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

necessity of determining the question with which we are concerned. By the epochs of the
two eras, the nearest equivalent of, for instance, southern Vikrama-Saṁvat 1321 current is
Śaka-Saṁvat 1186 current; and this is also its actual equivalent for any date from Kârttika
śukla 1 up to Phâlguna kṛishṇa 15, both included; but, for any date from the following
Chaitra śukla 1 up to Âśvina kṛishṇa 15, both included, the actual equivalent of Vikrama-
Saṁvat 1321 current is the following Śaka-Saṁvat 1187 current. Consequently, if the
Gupta-Valabhî year is to be treated as a southern Vikrama year, any such date as Gupta-
Valabhî-Saṁvat 944, Chaitra śukla 1, up to Âśvina kṛishṇa 15, will give an English equi-
valent later by twelve complete lunations, or practically a year,¹ or else any such date
as Gupta-Valabhî-Saṁvat 944, Kârttika śukla 1, up to Phâlguna kṛishṇa 15, will give
an English equivalent earlier by twelve complete lunations, than the English equivalents if
the year is to be treated as a Śaka year.
The question, whether by any chance we can be concerned, in the Gupta-Valabhî era,
at any period, with the scheme of the southern Vikrama year, is, if possible, still more an
essential point, because the dates that we have in the era, under its later name of the
Valabhî era, come from Kâṭhiâwâḍ, where, as in the neighbouring provinces of Gujarât and
the Northern Koṅkaṇ, the national era is the Vikrama era, in the southern arrangement.
In those parts there would of course be a tendency, sooner or later, to adapt the original
scheme of the Gupta-Valabhî year to the scheme of the years of the local national era.
And a distinct instance of this adaptation having been actually made in Gujarât, is fur-
nished by the Kaira (Khêḍâ) grant of Dharasêna IV. of Valabhî, published by Dr. Bühler
in the Ind. Ant. Vol. XV. p. 335 ff. Its date is the year 330; the “second” month Mâr-
gaśira (November-December); the bright fortnight; and the second tithi or lunar day. And
the interest and importance of it result from its shewing that, in that year, there was an
intercalation of a month, which, according to this record, was Mârgaśira or Mârgaśîrsha.
Now, allowing for the moment, what I shall shortly prove, as closely as absolute certainty can
be obtained, viz. that the true original scheme of the Gupta-Valabhî year is the scheme of
the northern Śaka year, the month Mârgaśîrsha of this record should belong to Śaka-
Saṁvat 572 current, and should fall in A.D. 649. The detailed consideration of this date,
however, at page 93 ff. below, shews that the intercalation in question can only have
occurred in A.D. 648, and belonged to Śaka-Saṁvat 571 current, or, according to the
popular usage of Gujarât, to the southern Vikrama-Saṁvat 706 current. And, since
the localities mentioned in the charter connect it absolutely with a district in Guja-
rât, the year 330 of this record must have commenced, like the southern Vikrama-Saṁvat
706, with the month Kârttika that preceded the true commencement of Gupta-Saṁvat 330,
with Chaitra śukla 1 of Śaka-Saṁvat 572 current, according to the original scheme of the
years of the era. Bearing in mind, however, that this record belongs to Gujarât, we have
¹ Or, in the case of certain intercalations, later here, and in the other case earlier, by thirteen
lunations, or practically a year and a month.