Indian Epigraphy c15.s1.t6: 6. Bengali Era
Indian Epigraphy c15.s1.t6
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6. Bengali Era
c15.s1.t6.1
³ Ibid., pp. 192-93. Cf. Sylvain Lévi, *Le Népal*, Vol. II, pp. 147, 153-54; *JBORS*, Vol. XXII, p. 172.
c15.s1.t6.2
This era is prevalent in Bengal and Assam. It is the same as the Faslī, the difference being that it starts not from Āśvina-badi 1 but seven months later from the Meṣa-saṅkrānti (i.e. the commencement of solar Vaiśākha). The months are solar and the day following the day of the saṅkrānti is regarded as the first day of the month. We have to add 593-94 to the years of the era in order to get the corresponding years of the Christian era.¹ It is impossible to believe that the era has been in continuous use since 593-94. If such was the case, its use would have certainly been noticed in some of the numerous pre-Mughal records of Bengal.
c15.s1.t6.3
¹ Some old records point to certain discrepancies. Thus two manuscripts are stated to equate Śaka 1638 (1716 A.D.)=Bengal Sāl 1124 and Śaka 1711 (1789 A.D.)= Bengal Sāl 1195 (cf. S. Mukhopādhyāy, *Prācīn Bāmlā Sāhityer Kāl-Kram*, pp. 221-22). These would suggest the difference to be 592-93 in one case and 594-95 in the other.
c15.s1.t6.4
We have already referred above to the existence of two other similar eras in some parts of Bengal during the late medieval period, e.g. the Balālī San and the Parganātī San, the epoch of the former falling in 1199 A.D. and that of the latter in 1202-03 or 1201-02 A.D.²
c15.s1.t6.5
² History of Bengal, Vol. I, pp. 235-36; above, p. 278.