Indian Epigraphy c15.s1.t10.6

c15.s1.t10.6

It is very probable that the Bhāṭika era was an Indian solarised modification of the Hijrī which started in 622 A.D. and was in popular use in the Sind region to the west of Jaisalmer since the Arab conquest of that area in the eighth century A.D. The calculation seems to have been based on the fact that Vikrama 679-80=622-23 A.D. was the first year of the Hijrī and Bhāṭika eras, the year of the Hijrī being lunar and that of the Bhāṭika solar. The discrepancy of a year or two between this epoch and the epochs suggested by the dates in the inscriptions discussed above may be due to confusion.¹