As far as the available evidence goes (and we have no reason to expect
to discover anything opposed to it), any use of eras, in the sense of
continuous reckonings which originated in historical occurrences or
astronomical epochs and were employed for official and other public
chronological purposes, did not prevail in India before the 1st century
B.C. Prior to that time, there existed, indeed, in connexion with the
sacrificial calendar, a five-years lunisolar cycle, and possibly some
extended cycles of the same nature; and there was in Buddhist circles a
record of the years elapsed since the death of Buddha, which we shall
mention again further on. But, as is gathered from books and is well
illustrated by the edicts of Asoka (reigned 264-227 B.C.) and the
inscriptions of other rulers, the years of the reign of each successive
king were found sufficient for the public dating of proclamations and
the record of events. There is no known case in which any Indian king,
of really ancient times, deliberately applied himself to the foundation
of an era: and we have no reason for thinking that such a thing was ever
done, or that any Hindu reckoning at all owes its existence to a
recognition of historical requirements. The eras which came into
existence from the 1st century B.C. onwards mostly had their origin in
the fortuitous extension of regnal reckonings. The usual course has been
that, under the influence of filial piety, pride in ancestry, loyalty to
a paramount sovereign, or some other such motive, the successor of some
king continued the regnal reckoning of his predecessor, who was not
necessarily the first king in the dynasty, and perhaps did not even
reign for any long time, instead of starting a new reckoning, beginning
again with the year 1, according to the years of his own reign. Having
thus run for two reigns, the reckoning was sufficiently well established
to continue in the same form, and to eventually develop into a generally
accepted local era, which might or might not be taken over by subsequent
dynasties ruling afterwards over the same territory. In these
circumstances, we find the establisher of any particular era in that
king who first continued his predecessor's regnal reckoning, instead of
replacing it by his own; but we regard as the founder of the era that
king whose regnal reckoning was so continued. We may add here that it
was only in advanced stages that any of the Hindu eras assumed specific
names: during the earlier period of each of them, the years were simply
cited by the term _samvatsara_ or _varsha_, "the year (bearing
such-and-such a number)," or by the abbreviations _samvat_ and _sam_,
without any appellative designation.
The Buddhist and Jain religious reckonings.
The Hindus have had two religious reckonings, which it will be
convenient to notice first. Certain, statements in the Ceylonese
chronicles, the _Dipavamsa_ and _Mahavamsa_, endorsed by an entry in a
record of Asoka, show that in the 3rd century B.C. there existed among
the Buddhists a record of the time elapsed since the death of Buddha in
483 B.C., from which it was known that Asoka was anointed to the
sovereignty 218 years after the death. The reckoning, however, was
confined to esoteric Buddhist circles, and did not commend itself for
any public use; and the only known inscriptional use of it, which also
furnishes the latest known date recorded in it, is found in the Last
Edict of Asoka, which presents his dying speech delivered in 226 B.C.,
256 years after the death of Buddha. In Ceylon, where, also the original
reckoning was not maintained, there was devised in the 12th century A.D.
a reckoning styled Buddhavarsha, "the years of Buddha," which still
exists, and which purports to run from the death of Buddha, but has set
up an erroneous date for that event in 544 B.C. This later reckoning
spread from Ceylon to Burma and Siam, where, also, it is still used. It
did not obtain any general recognition in India, because, when it was
devised, Buddhism had practically died out there, except at Bodh-Gaya.
But, as there seems to have been constant intercourse between Bodh-Gaya
and Ceylon as well as other foreign Buddhist countries, we should not be
surprised to find an occasional instance of its use at Bodh-Gaya: and it
is believed that one such instance, belonging to A.D. 1270, has been
obtained.
