Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c10.s3.t3.6

c10.s3.t3.6

It is therefore always desirable to verify an inscriptional date whenever sufficient data (at a minimum, year, month, *tithi*, and weekday) are provided; that is to say, the data should be checked and if necessary calculated to confirm (or deny) that the given weekday (or eclipse, *saṃkrānti*, etc.) did in fact fall on the specified date, thereby confirming (or denying) the tentative European equivalent for the date in question. The verification of a weekday and/or of other astronomical and calendrical specifications such as eclipses, *saṃkrānti*, *nakṣatra*, *yoga*, cyclical year of Jupiter (see 5.5.2.2 and 5.5.2.3), and so on involves complex calculations requiring specialized knowledge of astronomical systems, which are facilitated by the systems and tables provided by Jacobi (EI 1, 408–37) and the other sources listed at the beginning of section 5.4.3.⁵⁴ Such calculations, however, involve several variables and complicating factors which must be taken into consideration, and which are not always explicitly stated in the document itself. These include the era, which is often not specified; the nature of the years, whether expired or current, also frequently unspecified;⁵⁵ whether the year began in Caitra (*caitrādi*, the "northern" year) or Kārttika (*kārttikādi*, the "southern" year), or occasionally in some other month such as Āṣāḍha or Śrāvaṇa; and whether the months are counted as ending with the full moon (*pūrṇimānta*, the "northern" system) or the new moon (*amānta*, the "southern" system),⁵⁶ or whether they are solar rather than lunar months.⁵⁷ When any or all of this information is unknown or uncertain, multiple calculations must be made for each possibility before a final verdict is passed (Jacobi, 406).