Indian Epigraphy c15.s2.t8.1

c15.s2.t8.1

R. C. Majumdar⁴ draws our attention to the Yedarave inscription of Cālukya Vikramāditya VI, which is said to contain the following statement, with reference to the foundation of the Cālukya-Vikrama era : “Having said, ‘Why should the glory of the kings Vikramāditya and Nanda be a hindrance any longer?', he (i.e. Vikramāditya VI), with a loudly uttered command, abolished that [era] which has the name of Śaka and made that [era] which has the Cālukya counting.”¹ In Majumdar’s opinion the passage refers to an era founded by the Nandas. But the reading *nanda* in the passage in question is avowedly doubtful and seems to be wrong. The word expected in the context is *Śaka*. In any case, there is no evidnece in Indian epigraphic and literary records of the existence of a Nanda era. As we have seen, the use of the reckoning in eras was introduced into India by the foreigners long after the Nandas.