The Jains have had, and still maintain, a reckoning from the death of
the founder of their faith, Vira, Mahavira, Vardhamana, which event is
placed by them in 528 B.C. This reckoning figures largely in the Jain
books, which put forward dates in it for very early times. But the
earliest known synchronous date in it--by which we mean a date given by
a writer who recorded the year in which he himself was writing--is one
of the year 980, or, according to a different view mentioned in the
passage itself, of the year 993. This reckoning, again, did not commend
itself for any official or other public use. And the only known
inscriptional instances of the use of it are modern ones, of the 19th
century. While it is certain that the Jain reckoning, as it exists, has
its initial point in 528 B.C. it has not yet been determined whether
that is actually the year in which Vira died. All that can be said on
this point is that the date is not inconsistent with certain statements
in Buddhist books, which mention, by a Prakrit name of which the
Sanskrit form is Nirgrantha-Jnata-putra, a contemporary of Buddha, in
whom there is recognized the original of the Jain Vira, Mahavira, or
Vardhamana, and who, the same books say, died while Buddha was still
alive. But there are some indications that Nirgrantha-Jnataputra may
have died only a short time before Buddha himself; and the event may
easily have been set back to 528 B.C. in circumstances, attending a
determination of the reckoning long after the occurrence, analogous to
those in which the Ceylonese Buddhavarsha set up the erroneous date of
544 B.C. for the death of Buddha.
Bygone Eras of royal origin.
In the class of eras of royal origin, brought into existence in the
manner indicated above, the Hindus have had various reckonings which
have now mostly fallen into disuse. We may mention them, without
giving them the detailed treatment which the more important of the
still existing reckonings demand.
The Kalachuri or Chedi era, commencing in A.D. 248 or 249, is known
best from inscriptional records, bearing dates which range from the
10th to the 13th century A.D., of the Kalachuri kings of the Chedi
country in Central India; and it is from them that it derived the name
under which it passes. In earlier times, however, we find this era
well established, without any appellation, in Western India, in
Gujarat and the Thana district of Bombay, where it was used by kings
and princes of the Chalukya, Gurjara, Sendraka, Katachchuri and
Traikutaka families. It is traced back there to A.D. 457, at which
time there was reigning a Traikutaka king named Dahrasena. Beyond that
point, we have at present no certain knowledge about it. But it seems
probable that the founder of it may be recognized in an Abhira king
Isvarasena, or else in his father Sivadatta, who was reigning at Nasik
in or closely about A.D. 248-49.
The Gupta era, commencing in A.D. 320, was founded by Chandragupta I.,
the first paramount king in the great Gupta dynasty of Northern India.
When the Guptas passed away, their reckoning was taken over by the
Maitraka kings of Valabhi, who succeeded them in Kathiawar and some of
the neighbouring territories; and so it became also known as the
Valabhi era.
From Halsi in the Belgaum district, Bombay, we have a record of the
Kadamba king Kakusthavarman, which was framed during the time when he
was the Yuvaraja or anointed successor to the sovereignty, and may be
referred to about A.D. 500. It is dated in "the eightieth victorious
year," and thus indicates the preservation of a reckoning running from
the foundation of the Kadamba dynasty by Mayuravarman, the
great-grandfather of Kakusthavarman. But no other evidence of the
existence of this era has been obtained.
The records of the Ganga kings of Kalinganagara, which is the modern
Mukhalingam-Nagarikatakam in the Ganjam district, Madras, show the
existence of a Ganga era which ran for at any rate 254 years. And
various details in the inscriptions enable us to trace the origin of
the Ganga kings to Western India, and to place the initial point of
their reckoning in A.D. 590, when a certain
Satyasraya-Dhruvaraja-Indravarman, an ancestor and probably the
grandfather of the first Ganga king Rajasimha-Indravarman I.,
commenced to govern a large province in the Konkan under the Chalukya
king Kirtivarman I.
An era commencing in A.D. 605 or 606 was founded in Northern India by
the great king Harshavardhana, who reigned first at Thanesar and then
at Kanauj, and who was the third sovereign in a dynasty which traced
its origin to a prince named Naravardhana. A peculiarity about this
era is that it continued in use for apparently four centuries after
Harshavardhana, in spite of the fact that his line ended with him.
