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

36 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.

death of Skandagupta. All else, serviceable for our present inquiry, that I can find in
Mr. Prinsep's writings, is his statement in the same volume (p. 354), that the dates record-
ed in the Valabhî charters must be referred to the Vikrama era.
In 1845, M. Reinaud republished collectively, under the title of Fragments Arabes
et Persans, certain extracts, with French translations, from works relating to India, which
he had previously published separately in the Journal Asiatique, in September and
October, 1844, and February-March, 1845. In this book, as we have already seen, he
renders Albêrûnî (id. p. 143) as stating that the Gupta era dated from the extermination
of the Guptas. I do not find that he makes any reference to Prinsep on this specific
point. But he shews, throughout, so good an acquaintance with Prinsep's writings, as also
with those of other English scholars, that he must certainly have read Prinsep's transla-
tion of, and comments on, the Kahâum inscription. And, though he may not have inten-
tionally allowed himself to be guided by Prinsep's views, it can hardly be doubted that he
had a reminiscence of the purport of them, when he was translating Albêrûnî's remarks.
In fact, in the face of Mr. Blochmann's, Mr. Rehatsek's, and Prof. Wright's versions, it is
difficult to see how M. Reinaud can have arrived at the exact words used in his trans-
lation, except under some such predisposing influence.
After this, in a paper read on the 15th April, 1848, and published in 1850 in the
Jour. R. As. Soc. F. S. Vol. XII. p. 1 ff., Mr. Thomas entered into an extensive
disquisition on the history connected with the dynasty of the so-called 'Sâh' kings¹
of Saurâshṭra or Kâṭhiâwâḍ; in the course of which, it became incumbent on him to
consider the Early Gupta dates. Accepting it as proved by M. Reinaud's rendering

---

¹ As I have had occasion to remark elsewhere (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. pp. 65, 325), this name of
'Sâh,'—and, with it, also an idea that these princes were Śakas or Indo-Scythians,—owes its origin to
nothing but the fact that, on the silver coins of this series, as also on the silver coins, and even some
of the gold coins, of the Early Guptas, it was the custom, as a rule, not to cut on the dies such vowels
as, if engraved, would fall on or above the top line of the writing of the marginal legend. The
reason, of course, was, want of sufficient space. This custom was observed uniformly in the Gupta
silver coins; and hence such legends as (id. p. 65 f.) paramabhagavata-maharajadharaja-śra-
Chandragupta-Vakramadatya, which represents paramabhâgavata-mahârâjâdhirâja-śrî-Chandra-
gupta-Vikramâditya; "the most devout worshipper of the Divine One, the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the
glorious Chandragupta-Vikramâditya." On the Saurâshṭra coins, the custom was observed almost
uniformly, but not quite so; and hence, to select an instance of its partial observance, such legends
as (id. p. 325) rajñá mahakshatrapasa Rudradamna putrasa rajñá mahakshatrapasa Rudrasîhasa,
in which the superscript vowel î is exceptionally introduced in the last word, and which represents
râjñô mahâkshatrapasya Rudradâmnah putrasya râjñô mahâkshatrapasya Rudrasîhasya; "of the
Râja, the Mahâkshatrapa Rudrasîha, the son of the Râja, the Mahâkshatrapa Rudradâman." The
word sîha, i.e. simha, 'a lion,' is the termination of the names of several of the Kshatrapas or
Mahâkshatrapas. And, because the long vowel î, or the short vowel i with a following anusvâra, is
usually omitted in the coins, thus giving the readings of saha and sahasya, these princes came to be
invested with the imaginary family or dynastic name of 'Sah' or 'Sâh.' Owing to the same fact,
also, the termination of some of the names in the list has occasionally been read as sêna.