Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c6: I.—Saptârshi-Kâl
Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c6
- Language
- English
I.—Saptârshi-Kâl
c6.1
CYCLE OF THE SEVEN RISHIS.
c6.2
The *Sapt-Rishi-Kâl*, or “Cycle of the Seven Rishis,” called also the *Saptârshi* and *Sat Rikhi Kâl*, is so named after the seven stars of the constellation of the Great Bear. It is the only mode of reckoning employed in the *Râja Tarangini*, or History of Kashmir, and it is still used in the hill states to the south-east of Kashmir between the Chenâb on the west and the Jumna on the east. The general use of this cycle did not escape the notice of Abu Rihân, who has preserved much valuable information regarding the different centenary cycles in use at the time of Mahmud’s invasion of India.
c6.3
“In India,” he says, “the vulgar reckon by ages, and these ages follow one after another. This they call the *Samvatsara* of a hundred. When one century is passed they drop it, and begin another. They call this the *Lok-Kâl*, or ‘People’s Era.’”* Now this last is the same name that is used by Kalhana Pandit of Kashmir, who says:†
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† Râja Tarangini, I, 52.
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*Lauhikebde chaturvinsate Sahakâlasya sumpratam.*
*Saptatyâtyadhikam yâtam sahasram parivatsarah.*
c6.6
“The 24th year of the *Laukika* corresponds with the year 1070 of the Saka-Kâl.”
c6.7
From this statement we learn that the year 1 of the *Laukika* coincided with 1047 of the Saka, or A.D. 1025; and as the cycle was a centenary one, the first year of each century must have corresponded with the 25th year of each Christian century. This is placed beyond all doubt by the following facts:—
c6.8
1.—In the Temple of Baijnâth, in the district of Mandi, there is an inscription which bears the two dates of Sake 726 and Lok-Kâl 80. Deducting 79 from each date we obtain the Sake year 647, or A.D. 725, as the first year of the Lok-Kâl century.
c6.9
∗ Renaud, Fragments Arabes et Persaus, p. 147.
c6.10
2.—Captain Patrick Gerard of the Gorkha Battalion, then stationed at Kotgarh on the Satlej, heads one of his notes as follows:—"Kacha Sambat, or year 2, or 1826-27, Kotgarh, June 25th, 1826." By this account the year 1825 A.D. was the first of the Kacha Sambat, or Sapt-Rishi-Kâl, of 100 years.
c6.11
I first became acquainted with the survival of this mode of reckoning in 1846, when I was employed in the Kangra district. It was commonly called the Sat-Rikhi-Kâl, but was also well known as the Pahâri Samvat, or "Hill era." In the same year I obtained further information about it from Wazir Gusâun, the astute minister of the Mandi state, who accompanied me to Ladâk. From him I learned to read the dates on the Sati Pillars of the Mandi Rânis. Again, in 1859, on my return from Burma, I made new enquiries in Kashmir and Kângra, in Mandi and Kullu, as well as in Kotgarh and Râmpur on the Satlej. I then found that the Pandits of Kashmir still preserved the fanciful mode of reckoning the Lok-Kâl, which was invented by the astronomers, and afterwards adopted by Kalhana Pandit in the Râja Tarangini. All other accounts agree in making the Sapt Rishi cycle older than the Mahâbhârata. But the astronomers differ altogether from the common opinion which has been generally adopted throughout India. According to the almost universal belief of the people the period of the Great War, or the era of Yudhishthira, was also the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga. That this was also the popular belief in former days is proved by the explicit statement of Abul Fazl,* that "In the beginning of the fourth or present Yuga, Râjâ Yudhishthira was universal monarch, and the commencement of his reign became the epoch of an era, of which to this time, being the fortieth year of the reign, there have elapsed 4696 years." Now the fortieth year of Akbar was A.D. 1595, which, deducted from 4696, gives B.C. 3101 as the period of Yudhishthira as well as of the Kali-Yuga. In another place also he states that the Mahâbhârata was "carried on in the latter end of the Dwâpara-Yuga. And in a third place he says that the war happened one hundred and five years before the end of the Dwâpara-Yuga, and 4831† years before the fortieth year of Akbar. But Abul Fazl had also heard of the date invented by the astronomers, as near the close of his work he places the reign of Kansa, râjâ of Mathura, "above 4000 years before the fortieth of Akbar," that is between 2400 and 2500 B.C.
