ninth cen-
tury A.D.¹ Of the two systems of unequal spaces, whether we are to apply the Brahma-
Siddhânta system, or the still more ancient Garga system, cannot at present be decided;
¹ In this inscription, which was brought to notice by Gen. Cunningham in the Archæol. Surv. Ind.
Vol. X. p. 101, and Plate xxxiii. No. 2, and is on a pillar in a detached portico in front of the hall
of a temple at Dêôgaḍh, about sixty miles to the south-west of 'Jhansi' in Scindia's Dominions in
Central India, the date (from an ink-impression; lines 6 ff., 10) runs—saṁvat 919 Asva(śva)yuja-
śukla-paksha-chaturddaśyâṁ Vṛihaspati-dinêna Uttar[â*]-Bhâdrapad[â*]-nakshattrê idaṁ
stambhaṁ samâptam=iti ......... Śakakâl-âbda-sapta-śatâni chatur-aśîty-adhikâni
784,—"the year 919; on the fourteenth tithi or lunar day in the bright fortnight of Aśvayuja; on the
day of Vṛihaspati; under the Uttarâ-Bhâdrapadâ nakshatra, this pillar was finished; ......
...... seven centuries of years, increased by eighty-four, of the Śaka era; (or in figures) 784."
This gives us, for calculation, Vikrama-Saṁvat 919 and Śaka-Saṁvat 784; the month Âśvayuja
(September-October); the day of Vṛihaspati or Jupiter, i.e. Thursday; and the Uttarâ-Bhâdrapadâ
nakshatra. The date, of course, is a northern date; but, as the given tithi is in a bright fortnight,
this point is immaterial.—Taking the Śaka year in question as an expired year, Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit
has obtained as the English equivalent, by both Prof. K. L. Chhatre's Tables and the Sûrya-Siddhânta,
Thursday, the 10th September, A.D. 862. The tithi ended at 56 ghaṭîs, 34 palas, or 22 hrs. 37 min.
36 sec., after sunrise on that day. By the equal-space system of the nakshatras, the moon was in the
Pûrvâ-Bhâdrapadâ nakshatra up to 53 ghaṭîs, 31 palas, or 21 hrs. 24 min. 24 sec., after sunrise on
the Thursday; and she then entered the Uttarâ-Bhâdrapadâ nakshatra; i.e. assuming sunrise at 6
A.M., only 2 hrs. 35 min. 36 sec. before sunrise on the Friday (the time, all through, is for Ujjain,
as I have not the exact longitude of Dêôgaḍh; taking it, approximately, as 78° 15′ E., the time in each
case, will be a little less than ten minutes later). This, however, is a highly improbable hour for the
completion, as stated in the record, of the pillar on which the inscription is engraved. But, by the
unequal-space systems of the nakshatras, the Purvâ-Bhâdrapadâ nakshatra ended at about 23
ghaṭîs, 40 palas, or 9 hrs. 28 min., after sunrise on the Thursday; and the moon then entered the
Uttarâ-Bhâdrapadâ nakshatra; i.e., roughly, about half past three in the afternoon, leaving ample
time, in ordinary working hours, for the completion of the pillar before sunset.—It is evident, there-
fore, that for the determination of the nakshatra in this record, we have to apply one or other of
the systems of unequal spaces.
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