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XXII. Śālivāhana and the Śaka Era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

Inscriptional records show that from some time in the ninth or tenth century a.d. the era of b.c. 58, the chief reckoning of Northern India, became known by such names as the time called Vikrama, Vikrama-kāla, i.e. “the time or era of Vikrama,” Vikrama-saṁvat, the years of king Vikrama, the years founded by Vikramā-ditya, the years elapsed since the time of king Vikrama. The same source of information shows that, at a later time, the Śaka era of a.d. 78, which, though it too was of northern origin, became the chief reckoning of Southern India, came to be known by such names as Śālivāhana-Śaka, i.e. “the Śaka or era of Śālivāhana,” the Śaka or era of the glorious and victorious king Śālivāhana, the years of the Śaka or era established by Śālivāhana. And the popular belief, as presented, for instance, in the introductory passages of some of the Pañchāṅgs or Hindū almanacs from which I have given extracts in this Journal, 1911, p. 694, is that the Vikrama era was founded by a king Vikrama reigning in b.c. 58 at Ujjain, in Mālwā, and the Śaka era was founded by a king Śālivāhana reigning in a.d. 78 at Pratishṭhāna, which is the present Paiṭhaṇ, on the Gōdāvarī, in the Nizam's territory.

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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1916

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