The inscriptions assert that the Western Chalukya king Vikrama or
Vikramaditya VI. of Kalyani in the Nizam's dominions, who reigned from
A.D. 1076 to 1126, abolished the use of the Saka era in his dominions
in favour of an era named after himself. What he or his ministers did
was to adopt, for the first time in that dynasty, the system of regnal
years, according to which, while the Saka era also remained in use,
most of the records of his time are dated, not in that era, but in the
year so-and-so of the Chalukya-Vikrama-kala or
Chalukya-Vikrama-varsha, "the time or years of the Chalukya Vikrama."
There is some evidence that this reckoning survived Vikramaditya VI.
for a short time. But his successors introduced their own regnal
reckonings; and that prevented it from acquiring permanence.
In Tirhut, there is still used a reckoning which is known as the
Lakshmanasena era from the name of the king of Bengal by whom it was
founded. There is a difference of opinion as to the exact initial
point of this reckoning; but the best conclusion appears to be that
which places it in A.D. 1119. This era prevailed at one time
throughout Bengal: we know this from a passage in the _Akbarnama_,
written in A.D. 1584, which specifies the Saka era as the reckoning of
Gujarat and the Dekkan, the Vikrama era as the reckoning of Malwa,
Delhi, and those parts, and the Lakshmanasena era as the reckoning of
Bengal.
The last reckoning that we have to mention here is one known as the
Rajyabhisheka-Saka, "the era of the anointment to the sovereignty,"
which was in use for a time in Western India. It dated from the day
Jyaishtha sukla 13 of the Saka year 1597 current, = 6 June, A.D. 1674,
when Sivaji, the founder of the Maratha kingdom, had himself
enthroned.
Miscellaneous Eras.
There are four reckonings which it is difficult at present to class
exactly. Two inscriptions of the 15th and 17th centuries, recently
brought to notice from Jesalmer in Rajputana, present a reckoning
which postulates an initial point in A.D. 624 or in the preceding or
the following year, and bears an appellation, Bhatika, which seems to
be based on the name of the Bhatti tribe, to which the rulers of
Jesalmer belong. No historical event is known, referable to that time,
which can have given rise to an era. It is possible that the apparent
initial date represents an epoch, at the end of the Saka year 546 or
thereabouts, laid down in some astronomical work composed then or soon
afterwards and used in the Jesalmer territory. But it seems more
probable that it is a purely fictitious date, set up by an attempt to
evolve an early history Of the ruling family.
In the Tinnevelly district of Madras, and in the territories of the
same presidency in which the Malayalam language prevails, namely,
South Kanara below Mangalore, the Malabar district, and the Cochin and
Travancore states, there is used a reckoning which is known sometimes
as the Kollam or Kolamba reckoning, sometimes as the era of
Parasurama. The years of it are solar: in the southern parts of the
territory in which it is current, they begin with the month Simha; in
the northern parts, they begin with the next month, Kanya. The initial
point of the reckoning is in A.D. 825; and the year 1076 commenced in
A.D. 1900. The popular view about this reckoning is that it consists
of cycles of 1000 years; that we are now in the fourth cycle; and that
the reckoning originated in 1176 B.C. with the mythical Parasurama,
who exterminated the Kshatriya or warrior caste, and reclaimed the
Konkan countries, Western India below the Ghauts, from the ocean. But
the earliest known date in it, of the year 149, falls in A.D. 973; and
the reckoning has run on in continuation of the thousand, instead of
beginning afresh in A.D. 1825. It seems probable, therefore, that the
reckoning had no existence before A.D. 825. The years are cited
sometimes as "the Kollam year (of such-and-such a number)," sometimes
as "the year (so-and-so) after Kollam appeared;" and this suggests
that the reckoning may possibly owe its origin to some event,
occurring in A.D. 825, connected with one or other of the towns and
ports named Kollam, on the Malabar coast; perhaps Northern Kollam in
the Malabar district, perhaps Southern Kollam, better known as Quilon,
in Travancore. But the introduction of Parasurama into the matter,
which would carry back (let us say) the foundation of Kollam to
legendary times, may indicate, rather, a purely imaginative origin.
