Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c18.26

c18.26

For these reasons I much prefer the earlier date of A.D. 167 as the first year of the Gupta era. This earlier date also is attended by a curious coincidence, which seems to me to offer a very strong confirmation of its accuracy. This is the correspondence in time of the death of Skanda Gupta with the foundation of the Balabhi era. His latest inscription is dated in S. 146, or A.D. 312, according to the earlier initial point which I have adopted. But one of his silver coins in my cabinet is dated three years later, or in S. 149, or A.D. 315, which is within four years of the establishment of the Balabhi era. I think it very probable, therefore, that the foundation of this era may have been brought about by the opportunity of Skanda Gupta’s death. This would agree very well with the statement of Abu Rihân, “that the fall of the Guptas corresponded with the establishment of the Balabhi era.”*