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Indian Epigraphy c15.s2.t2: 2. Saptarṣi Era

Indian Epigraphy c15.s2.t2

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2. Saptarṣi Era

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⁶ See Ojha, Bhāratīya Prācīn Lipimālā, pp. 159 ff.

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The Saptarṣi era, otherwise called the Laukika, Śāstra, Pahāḍī or Kaccā reckoning, is an imaginary cycle of 2700 years. Its calculation is based on the supposition that the Saptarṣi (Great Bear) stays for one hundred years at each one of the 27 nakṣatras or lunar mansions. The name Pahāḍī is due to the prevalence of the era in the hills of the Punjab and Kashmir regions, while the names Laukika and Kaccā refer to its use with the omission of the hundreds. Owing to its use mainly in the works pertaining to *jyotiḥ-śāstra*, it is called the Śāstra-saṁvat. The movement of the Great Bear, though mentioned in works like the *Bṛhatsaṁhitā*¹, *Bhāgavata Purāṇa*, etc.², is really imaginary and is also recognised as such by medieval astronomers.³

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² Ibid., verse 31 : Śateṣu ṣaṭsu s-ārdheṣu try-adhikeṣu ca bhūtale | Kaler=gateṣu varṣāṇām=abhūvan=Kuru-Pāṇḍavāḥ ||

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¹ XIII. 4: *ek-aikasmin=ṛkṣe śataṁ śataṁ te (munayaḥ) caranti varṣāṇām.*

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² XII. 2, 27-28 : *Saptarṣīṇāṁ tu yau pūrvau dṛśyeta uditau divi | tayos=tu madhye nakṣatraṁ dṛśyate tat-samam niśi || ten=aita ṛṣayo yuktās=tiṣṭhanty=abda-śataṁ nṛṇām || Cf. Viṣṇu Purāṇa, IV. 24. 53-54.*

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³ Cf. Kamalākara-bhaṭṭa’s *Siddhāntatattvaviveka*, verse 32 : *ady=āpi kair=api narair=gatir=ārya-varyair=dṛṣṭā na c=ātra=kathitā kila saṁhitāsu | tat=kāvyam=eva hi purāṇavad=atra taj-jñās=ten=aiva tattva-viṣayaṁ gadituṁ pravṛttāḥ ||*

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The name of the individual *nakṣatra* for particular centuries of the Saptarṣi era is not mentioned, the years being counted from year 1 to year 100 and again from 1 to 100 for the following centuries without mentioning the figures for the hundreds.⁴

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⁴ In some of the Kashmir almanacs, the hundred figures are also quot-d. Cf. *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XX, pp. 150-51.

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In Kashmir, year 1 of the Saptarṣi era is considered equivalent to year 26 of the Kali era,⁵ though the *Purāṇas* and astronomical works equate the first year of the one with the same of the other.⁶ Kalhaṇa’s *Rājatarangiṇī*⁷ refers to the year 24 (current) of the Laukik-ābda as corresponding to the expired Śaka year 1070. Thus the difference between the current Laukika year and the expired Śaka year is 1070-24=1046, i.e. 46 years. The number of the Laukika year with the hundreds omitted, when added to 46, would give the number of the expired Śaka year without the hundreds. It would give the current Christian year when added to 24-25 and the Caitrādi Vikrama year when added to 81.

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⁵ Buhler, *Kashmir Report*, p. 60 : *Kaler=gataiḥ sāyaka-netra-varṣaiḥ Saptarṣi-varyās=tridivaṁ prayātāḥ | loke hi saṁvatsara-patrikāyāṁ Saptarṣi-mānaṁ pravadanti santaḥ ||*

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⁶ Cunningham, *Indian Eras*, p. 4.

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⁷ I. 52 : *Laukik-ābde catur-imśe Śaka-kālasya sāmpratam | sapṭaty-ābhyadhikam yātaṁ sahasraṁ parivatsarāḥ.* See *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XX, p. 152.

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The year of the Saptarṣi era begins from Caitra-sudi 1, and the months are Pūrṇimānta. The era seems to have been fabricated by the astronomers of the Punjab-Kashmir region.

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