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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; INTRODUCTION. 83
And in 1881, in the Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 220, Dr. Oldenberg announced, from the
Tables in Warren's Kala-Sankalita, the correct result; viz. Thursday, the 21st June,
A.D. 484.
Now, the results given by Dr. Hall, General Cunningham, and Sir E. Clive Bayley,
whether right or wrong, and any similar coincidences, may be accepted without hesitation.
And I would only point out, as regards General Cunningham's results for the epoch of
A.D. 166-67, that Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit, by actual calculation from all the authorities, in-
cluding the Ârya-Siddhânta on which General Cunningham specially relied, finds that, in
A.D. 331, the given tithi, belonging to Śaka-Saṁvat 254 current, and calculated with
the basis of Śaka-Saṁvat 253 expired, ended on Friday, the 4th June, and at such an
hour that there is no possibility whatever of Thursday, the 3rd June;¹ and, incidentally, that
the initial day of the same Śaka year was Wednesday, the 24th February, A.D. 331, not
Tuesday, the 23rd February.
The essential point with which we are concerned, is, whether the week-day of
Âshâḍha śukla 12 was a Thursday, if, following Albêrûnî's most specific statement regard-
ing an even difference of two hundred and forty-one years between the Gupta-Valabhî
and the Śaka eras. we make the calculation for Gupta-Saṁvat 165 + 241 = Śaka-Saṁvat
406; or, if the result fails for that year, for the immediately preceding or following
Śaka year.
Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit has made the necessary calculations, by Prof. K. L. Chhatre's
Tables, with these three Śaka years as expired years. And his results are—with Śaka-
Saṁvat 405 expired, Friday, the 3rd June, A.D. 483; with Śaka-Saṁvat 406 expired,
**Thursday, the 21st June, A.D. 484;**² and with Śaka-Saṁvat 407 expired, Tuesday,
the 11th June, A.D. 485. The process by which these results are obtained, is exhibited
in detail, for the second result, in Appendix II. below.
¹ It will be sufficient to quote the four principal authorities. The times for the ending of the given
tithi on Friday, the 4th June, A.D. 331, reckoned (1) from mean sunrise at Bombay, (2) from mean
sunrise at Ujjain, (3) from mean sunrise at Êraṇ, and (4) from apparent sunrise at Êraṇ, are—by Prof.
K. L. Chhatre's Tables, (1) 5 ghaṭîs, 46 palas; (2) 6 gh. 15 p.; (3) 6 gh. 40 p.; (4) 8 gh. 40 p.;—by the
Sûrya-Siddhânta, (1) 7 gh. 0 p.; (2) 7 gh. 29 p.; (3) 7 gh. 54 p.; (4) 9 gh. 54 p.;—by the Ârya-Sid-
dhânta, (1) 8 gh. 14 p.; (2) 8 gh. 43 p.; (3) 9 gh. 8 p.; (4) 11 gh. 8 p.;—and by the Brahma-Siddhânta,
(1) 9 gh. 16 p.; (2) 9 gh. 45 p.; (3) 10 gh. 10 p.; (4) 12 gh. 10 p. The times are not absolutely
accurate; but the results obtained by absolute accuracy would differ by only a few palas.
² The results are put in this way for the sake of brevity. The more absolutely accurate method
of expressing them, would be to say, in this instance, that the given tithi, as belonging to Śaka-
Saṁvat 407 current, and as calculated with the basis of Śaka-Saṁvat 406 expired, ended on a Hindu
Thursday, and at such a time that it ended also during the English Thursday, which was the 21st June,
A.D. 484, Old Style.—The hours at which the tithi ended, according to the different authorities, and
as reckoned from mean or from apparent sunrise at Bombay, Ujjain, and Êraṇ, are given in
Appendix II. Table VI.
12.