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∗ Gladwin's Ain-i-Akbari, I, 263 : see also II, 88-91.
c6.13
† This number should be 4801, or 4696 + 105, and not 4831.
c6.14
On one account all accounts agree—namely, "that the Munis (or Seven Rishis) were in Maghâ when king Yudhishthira reigned over the earth."* But the popular belief assigns the same position of the Seven Rishis to beginning of the Kâli-Yuga also.
c6.15
According to the astronomers the era of Yudhishthira varied from 600 to 666 years after the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga. But their determinations depend on such groundless assumptions that they can only be looked upon as mere astronomical fancies. Both Parâsara and Aryabhata assume that the revolutions of the Seven Rishis began with the commencement of the Kalpa of 4,320.000,000 years; and that the number of their revolutions in this period was 1.599,998. But they differ slightly in the number of years elapsed before the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, which the former makes 1,972.944,000, while the latter has 1,969.920,000. According to Parâsara—
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As 4,320.000,000 : 1.972.944,000 :: 1.599,998 : 730,719.0866 or 10,000 : 4567
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that is, at the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga the Seven Rishis had accomplished 730,719 complete revolutions plus . . . . . 0866 of a revolution. Multiplying this fraction by 2,700 years, or one whole revolution, we get years 233.8200 of a revolution expired before Kâli-Yuga began. Then as the Great War took place when the Seven Rishis were in Maghâ (the 10th Nakshatra), we must deduct the 233.82 from 900, by which we obtain 666.18 years of Kâli-Yuga expired at the date of Yudhishthira.
c6.18
By a similar process for Aryabhata, we get 662.4 years of Kâli-Yuga expired as the date of Yudhishthira; and by repeating the process for Varâha Mihira, we get 653 Kâli-Yuga as his date of the Mahâbhârata. The last is the date adopted by Kalhana Pandit, who says:† "When 653 years of the Kâli-Yuga had expired, the Kurus and Pândavas flourished."
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† Râja Tarangni, I, 51.
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This fanciful date invented by the astronomers is noticed by Abu Rihân as the Pându-Kâl, or "era of the Pandus," which was different from the Kâli-Yuga; but he omits to mention its starting point.‡
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‡ Renaud, Fragments Arabes et Persaus, p. 137.
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The theory of the astronomers is in direct opposition to the explicit statements of the Purânas, which are in complete accord with the common belief.§ Thus the Vishnu Purâna says:—"When the first two stars of the Seven Rishis (the Great Bear) rise in the heavens, and some lunar asterism is seen at night at an equal distance between them, then the Seven Rishis continue stationary, in the conjunction, for a hundred years of men. At the birth of Parikshit they were in Maghâ; and the Kâli-age then commenced, which consists of 1200 (divine) years. When the portion of Vishnu (that had been born from Vasudeva) returned to heaven, then the Kâli-age commenced."*
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∗ Râja Tarangini, I, 56.
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§ Vishnu Purana, IV, C. 24, or Hall's Edition, Vol. IV, p. 233.
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The Bhâgavata Purâna agrees with the Vishnu Purâna in placing the Seven Rishis in Maghâ at the time of the Great War. Thus Suka, addressing Parikshita, says: "Of the Seven Rishis, two are first perceived rising in the sky; and the asterism, which is observed to be at night even with the middle of those two stars, is that with which the Rishis are united, and they remain so during a hundred years of men. In your time, and at this moment, they are situated in Maghâ."
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"When the splendour of Vishnu, named Krishna, departed for heaven, then did the Kâli-age, during which men delight in sin, invade the world. So long as he continued to touch the earth with his holy feet, so long the Kâli-age, comprising 1200 (divine) years, began." So also Nrisinha "expounds the Sâkalya Sanhita, and rejects Varâha's rule as disagreeing with the Purânas."†
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† Colebrooke's Essays, II, 313-14-15.
