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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; INTRODUCTION. 87

the two years, can be based on the mere fact that the record mentions both a Valabhî
year and a southern Vikrama year. It might just as well be asserted that the mention also
of the Hijra year 662, shews that the scheme of the years of that era, too, is identical with
the scheme of the southern Vikrama year; whereas,—even apart from the fact that the
Hijra year 662 commenced, as stated above, on Sunday, the 4th November, A.D. 1263,
while the southern Vikrama-Saṁvat 1320, as an expired year, i.e., more properly, southern
Vikrama-Saṁvat 1321 current, commenced on Friday, the 5th October of that same
year,¹— everyone knows that these two eras have absolutely nothing in common at all ;
the Hijra era being a purely Musalmân era. The Verâwal record is simply analogous
exactly to scores of documents that are still being turned out in India, in which the date
is expressed according to the English and also one or other of the Indian systems ; and in
which the principal record depends entirely upon the person by whom, and the circum-
stances under which, it is drawn up. Sometimes it will be the English date; sometimes
the Indian. We shall see immediately that, in this Verâwal inscription, the principal
record is the Valabhî date; and that the Vikrama date accidentally, as well as the Hijra date
naturally, was entirely subordinated to it. Possibly, we may hereafter obtain instances, in
which the reverse of this will be found to have been the case. But they will not avail to
disprove any of the pointed and unavoidable conclusions, regarding the epoch of the
Gupta-Valabhî era and the scheme of its years, which are absolutely forced on us by the
circumstances of the present Verâwal date.
The second point to be noted· is, that the month Âshâḍha which fell in A.D. 1264,—
i.e. both the Âshâḍha of northern Śaka-Saṁvat 1187 and northern Vikrama-Saṁvat 1322,
and the slightly different Âshâḍha of southern Śaka-Saṁvat 1187 and southern Vikrama-
Saṁvat 1321,—was an intercalary month.² The effect of the intercalation was as fol-
lows :—The initial day of Śaka-Saṁvat 1187, both northern and southern, and of the
A.D. 318-19, and by treating the years as commencing, from the beginning, on Kârttika śukla 1.—Also
(id. pp. 50, 63) he treats Vikrama-Saṁvat 1320 as the leading record of the date; and very clearly
implies throughout, though he does not actually state, the identity of the scheme of the Valabhî and
southern Vikrama years.
¹ Cowasjee Patell’s Chronology, p. 150.
² See Indian Eras, p. 179.—The fact is also proved by K. L. Chhatre’s Tables. In C. Patell’s
Chronology, p. 150, the intercalation is entered opposite Śaka-Saṁvat 1186 (expired) and southern
Vikrama-Saṁvat 1321 (expired). This is in accordance with a mistake that runs all through his
Table I. pp. 94 to 183. The intercalations are placed by him correctly for the Śaka years. But he has
omitted to point out that, in applying them to the Vikrama years, which, throughout his Table, are
the southern Vikrama years, they must, in consequence of the way in which the years of the two eras
overlap, be read off as far as the months Chaitra to Âśvina, both inclusive, are concerned, for the
Vikrama year preceding that opposite to which they are entered; at least, I can find no note in his
book to that effect.—A reference to Table III. at page 71 above, will shew at once that an intercalation
of any month from Chaitra to Âśvina inclusive, for Śaka-Saṁvat 1186 expired, northern or southern,
did occur for northern Vikrama-Saṁvat 1321 expired, but southern Vikrama-Saṁvat 1320 expired.