Or, again, since each century of the Kollam reckoning begins in the
same year A.D. with a century of the Saptarshi reckoning (see below
under III. Other Reckonings), it is not impossible that this reckoning
may be a southern offshoot of the Saptarshi reckoning, or at least may
have had the same astrological origin.
In Nepal there is a reckoning, known as the Newar era and commencing
in A.D. 879, which superseded the Gupta and Harsha eras there. One
tradition attributes the foundation of it to a king Raghavadeva;
another says that, in the time and with the permission of a king
Jayadevamalla, a merchant named Sakhwal paid off, by means of wealth
acquired from sand which turned into gold, all the debts then existing
in the country, and introduced the new era in commemoration of the
occurrence. It is possible that the era may have been founded by some
ruler of Nepal: but nothing authentic is known about the particular
names mentioned in connexion with it. This era appears to have been
discarded for state and official purposes, in favour of the Saka era,
in A.D. 1768, when the Gurkhas became masters of Nepal; but
manuscripts show that in literary circles it has remained in use up to
at any rate A.D. 1875.
Inscriptions disclose the use in Kathiawar and Gujarat, in the 12th
and 13th centuries, of a reckoning, commencing in A.D. 1114, which is
known as the Simha-samvat. No historical occurrence is known, on which
it can have been based; and the origin of it is obscure.
Three great Eras in general use.
The eras mentioned above have for the most part served their purposes
and died out. But there are three great reckonings, dating from a very
respectable antiquity, which have held their own and survived to the
present day. These are the Kaliyuga, Vikrama, and Saka eras. It will be
convenient to treat the Kaliyuga first, though, in spite of having the
greatest apparent antiquity, it is the latest of the three in respect of
actual date of origin.
The Kaliyuga Era of 3102 B.C.
The Kaliyuga era is the principal astronomical reckoning of the Hindus.
It is frequently, if not generally, shown in the almanacs: but it can
hardly be looked upon as being now in practical use for civil purposes;
and, as regards the custom of previous times as far as we can judge it
from the inscriptional use, which furnishes a good guide, the position
is as follows: from Southern India we have one such instance of A.D.
634, one of A.D. 770, three of the 10th century, and then, from the 12th
century onwards, but more particularly from the 14th, a certain number
of instances, not exactly very small in itself, but extremely so in
comparison with the number of cases of the use of the Vikrama and Saka
eras and other reckonings: from Northern India the earliest known
instance of is A.D. 1169 or 1170, and the later ones number only four.
Its years are by nature sidereal solar years, commencing with the
Mesha-samkranti, the entrance of the sun into the Hindu constellation
and sign Mesha, i.e. Aries (for this and other technical details, see
above, under the Calendar);[6] but they were probably cited as lunar
years in the inscriptional records which present the reckoning; and the
almanacs appear to treat them either as Meshadi civil solar years with
solar months, or as Chaitradi lunar years with lunar months _amanta_
(ending with the new-moon) or _purnimanta_ (ending with the full-moon)
as the case may be, according to the locality. Its initial point lies in
3102 B.C.; and the year 5002 began in A.D. 1900.[7]
This reckoning is not an historical era, actually running from 3102
B.C. It was devised for astronomical purposes at some time about A.D.
400, when the Hindu astronomers, having taken over the principles of
the Greek astronomy, recognized that they required for purposes of
computation a specific reckoning with a definite initial occasion.