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Varâha himself quotes Vriddha Garga for his account of the cycle of the Seven Rishis.‡ His words are: "1, 2. I shall tell, according to the theory of Vriddha Garga, the course of these Seven Seers, by whom the northern region is, as it were, protected; through whom she shines, as if adorned with a string of pearls, like a maiden with joyful countenance, wearing a wreath of white water-lilies; those Seven Seers, by the turning round of whom the northern region seems dancing, the pole-star being the regulator.
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‡ Dr. Kern's Translation of the Brihat Sanhita, C. xiii, 1-4.
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"3. The Seven Seers were in Maghâ when king Yudhishthira ruled the earth, and the period of that king is 2526 years before the Saka era.
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"4. They remain moving for a hundred years in each lunar mansion, and rise constantly in the north-east, together with Arundhati."
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∗ Wilson's Vishnu Purâna by Hall.
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But unluckily for Varâha Mihira his commentator, Bhatta Utpala, has given us the very words of Garga, who simply says:*
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“At the junction of the Kâli and Dwâpara ages, the virtuous sages, who delight in protecting the people, stood at the asterism, over which the Pitris preside (that is Maghâ).”
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On comparing this quotation with Varâha’s statement, we see at once that he has suppressed Garga’s mention of the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga to suit his own astronomical fancies. Now Garga states most explicitly that the Seven Rishis were in Maghâ at the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, and says nothing whatever about Yudhishthira. But the fact that the Rishis were in Maghâ at the time of the Great War was too well known to be altered, and so Varâha accepts this, while he quietly ignores Garga’s statement about the Kâli-Yuga. Well might Nrisinha reject “the teaching of Varâha as differing from the Purânas.”
c6.36
The quotations which I have already given from Abu Rihân and Kalhana Pandit show that the fanciful vagaries of the astronomers regarding the date of the Mahâbhârata had already been partially adopted in the 11th and 12th Centuries A.D. But the learned Muhammadan author goes on to show that the use of the Sapt-Rishi cycle had certainly extended to Multân and Sindh.† He says, that “writers differ with regard to the beginning of the year as well as with regard to the initial point of the cycle.” He states also that he has “seen the Indians, when they wished to mark the date of the taking of Somnâth, write down 242, 606, and 99, and then add them together, which gives the year of Saka. Abu Rihân explains that 242 shows the number of years (of Saka) which preceded the epoch when the Indians first began to use the centenary cycle, and that this usage commenced with the era of the Guptas. Further, that the sum of 606 shows the number of complete centenary cycles of 101 years each; and lastly, that 99 is the number of years elapsed of the current cycle.” These numbers added together give 947 as the year of Saka in which Somnâth was captured, equivalent to the year beginning in April A.D. 1025, and ending in April 1026, which is correct, as Somnâth fell in January 1026.
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† Renaud, Fragments Arabes et Persaus, p. 147.
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In confirmation of the accuracy of this process Abu Rihân quotes the following formula from the astronomical tables of Durlabha of Multân:—“Set down 848 and add the Lok-Kâl or vulgar reckoning; the sum will show the year of the Saka era.” Abu Rihân then gives the following example:—"Set down the actual date (year 953 of Saka in which he was writing) of Saka, and deduct 848, the remainder 105 will be the Lok-Kâl, and the year of the fall of Somnâth will be 98."
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∗ Colebrooke’s Essays, II, 313.
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In the first example, the capture of Somnâth is assigned to the year 99 of the Lok-Kâl, and in the second example, to the year 98: but the latter is no doubt a mistake for 99.
c6.41
As the Lok-Kâl of this description differs from that which has been in use for many centuries throughout Kashmir and all the hill states of the Punjâb and Cis-Sutlej districts, it appears to me either that the Lok-Kâl of Sindh and Multân must have had a different starting point from that of Kashmir, or that Abu Rihân must have been puzzled by conflicting accounts which he obtained from various persons who, perhaps, had but little knowledge of the subject. The latter, I conclude, to have been most probably the case, as Abu Rihân candidly acknowledges the imperfectness of his account, and warns the reader that the results which he gives are uncertain, as several of the numbers (of the centenary cycles) exceed 100.
