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

24 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
cation,—by a mahârâja of the Sanakânika¹ tribe or family, who was a feudatory of
Chandragupta II., but whose name, in line 2, is now illegible,—of, evidently, the two
groups of sculptures above which it is engraved.
Dantidurga (Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 112, l. 30 f.), pañcha-saptaty-adhika-Śakakâla-saṁvatsara-śata-
shaṭkê vyatîtê saṁvat 675 pai(?pô or pau)hachchhikâyâ Mâgha-mâsa-ratha-saptamyâṁ tulâ-purusha-
sthitê. And, in respect of the locative plural, (c) the Bâdâmi cave inscription of Maṅgalîśa (Ind.
Ant. Vol. VI. p. 363, ll. 6 f., 11), Śaka-nṛipati-râjyâbhishêka-saṁvatsarêshv=atikrântêshu pañchasu
śatêshu . . . . . mahâ-Kârttika-paurṇamâsyâm; (d) the Harihar grant of Vinayâditya (id. Vol. VII.
p. 302, l. 23 ff.), shôḍaś-ôttara-shaṭ-chhatêshu Śaka-varshêshv=atîtêshu pravardhamâna-vijaya-râjya-
saṁvatsarê chaturdaśê vartamânê . . . . . Kârttika-paurṇamâsyâṁ; and (e) the Kauṭhêm grant of Vi-
kramâditya V. (id. Vol. XVI. p. 24, l. 61 f.), Śaka-nṛipa-kâl-âtîta-saṁvatsara-śatêshu navasu triṁśad-
adhikêshu gatêshu 930 pravartamâna-Saumya-saṁvatsarê paurṇamâsyâṁ sômagrahaṇa-parvaṇi.—
(4) The use, as in the present instance, of the simple locative single or plural, without any participle
signifying 'elapsed or gone by,' in apposition. Thus, in respect of the locative singular, (a) the
Gûnda inscription of the Kshatrapa Rudrasiṁha (Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 157, l. 3), varshê dvy-uttara-
śatê saṁ 200 2 Vaiśâkha-śuddha-pañchamî-Dhanya-tithau Śravaṇa-nakshatra-muhûrtê; (b) a
Mathurâ inscription of Vâsudêva (Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. III. p. 35, and Pl. xv. No. 20, l. 1),
saṁvatsarê 90 8 Varshâ-mâsê 4 dva sê 10; (c) the Majhgawâṁ grant of the Mahârâja Hastin (No. 23
below, Pl. xiv. l. 1 f.), êka-navaty-uttarê=bda-śatê Gupta-nṛipa-râjya-bhuktau śrîmati pravardhamâna-
MahâChaitra-saṁvatsarê Mâghamâsa-bahulapaksha-tṛitîyâyâm; and (d) the Alînâ grant of Śîlâditya
VII. (No. 39 below, Plate xxv. l. 77 f.), saṁvatsara-śata-chatushṭayê sapta-chatvâriṁśad-adhikê
Jyêshṭha-śuddha-pañchamyâṁ aṅkataḥ saṁvat 400 40 7 Jyêshṭha śu 5. And, in respect of the loca-
tive plural, (e) the Waṇî grant of Gôvinda III. (Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 159, l. 46 f.), Śaka-nṛipa-kâl-
âtîta-saṁvatsara-śatêshu saptasu triṁśad-adhikêshu Vyaya-saṁvatsarê Vaiśâkha-sita-paurṇamâsî-
sômagrahaṇa-mahâparvaṇi; and (f) the Pâṭan grant of Bhîma II. (id. Vol. XI. p. 71, l. 17 ff.), śrîmad-
Vikramâdity-ôtpâdita-saṁvatsara-śatêshu dvâdaśasu shaṭ-pañchâśad-uttarêshu Bhâdrapadamâsa-
kṛishṇapaksh-âmâvâsyâyâṁ Bhaumavârê=tr=âṅkatô=pi saṁvat 1256 laukika Bhâdrapada ba di 15
Bhaumê.—And (5) the use of the abbreviations saṁ and saṁvat, standing alone, and not explained
by a full record in words as they are in instances (3, b) and (4, a, d, f) above. This method, however,
throws no light on the question now under discussion; and the use of these abbreviations will form the
subject of a separate note.—Now, in the cases illustrated by the examples given under (2) above, it can
hardly be disputed that current years are intended; the very construction,—e.g. in (2, a) "Monday,
the full-moon day of (the month) Pushya of the Bahudhânya saṁvatsara, (which is) the 1080th Śaka
year,"—prevents any other interpretation. And, in the examples given under (1), it is difficult to see
how, without imagining an elliptical construction for which no actual example can be quoted as an
authority, the nominative case could be used to denote any but the current year. With these ex-
amples, and the plain record of the Gwâlior inscription, before us, when we find that in a certain class
of instances (3, a to e) the locative case is uniformly coupled with a word distinctly meaning 'expired
or gone by' in apposition, whereas in another class of instances (4, a to f) any such word is as uni-
formly omitted, there is nothing to prevent our giving, but on the contrary every reason to induce us
to give, to the simple locative, in the last class of instances, its natural and ordinary meaning of "in
such and such a year," i.e. "while such and such a year is current." This is the meaning that is
always given to the simple locative in a regnal date; thus, in a Nâsik inscription (Archæol. Surv.
West. Ind. Vol. IV. pp. 108, l. 1, 109),—siri-Puḷumâyisa saṁvachharê êkunavîsê 19,—"in the nine-
teenth (19) year of the illustrious Puḷumâyi." It has never been attempted to maintain that, in such
a record as this, the text means "the nineteenth year having expired." And there is no reason why
any such forced interpretation should be put on the simple locative expressing the number of years
of an era; especially when we bear in mind that almost every era owes its origin to only an exten-
sion of regnal dates, and that the system of expired years can only have been devised when a con-
siderable advance had been made in astronomical science.
¹ In the fourth syllable, the vowel here is the short i; but in the same word in the Allâhâbâd
pillar inscription, No. 1 above, line 22, page 8, it is long.