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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; APPENDIX IV. 179
D.—Mr. Bendall's inscription No. 2; Journey in Nêpâl, p. 74 f., and Plate ix.—
The charter is issued from Kailâsakûṭabhavana (line 1). The inscription is one of an
illustrious Mahâsâmanta, whose name is effaced, but may with tolerable certainty be
restored as Aṁśuvarman (l. 2). And it records the grant of two fields, for the purpose
of providing for the repairs of some building. The Dûtaka (l. 17) is the Mahâbalâdhyaksha
Vindusvâmin. The date (l. 16) is (Harsha)-Saṁvat 34, prathama-Pausha-śukla-
dvitîyâyâm; which should answer,¹ approximately, to the 3rd December, A.D. 639.
E.—Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji's inscription No. 7; Ind. Ant. Vol. IX. p. 170 f.—The
charter is issued from Kailâsakûṭabhavana (line 1). The inscription is one of the
illustrious Aṁśuvarman (l. 5), to whom no formal titles are allotted here. It mentions
sixteen or even forty ghaṭîs before the saṁkrânti, up to the time of the saṁkrânti, and, in the case
of the other saṁkrântis, from the time of the saṁkrânti, up to from ten to sixteen or even forty
ghaṭîs after it. But generally, when a saṁkrânti occurs at midnight,—as it did, roughly, in the
present instance,—the puṇyakâla is held to be on the following day. And, in the present case, there
is every probability of the bathing &c. having been performed on the following day; i.e. on Mâgha
śukla daśamî."—With other years, the given saṁkrânti cannot be brought into accordance with the
given day and tithi. Thus, with Śaka-Saṁvat 680 expired, the saṁkrânti occurred six or seven days
after the given tithi, on the Pûrṇimânta Phâlguna kṛishṇa 2; with 681 expired, on the Pûrṇimânta
Phâlguna kṛishṇa 13; with 683 expired, on the Pûrṇimânta Phâlguna kṛishṇa 5; with 684 expired,
on Mâgha śukla 1; and with 685 expired, on Mâgha śukla 12. It is certain, therefore, that the
correct English equivalent is the one obtained with Śaka-Saṁvat 682 expired. And, taking the given
Harsha year as a current year, and treating it as having the same scheme with the northern Śaka
year, the epoch is Śaka-Saṁvat 527 expired, or A.D. 605-606 current; and 528 years have to be
added, to convert current Harsha years into current Śaka years, and 527, to convert them into expir-
ed Śaka years as the basis of calculations. The commencement or first current year of the era, is A.D.
606-607 current.—I should remark, as I did when editing the grant, that a slight doubt may be felt as to
the value of the third numerical symbol, in the units place, which I interpret as 5. And the exact epoch
would be varied, by allotting a different value to this symbol. But the choice lies only between 4, 5, and
8. I do not think that any authority can be found for interpreting it as 4. And, if it were interpreted
as 8, then the epoch of the era would be A.D. 602-603; and its first current year would be A.D. 603-
604, for which year, as the commencement of the reign of Harshavardhana, there seems to be no
authority whatever.—I should also point out that the next inscription, D. below, of Harsha-Saṁvat 34,
refers to an intercalation of the month Pausha; and that Prof. Adams of Cambridge, and Prof. Schram
of Vienna, as reported by Dr. Bühler in the Ind. Ant. Vol. XV. p. 338 (see also Journey in Nêpâl,
p. 76), obtained a mean intercalation of Pausha in A.D. 640; which would necessitate the adoption
of A.D. 606-607 as the epoch. But this intercalation remains to be examined in detail; and, for the
present, I have only a note by Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit that, according to the verse Mêsh-âdi-sthê savitari
&c. (see page 88 above, note 5), the intercalated period should be called Mârgaśîrsha; and that, in
calling it Pausha, exactly the contrary is done of the process by which we obtain Mârgaśîrsha as the
name of the intercalated period that is referred to in the Kaira grant of Dharasêna IV. of the year
330 (see page 93 ff. above).—The question will, I hope, be treated more fully by Mr. Dikshit hereafter.
Meanwhile, for present purposes, I adopt A.D. 605-606 as the epoch.
¹ As regards the equivalent English date, however, see a remark, in the preceding note, on the
indicated intercalary nature of this month Pausha.
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