c6.42
The Lok-Kâl, or "common era," called also the Sapt-Rishi-Kâl, or "era of the Seven Rishis," is a cycle of 2700 years divided into twenty-seven centenary periods, a new reckoning being started at the beginning of each century. The theory of the cycle is, that the Seven Rishis, or stars of Ursa Major, remain for one century in each of the twenty-seven Nakshatras, or lunar mansions. All authorities agree in making Aswini the first of the Nakshatras, and in stating that the Mahâbhârata took place when the Rishis were in the lunar constellation Maghâ, the tenth of the series. The Purânas, and the practice of all the people who still use this cycle, excepting only the Kashmiris, agree in making the era of Yudhishthira the same as the Kâli-Yuga. All, however, agree in stating that, at the time of the Mahâbhârata, the Seven Rishis had already passed 75 years in Maghâ. But as Varâha places the Great War 653 years after the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, or in 2449 B.C., that year should have been the 76th of the tenth Nakshatra, and the 976th year of the cycle. This would fix the first year of each centenary period to the 25th year of each century B.C., and to the 76th year of each century A.D. But to prevent the confusion that would thus have arisen, Varâha simply ignored the generally accepted belief that the Rishis had spent 75 years in Maghâ when the Mahâbhârata took place and retained the initial points of the Saptârshi centuries—only bringing Maghâ down from B.C. 3177 (or 3102 + 75) to B.C. 2477. Accordingly, Varâha's followers place the initial point of the Vrihaspati Chakra in 3377 B.C. in Aswini, so that each century begins in the 26th year of each century of the Kâli-Yuga exactly as Dr. Bühler was informed. This also accords with the statement of my Kashmiri informant that the Rishis had completed three revolutions less 25 years in the Dwâpara-Yuga before the Kâli-Yuga began; that is, their Chakra preceded the Kâli-Yuga by 275 years, equivalent to B.C. 3377, or 3102 + 275 years.
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The following is a translation of the reply which I received from the Brahmans of Kangra in A.D. 1859 regarding the *Sapt-Rishi-Kâl* :— "At the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, the Seven Rishis (or Stars of Ursa Major) had been 75 years in one Nakshatra (Maghâ), and they remained in the same for 25 years longer. These 25 years are the amount of difference between the total number of Kâli-Yuga years elapsed and the number of centuries or years of the Hill cycle [*Pahâri Samvat*] up to the present date. Thus the present year, 1859 of the Christian era, is Kâli-Yuga 4960, and 35 of the 50th Hill cycle, or exactly 25 years short of the number of Kâli-Yuga years."
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From another informant I received the following account :—"The Seven Rishis remain for one hundred years in each Nakshatra. They entered into Maghâ 75 years before the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, and they remained in Maghâ for 25 years of the Kâli-Yuga;" that is until 3077 B.C., when they entered into another Nakshatra.
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Similar information was received from the Brahmans of Mandi and Bisahar. But from Kashmir the reply was somewhat different. It was obtained by Mirza Saifuddin after consultation with pandits and astronomers : "The present year 1859 is 4960 of the Kâli-Yuga, and Samvat 35 of the Haft Rikheshar. The Kâli-Yuga is said to be 25 years in advance of the Haft Rikheshar. The seven stars complete one revolution in each Nakshatra in 100 years. When they had completed three revolutions less 25 years in the Dwâpara-Yuga, then the Kâli-Yuga began, and only 2425 years of the first Chakra belong to the Kâli-Yuga. Each whole period of 2700 years is called a *Chakra*, or cycle, in which the Seven Rishis pass through the 27 Nakshatras from Aswini to Revati. Of the second Chakra of 2700 years 25 Nakshatras were completed in the Christian year 1825, or 4926 Kâli-Yuga." This tallies exactly with the information lately obtained in Kashmir by Dr. Bühler, who writes : "I have found in the manuscript several more dates in the Saptrishi era with the thousands added, and all agree with the verse which places the beginning of the era in Kâli 26, Chaitra-sudi 1.” In these accounts from Kashmir the computation of Varâha Mihira is adopted, which places the era of Yudhishthira in 653 of the Kâli-Yuga, when the Seven Rishis are said to have been in Maghâ, in direct opposition to the commonly received reckoning which places the era of Yudhishthira at the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga.