They found that occasion in a conjunction of the sun, the moon, and
the five planets which were then known, at the first point of their
sign Mesha. There was not really such a conjunction; nor, apparently,
is it even the case that the sun was actually at the first point of
Mesha at the moment arrived at. But there was an approach to such a
conjunction, which was turned into an actual conjunction by taking the
mean instead of the true positions of the sun, the moon, and the
planets. And, partly from the reckoning which has come down to us,
partly from the astronomical books, we know that the moment assigned
to the assumed conjunction was according to one school the midnight
between Thursday the 17th, and Friday the 18th, February, 3102 B.C.,
and according to another school the sunrise on the Friday.
The reckoning thus devised was subsequently identified with the
Kaliyuga as the iron age, the last and shortest, with a duration of
432,000 years, of the four ages in each cycle of ages in the Hindu
system of cosmical periods. Also, traditional history was fitted to it
by one school, represented notably by the Puranas, which, referring
the great war between the Pandavas and the Kurus, which is the topic
of the Mahabharata, to the close of the preceding age, the Dvapara,
placed on the last day of that age the culminating event which ushered
in the Kali age; namely, the death of Krishna (the return to heaven of
Vishnu on the termination of his incarnation as Krishna), which was
followed by the abdication of the Pandava king Yudhishthira, who,
having installed his grand-nephew Parikshit as his successor, then set
out on his own journey to heaven. Another school, however, placed the
Pandavas and the Kurus 653 years later, in 2449 B.C. A third school
places in 3102 B.C. the anointment of Yudhishthira to the sovereignty,
and treats that event as inaugurating the Kali age; from this point of
view, the first 3044 years of the Kaliyuga--the period from its
commencement in 3102 B.C. to the commencement of the first historical
era, the so-called Vikrama era, in 58 B.C.--are also known as "the era
of Yudhishthira."
The Vikrama Era of 58 B.C.
The Vikrama era, which is the earliest of all the Hindu eras in respect
of order of foundation, is the dominant era and the great historical
reckoning of Northern India--that is, of the territory on the north of
the rivers Narbada and Mahanadi--to which part of the country its use
has always been practically confined. Like, indeed, the Kaliyuga and
Saka eras, it is freely cited in almanacs in any part of India; and it
is sometimes used in the south by immigrants from the north: but it is,
by nature, so essentially foreign to the south that the earliest known
inscriptional instance of the use of it in Southern India only dates
from A.D. 1218, and the very few later instances that have been
obtained, prior to the 15th century A.D., come, along with the instance
of A.D. 1218, from the close neighbourhood of the dividing-line between
the north and the south. The Vikrama era has never been used for
astronomical purposes. Its years are lunar, with lunar months, but seem
liable to be sometimes regarded as solar, with solar months, when they
are cited in almanacs of Southern India which present the solar
calendar. Originally they were Kartti-kadi, with _purnimanta_ months
(ending with the full-moon). They now exist in the following three
varieties: in Kathiawar and Gujarat, they are chiefly Karttikadi, with
_amanta_ months (ending with the new-moon); and they are shown in this
form in almanacs for the other parts of the Bombay Presidency; but there
is also found in Kathiawar and that neighbourhood an Ashadhadi variety,
commencing with Ashadha sukla I, similarly with _amanta_ months; in the
rest of Northern India, they are Chaitradi, with _purnimanta_ months.
The era has its initial point in 58 B.C., and its first civil day,
Karttika sukla I, is 19th September in that year if we determine it with
reference to the Hindu Tula-samkranti, or 18th October if we determine
it with reference to the tropical equinox. The years of the three
varieties, Chaitradi, Ashadhadi, and Karttikadi, all commence in the
same year A.D.; and the year 1958 began in A.D. 1900.
Hindu legend connects the foundation of this era with a king Vikrama
or Vikramaditya of Ujjain in Malwa, Central India: one version is that
he began to reign in 58 B.C.; another is that he died in that year,
and that the reckoning commemorates his death. Modern research,
however, based largely on the inscriptional records, has shown that
there was no such king, and that the real facts are very different.
