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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; APPENDIX I. 143
tribe; and, therefore, that the years were originally regnal or dynastic years. Now,
such years must run on for a considerable time, before they can develop into a recog-
nised era; and this is undoubtedly the reason why we find the earlier years of every
such Hindu era quoted simply by the term varsha or saṁvatsara, 'a year,' without any
dynastic appellation. Again, such regnal or dynastic years can only come to be quoted
as expired years, when they have actually developed into an era which has become recog-
nised, or is sought to be applied, by astronomers for astronomical processes; up to that
point, the years, being wanted only for quasi-private dynastic purposes, would certainly
be quoted as current years. It is impossible to believe that the first Śaka king decreed,
immediately after his coronation, that a new era had been established from that event;
that it was to come at once into general use; and that, for the convenience of astrono-
mers, the first year, then running, was to be quoted as an expired year, which, in fact, it
would be rather difficult to do. If it were sought to fix the exact chronological position of
any public act performed in that first year, it might be referred to the expired years of an
earlier era; e.g. of that of the Kaliyuga. 'But, for any reference to the regnal year alone,
that act would be recorded as being performed "in the year one," "in the first year," or
"while the first year of the reign is current;" as, for instance, "in the first year; while
the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the glorious Tôramâṇa, is governing the earth," in line 1 f. of
the Êraṇ inscription, No. 36, page 158. This custom would continue as long as the
years were simply dynastic years; and perhaps, during the whole of that period, the
years might remain purely dynastic years, each of them having for its initial day the
anniversary of the original coronation from which they started, irrespective of the initial
day of the years of the astronomical era still continuing in use. When, however, astro-
nomers came to adopt them as an astronomical era, they would establish an exact epoch
by reckoning back from the dynastic year then current to the last year of the Kaliyuga
that had expired when the first current dynastic year commenced; in the course of
which, they would simplify matters by allotting to the dynastic years the same scheme,
as regards the starting-point of each year, and the arrangement of the fortnights of the
months, which belonged to the Kaliyuga in their part of the country. Thus they would
fix all the data necessary to enable them to use the new era for astronomical purposes.
All that would remain, would be to use its expired years, in accordance with the custom
and necessities of their science. The substitution of the Śaka era for the Kaliyuga, for
astronomical purposes, seems to have taken place after the time of Âryabhaṭa (born A.D.
476),¹ who used the Kaliyuga, and in or just before the time of Varâhamihira (died A.D.
587),² who used the Śaka era; and probably the apparent difference of one year in the
reckonings of the Śaka era will be found to have originated not far from Śaka-Saṁvat
500. Let us assume that this adoption of the Śaka era was made in Śaka-Saṁvat 500,
equivalent to A.D. 577-78. The astronomers would take it, at starting, as "Śaka-
¹ Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. Vol. I. p. 405. ² Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. Vol. I. p. 407.