c6.46
The informants in Kangra, Mandi, and Bisahar agreed with the Kashmir correspondent in fixing the beginning of the year at the norâtra, or new moon of Chaitra; that is Chaitra-sudi 1.
c6.47
So universal is the belief that the date of the Kâli-Yuga is the same as that of the Mahâbhârata, that the native almanacs state it as a positive fact. Thus Professor Bhândârkar quotes the following from an ordinary Hindu Panchânga of Bombay: “In the Kâli-age there are six founders of eras. First, there was Yudhishthira in Indraprastha, whose era lasted for 3044 years. The second was Vikrama at Ujayani, whose era had a run of 135 years. The third was Salivâhana at Pratisthâna.” Here the era of Yudhishthira is made the same as that of the Kâli-Yuga, which also dates from 3044 years before the era of Vikrama.
c6.48
The first mention of the Lok-Kâl, or cycle of 100 years in the Râja Tarangini, is the year 89, corresponding with A.D. 813-14. Before this period only the lengths of reigns are given, but from A.D. 813 downwards the date of each king’s death is carefully recorded, with the name and day of the month as well as the year of the cycle.
c6.49
I have been thus particular in pointing out the true beginning of each century period of the Lok-Kâl or Sapt-Rishi Chakra in the year 25 of each Christian century, because both Troyer and Wilson, after translating correctly Kalhan’s statement that the year 24 of the Laukika coincided with 1070 of the Saka (or A.D. 1148) have most deliberately and unaccountably thrown over the native historian’s statement and adopted some fancied dates of their own. Thus the 89th year of the Kashmirian cycle, which, as we know from the Baijnâth inscription as well as from Kalhana himself, corresponded with A.D. 813, Troyer refers to A.D. 816, and this error of three years pervades all the dates throughout the first six books of his translation. So also Wilson’s Chronology of Kashmir is throughout twenty-one years in advance of the true dates. How all this happened I cannot even guess, but can only repeat the old saying “aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus.”
c6.50
The astronomers have been much puzzled to account for the alleged centennial motion of the Seven Rishis from one Nakshatra to another, which they admit is not visible to the human race. Thus the commentator Sridhara Swâmi explains, that “the two stars which rise first are Pulaha and Kratu; and whichever asterism is in a line south from the middle of those stars is that with which the Seven Rishis are united, and they so remain for one hundred years.” Other explanations are cited by Colebrooke, who closes his account with the opinion of Kamalâkara, who observes, that “no such motion of the stars is perceptible. Remarking, however, that the authority of the Purânas and Sanhitâs, which affirm their revolution, is uncontrovertible, he reconciles faith and experience by saying, that the stars themselves are fixed; but the Seven Rishis are invisible deities, who perform the stated revolution in the period specified.” *
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The mythologists, however, give a different explanation. According to them the Seven Rishis, having given offence to their teacher in the Satya-Yuga, were cursed by him and condemned to spend the remainder of their lives as antelopes, wandering from one Nakshatra to another every hundred years. Hence they were named the Sapta-Mriga, or “Seven Antelopes.” This name recalls the Septem Triones of the Romans. Some say that the Rishis were doomed to take the shapes of different animals every hundred years.
c6.52
But however obscure may be the origin of the cycle, there is no doubt about its antiquity, as both Varâha Mihira and Bhattotpala refer to the description of it given by Vriddha Garga, whose date is fixed by Dr. Kern to the first century B.C. By his account the cycle must have been in use before the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, as he notes that the Seven Rishis had then passed 25 years in the Nakshatra or Lunar asterism of Maghâ. Then as Maghâ was the 10th of these asterisms, the beginning of that Chakra or cycle of 2700 years must be dated back by 975 years to B.C. 4077. But the genealogical lists of the Purânas point to a still earlier period, as they place Krishna in the 52nd generation after Brahmâ. Allowing twenty-five years to a generation the Hindu date of the creation would be thrown back by upwards of 1300 years before the Kâli-Yuga, or to B. C. 4400.
c6.53
On referring to the accounts of ancient India handed down to us by Alexander’s companions, I find a curious statement which seems to bear directly on this question of the starting point of Indian chronology.