The era owes its existence to the Kushan king Kanishka, a foreign
invader, who established himself in Northern India and commenced to
reign there in B.C. 58.[8] He was the founder of it, in the sense that
the opening years of it were the years of his reign. It was
established and set going as an era by his successor, who continued
the reckoning so started, instead of breaking it by introducing
another according to his own regnal years. And it was perpetuated as
an era, and transmitted as such to posterity by the Malavas, the
people from whom the modern territory Malwa derived its name, who were
an important section of the subjects of Kanishka and his successors.
In consonance with that, records ranging in date from A.D. 473 to 879
style it "the reckoning of the Malavas, the years of the Malava lords,
the Malava time or era." Prior to that, it had no specific name; the
years of it were simply cited, in ordinary Hindu fashion, by the term
_samvatsara_, "the year (of such-and-such a number)," or by its
abbreviations _samvat_ and _sam_: and the same was frequently done in
later times also, and is habitually done in the present day; and so,
in modern times, this era has often been loosely styled "the Samvat
era." The idea of a king Vikrama in connexion with it appears to date
from only the 9th or 10th century A.D.
The Saka Era of A.D. 78.
The Saka era, though it actually had its origin in the south-west corner
of Northern India, is the dominant era and the great historical
reckoning of Southern India; that is, of the territory below the rivers
Narbada and Mahanadi. It is also the subsidiary astronomical reckoning,
largely used, from the 6th century A.D. onwards, in the _Karanas_, the
works dealing with practical details of the calendar, for laying down
epochs or points of time furnishing convenient bases for computation. As
a result of that, it came to be used in past times for general purposes
also, to a limited extent, in parts of Northern India where it was not
indigenous. And it is now used more or less freely, and is cited in
almanacs everywhere. Its years are usually lunar, Chaitradi, and its
months are _purnimanta_ (ending with the full-moon) in Northern India,
and _amanta_ (ending with the new-moon) in Southern India; but in times
gone by it was sometimes treated for purposes of calculation as having
astronomical solar years, and it is now treated as having Mesh di civil
solar years and solar months in those parts of India where that form of
the solar calendar prevails. It has its initial point in A.D. 78; and
its first civil day, Chaitra sukla I, is 3rd March in that year, as
determined with reference either to the Hindu M'na-samkranti or to the
entrance of the sun into the tropical Pisces. The year 1823 began in
A.D. 1900.
Regarding the origin of the Saka era, there was current in the 10th and
11th centuries A.D. a belief which, ignoring the difference of a hundred
and thirty-five years between the two reckonings, connected the
legendary king Vikramaditya of Ujjain, mentioned above under the Vikrama
era, with the foundation of this era also. The story runs, from this
point of view, that the Sakas were a barbarous people who established
themselves in the western and north-western dominions of that king, but
were met in battle and destroyed by him, and that the era was
established in celebration of that event. The modern belief, however,
ascribes the foundation of this era to a king Salivahana of
Pratishthana, which is the modern Paithan, on the Godavari, in the
Nizam's dominions. But in this case, again, research has shown that the
facts are very different. Like the Vikrama era, the Saka era owes its
existence to foreign invaders. It was founded by the Chhaharata or
Kshaharata king Nahapana, who appears to have been a Pahlava or Palhava,
i.e. of Parthian extraction, and who reigned from A.D. 78 to about
125.[9] He established himself first in Kathiawar, but subsequently
brought under his sway northern Gujarat (Bombay) and Ujjain, and, below
the Narbada, southern Gujarat, Nasik and probably Khandesh. His capital
seems to have been Dohad, in the Panch Mahals. And he had two viceroys:
one, named Bhumaka, of the same family with himself, in Kathiawar; and
another, Chashtana, son of Ghsamotika, at Ujjain. Soon after A.D. 125,
Nahapana was overthrown, and his family was wiped out, by the
Satavahana-Satakarni king Gautamiputra-Sri-Satakarni, who thereby
recovered the territories on the south of the Narbada, and perhaps
secured for a time Kathiawar and some other parts on the north of that
river. Very soon, however, Chashtana, or else his son Jayadaman,
