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

24 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
" the same time the cube of 6 (216) and the square of 5 (25). The remainder is the era
" of Ballaba. This era will be discussed in its place. As to the Gupta-kâla (the era
" of the Guptas), we understand by the word gupta certain people who, it is said, were
" wicked and powerful ; and the era which bears their name, is the epoch of their exter-
" mination. Apparently Ballaba followed the Guptas immediately ; for, the era of the
" Guptas also commences the year 241 of the era of Śaka. The era of the astronomers
" commences the year 587 of the era of Śaka. It is to this era that the Kandakhâtaka
" Tables of Brahmagupta are referred. This work has among us the title of Arkand.
" Accordingly, placing ourselves in the year 400 of the era of Yazdajird,¹ we find ourselves
" in the year 1488 of the era of Śrî-Harsha ; the year 1088 of the era of Vikramâditya ; the
" year 953 of the era of Śaka ; the year 712 of the era of Ballaba and of that of the
" Guptas."
Albêrûnî's Statements, as rendered by Prof. Sachau.
And to this we have now to add Prof. Sachau's English rendering of the same
passages, in his Albêrûnî's India, Translation,² Vol. II. page 5 ff. :—
" For this reason, people have given up using them,³ and have adopted instead the
" eras of— (1) Śrî Harsha ; (2) Vikramâditya ; (3) Śaka ; (4) Ballabha ;⁴ and (5)
" Gupta. . . . . . . The era of Balaba is called so from Balaba,
" the ruler of the town Balabha,⁵ nearly 30 yôjanas south of Anhilvâra. The epoch
" of this era falls 241 years later than the epoch of the Śaka era. People use it in
" this way. They first put down the year of the Śakakâla, and then subtract from it
" the cube of 6 and the square of 5 (216+25=241). The remainder is the year of the
" Balaba era. The history of Balaba is given in its proper place.⁶ As regards the
" Guptakâla, people say that the Guptas were wicked powerful people, and that, when
" they ceased to exist, this date was used as the epoch of an era. It seems that Balaba
" was the last of them, because the epoch of the era of the Guptas falls, like that of the
" Balaba era, 241 years later than the Śakakâla. The era of the astronomers begins 587
¹ This era dates from the accession of Yazdajird III., a Sassanian king of Persia, in A.D. 632 (see
Prinsep's Essays, Vol. II. Useful Tables, p. 302 and note). The "gauge-year," 400, selected
by Albêrûnî for the comparison of dates, is one year ahead of that in which he was writing.
² It is not certain whether Prof. Sachau's Translation will have been actually published before
the issue of this volume. But, as it will be the standard translation, he has kindly allowed me to
make the necessary references to it, from advanced proofs.
³ i.e. the eras of the Bhârata war and of the Kaliyuga, and certain other methods of reckoning
time, just previously detailed by Albêrûnî, who states that they had been abandoned because of the
very large numbers involved in the use of them.
⁴ and ⁵ See page 23 above, note 3.
⁶ The reference appears to be to the story of the fruit-seller Raṅka and the king Vallabha ;
Translation, Vol. I. p. 192 f., in Chapter XVII., "on Hindu Sciences which prey on the Ignorance of
People."