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[^ *]: See Colebrooke’s Essays, II, 314 and 316.
c6.55
The statement is preserved by Pliny, Solinus, and Arrian. The first says, “Colliguntur à Libero Patre ad Alexandrum Magnum reges eorum CLIV, annis sex millia CCCCLI adjiciunt et menses tres,”—that is, “they reckon from Bacchus to Alexander the Great 154 kings, who reigned for 6451 years and 3 months.” As Alexander entered the Panjâb in 326 B.C., and left it towards the end of the same year, this account fixes the starting point of Indian chronology to the year 6451¼ + 326 = 6777 B.C.
c6.56
Now it is a curious coincidence that if another *Saptârshi Chakra* of 2700 years be added to 4077 B.C., or the beginning of the Chakra indicated by Vriddha Garga, the initial year will fall in 6777, the very year which was said by the Indians of Alexander’s time to be the initial point of their history. This coincidence is certainly very remarkable, and as it is the result of the addition of such a large period as 2700 years, it would seem to point to the conclusion that so early as the time of Alexander the *Saptârshi Chakra* of 2700 years was the common mode of Indian reckoning. This indeed has already been inferred from the statement of Vriddha Garga himself.
c6.57
The reckoning of the Lok-Kâl, as now used in Kashmir and the other hill states, is by the common luni-solar years beginning on Chaitra-sudi 1, or the new moon of Chaitra. The cycle consists of 27 centuries, each counting from 1 to 100 years, when a new reckoning is begun. The first year of each century corresponds with the 25th year of each Christian century. According to Abu Rihân the people of Multân had only recently adopted the Kashmiri reckoning from Chaitra, while in Sindh and Kanauj they still reckoned the year from *Mânkhir* (that is from Mârgasiras or Agrahayana).*
c6.58
For ascertaining any dates recorded in the Lok-Kâl the corresponding year of the Kâli-Yuga must be obtained from the General Table, and the calculation must be made according to the rules laid down for the luni-solar calendar. In the Râja Tarangini the years are always mentioned by their numbers, and so they are in the Baijnâth and Mandi inscriptions. But the name of the century, which should be that of the Nakshatra, is never given.
c6.59
In Abu Rihân’s account of the centenary cycle, there are several discordant numbers which I find it difficult to reconcile. He states that when the Indians wished to note the date of the taking of Somnâth [January 1026 A.D.], they set down the figures 242, 606, and 99, which added together gave 947 of the Saka era [equivalent to A.D. 1025-26]. He explains the numbers by referring 242 to the number of years which had passed before the Indians began to use the centenary cycle, which came in with the era of the Guptas.* In a previous passage, however, he makes this period only 241 years. The figure 606 indicates the number of complete centuries (counting 101 years to each century), and the last figure 99 represents the number of years elapsed (éconlees) of the current cycle. Now it seems to me that Abu Rihân has not properly understood the number 606, which I would explain as follows: The unit 6 seems to me to refer to the period which had elapsed between the establishment of the so-called Gupta era in A.D. 319, and the beginning of the centenary reckoning in A.D. 325. According to this explanation, the account will stand thus:—
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∗ *Reinaud, Fragments Arabes et Persaus, p. 146.
c6.61
A.D. 78-79, establishment of the Saka era. 241 years. 319 establishment of the so-called Gupta era. 6 interval. 325 beginning of the centenary cycle. 600 years elapsed. 925 99 years of current cycle elapsed. 1024-25 A.D
c6.62
But as the 99th year is said to have elapsed (éconlee), the current year of the cycle would have been 100 and not 99. Accordingly, the year A.D. would have been 1025-26, which is correct, as the fall of Somnâth took place in January 1026.
c6.63
The following table will be of use in showing at a glance the initial year of each century, as well as its Nakshatra or Lunar asterism according to the different reckonings of Vriddha Garga and the Purânas on one hand, and of Varâha and the later astronomers on the other. The numbers placed against the names of the asterisms show the number of each century, while the beginning of the Chakra, or complete cycle of 2,700, is indicated by the No. 1 placed against Aswini. Thus, on the left hand, it will be seen that the cycle of the commonly received account began in the years 6777, 4077, and 1377 B.C., and in 1325 A.D., while those of Varâha Mihira's reckoning began in 3377 and 677 B.C. By the former it will be seen that the Seven Rishis were in Maghâ between 3177 and 3077 B.C., that is in B.C. 3101 at the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga; while by the latter, they are placed in Maghâ just 653 years later, between B.C. 2477 and 2377, that is, in B.C. 2448.