established his sway over all the territory which had belonged to
Nahapana on the north of the Narbada; founded a line of Hinduized
foreign kings, who ruled there for more than three centuries; and,
continuing Nahapana's regnal reckoning, established the era to which the
name Saka eventually became attached. Inscriptions and coins show that,
up to at least the second decade of its fourth century, this reckoning
had no specific appellation; its years were simply cited, in the usual
fashion, as _varsha_, "the year (of such-and-such a number)." The
reckoning was then taken up by the astronomers. And we find it first
called Sakakala, "the time or era of the Sakas," in an epochal date, the
end of the year 427, falling in A.D. 505, which was used by the
astronomer Varahamihira (d. A.D. 587) in his Panchasiddhantika. That
this name came to be attached to it appears to be due to the points
that, along with some of the Pahlavas or Palhavas and the Yavanas or
descendants of the Asiatic Greeks, some of the Sakas, the Scythians, had
made their way into Kathiawar and neighbouring parts by about A.D. 100,
and that the Sakas incidentally came to acquire prominence in the memory
of the Hindus regarding these occurrences, in such a manner that their
name was selected when the occasion arose to devise an appellation for
an era the exact origin of which had been forgotten. The name of the
imaginary king Salivahana first figures in connexion with the era in a
record of A.D. 1272, and seems plainly to have been introduced in
imitation of the coupling of the name Vikrama, Vikramaditya, with the
era of B.C. 58.
That the Saka era, though it had its origin in the south-west corner
of Northern India, is essentially an era of Southern India, is proved
by its inscriptional and numismatic history. During the period before
the time when it was taken up by the astronomers, it is found only in
the inscriptions of Nahapana, and in the similar records and on the
coins of the descendants of Chashtana. After that same time, it
figures first in a record of the Chalukya king Kirtivarman I., at
Badami in the Bijapur district, Bombay, which is dated on the
full-moon day of the month Karttika, falling in A.D. 578, "when there
had elapsed five centuries of the years of the anointment of the Saka
king to the sovereignty." And from this date onwards the records of a
large part of Southern India are mostly dated in this era, by various
expressions all of which include the term Saka or Saka. In Northern
India the case is very different. We have a record dated in the month
Karttika, the Saka year 631 (expired), falling in A.D. 709: it comes
from Multai in the Betul district, Central Provinces, that is, from
the south of the Narbada; but it belongs to Gujarat (Bombay), and
perhaps to the north, though more probably to the south, of that
province. But, setting that aside, the earliest inscriptional instance
of the use of this era in Northern India, outside Kathiawar and
Gujarat, is found in a record of A.D. 862 at Deogarh near Lalitpur,
the headquarters town of the Lalitpur district, United Provinces of
Agra and Oude; here, however, the record is primarily dated, with the
full details of the month, &c., in "Samvat 919," that is, in the
Vikrama year 919; it is only as a subsidiary detail that the Saka year
784 is given in a separate passage at the end of the record, a sort of
postscript. From this date onwards the era is found in other records
of Northern India, but to any appreciable extent only from A.D. 1137,
and to only a very small extent in comparison with the Vikrama and
other northern eras; and the cases in which it was used exclusively
there, without being coupled with one or other of the northern
reckonings, are still more conspicuously few. In short, the general
position is that the Saka era has been essentially foreign to Northern
India until recent times; it was used there quite exceptionally and
sporadically, and in very few cases indeed at any appreciable distance
from the dividing-line between the north and the south. That it found
its way into Northern India, outside Kathiawar and northern Gujarat at
all, is unquestionably due to its use by the astronomers. It also
travelled, across the sea, by the 7th century A.D. to Cambodia, and
somewhat later to Java; to which parts it was doubtless taken in
almanacs, or in invoices, statements of account, &c., by the persons
engaged in the trade between Broach and the far east via Tagara (Ter)
and the east coast. It also found its way in subsequent times to Assam
and Ceylon, and more recently still to Nepal.