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∗ Reinaud, Fragments Arabes et Persans, p. 146.
c6.65
| | According to Vriddha Garga and the Purânas. | LOK-KAL, or SAPTARSHI CYCLE. Initial years of Centuries. | According to Varâha Mihira and the later Astronomers. | |
| | | B. C. | B. C. | B. C. | A. D. | | |
| 1 | Aswini ... | 6777 | 4077 | 1377 | 1325 | U. Ashadha ... | 21 |
| 2 | Bharani ... | 6677 | 3977 | 1277 | 1425 | Sravanâ ... ... | 22 |
| 3 | Krittikâ ... | 6577 | 3877 | 1177 | 1525 | Dhanishthâ ... | 23 |
| 4 | Rohini ... | 6477 | 3777 | 1077 | 1625 | Satabhishâ ... | 24 |
| 5 | Mrigasiras | 6377 | 3677 | 977 | 1725 | P. Bhadrpadâ ... | 25 |
| 6 | Ardrâ ... | 6277 | 3577 | 877 | 1825 | U. — ... | 26 |
| 7 | Punarvasu | 6177 | 3477 | 777 | 1925 | Revati ... ... | 27 |
| 8 | Pushyâ ... | 6077 | 3377 | 677 | 2025 | Aswini ... ... | 1 |
| 9 | Asleshâ .. | 5977 | 3277 | 577 | 2125 | Bharani ... ... | 2 |
| 10 | MAGHA... | 5877 | 3177 | 477 | 2225 | Krittikâ ... ... | 3 |
| 11 | P. Phalguni ... | 5777 | 3077 | 377 | 2325 | Rohini ... ... | 4 |
| 12 | U. — ... | 5677 | 2977 | 277 | 2425 | Mrigasiras ... | 5 |
| 13 | Hastâ ... | 5577 | 2877 | 177 | 2525 | Ardrâ ... ... | 6 |
| 14 | Chitrâ ... | 5477 | 2777 | B.C. 77 | 2625 | Punarvasu ... | 7 |
| 15 | Swâti ... | 5377 | 2677 | A.D. 25 | 2725 | Pushyâ ... ... | 8 |
| 16 | Visâkhâ ... | 5277 | 2577 | 125 | 2825 | Asleshâ ... ... | 9 |
| 17 | Anurâdhâ | 5177 | 2477 | 225 | 2925 | MAGHA... ... | 10 |
| 18 | Jyeshthâ | 5077 | 2377 | 325 | 3025 | P. Phalguni ... | 11 |
| 19 | Mulâ ... | 4977 | 2277 | 425 | 3125 | U. — ... ... | 12 |
| 20 | P. Ashâdha | 4877 | 2177 | 525 | 3225 | Hastâ ... ... | 13 |
| 21 | U. — ... | 4777 | 2077 | 625 | 3325 | Chitrâ ... ... | 14 |
| 22 | Sravanâ ... | 4677 | 1977 | 725 | 3425 | Swâti ... ... | 15 |
| 23 | Dhanishthâ ... | 4577 | 1877 | 825 | 3525 | Visâkhâ ... ... | 16 |
| 24 | Satabhishâ ... | 4477 | 1777 | 925 | 3625 | Anurâdhâ ... | 17 |
| 25 | P. Bhadrpadâ | 4377 | 1677 | 1025 | 3725 | Jyeshthâ ... | 18 |
| 26 | U. — ... | 4277 | 1577 | 1125 | 3825 | Mulâ ... ... | 19 |
| 27 | Revati ... | 4177 | 1477 | 1225 | 3925 | P. Ashâdha ... | 20 |
Linked texts (10)
- Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Rājataraṅgiṇī — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit
- Narasiṃhapurāṇa — Sanskrit
- Bṛhatsaṃhitā — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Māgha
- Mandi
- Somnath
- Baijnāth Praśasti I — Sanskrit