Indian Epigraphy c15.t1: 1. Nature of the Dates
Indian Epigraphy c15.t1
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1. Nature of the Dates
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As will be seen below, the dates in the earliest Indian epigraphs as well as a large number of later documents quote only a particular year of the reign of a king, the years of various eras being quoted in some records from about the beginning of the Christian era. In the earlier instances of the specification of a day in the dates, the number of the day is mentioned as belonging to one of the 8 fortnights of a season, of which three were regarded as constituting a year.¹ We have generally a reference to the month instead of the fortnight in the dates of the Kuṣāṇa epigraphs. In later instances, the day is quoted as belonging to one of the 12 solar months of the year or to either of the two fortnights (e.g. the dark and the bright) of one of the 12 lunar months. The mention of the name of the week-day became gradually popular.² After the mention of the day, sometimes the date was referred to as the *pūrvā* which really means ‘the above’ (in the feminine gender) and apparently indicates the *tithi* or lunar mansion on the day in question,³ although the *vāra* or week-day was reckoned from one sun-rise to another. The week-day of a tithi is generally the day on which the tithi ends. In some inscriptions, the nakṣatra, yoga, karaṇa, lagna and many other details are quoted in the dates besides the above.¹ Some epigraphs exhibit the mention of several eras in the date.²
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¹ These were *grīṣma* (summer), *varṣā* (the rainy season) and *hemanta* (winter). See below, pp. 236-37.
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² The earliest mention of the week-day by name is found in the Eran inscription of the time of Budhagupta, dated 484 A.D. (*Select Inscriptions*, p. 326). But the word *vāra* probably referring to a week-day seems to be used in the Andhau inscriptions of 130 A.D. (ibid., pp. 167 ff.).
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³ The expressions used are *etasyām pūrvāyām*, *asyām divasa-pūrvāyām*, *asyām saṃvatsara-māsa-divasa-pūrvāyām*, etc., in the earlier records (cf. Bhandarkar’s List, Nos. 2, 1261, 1287, etc.; *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 120, 279, etc.) and, in some late cases (cf. Bhandarkar’s List, Nos. 241, 438,451, etc.), *asyām saṃvatsara-māsa-pakṣa-divasa-pūrvāyām tithau*. Sometimes the mention of the *tithi* is followed by such expressions (cf. ibid., No. 122). See also expressions like *daśamī-pūrvakam* (ibid., No. 1077). Instead of *pūrvā*, the words *anupūrvā*, *kṣaṇa*, *divasa*, *divasa-kṣaṇa*, *ghaṭikā*, etc., are used in some cases (cf. *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 127, 135, 136, 143, 149, 153, etc.). In one case, the expression used in an inscription dated in the Vikrama era is *asyām Mālava-pūrvāyām* (Bhandarkar’s List, No. 5).
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¹ See, e.g., Bhandarkar’s List, No. 27.
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² Cf. ibid., No. 565.
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A peculiarity of the dating of Indian records is the use of abbreviations. Indeed, the use of contractions is first noticed in the epigraphs in connection with dates. The words varṣa, vatsara, saṁvatsara, etc., meaning ‘the year’, was often contracted into va, saṁ, saṁva, saṁvat, etc. The word saṁvat and its numerous corrupt variants were later used in the sense of ‘an era’. A few early records suggest a similar contraction of the word kāla meaning ‘an era’ into kā.³ Of the seasons mentioned in early inscriptions, hemanta (i.e. winter) was often indicated by he or hema, varṣā (i.e. the rainy season) by va or vā (for Prakrit vāsa), and grīṣma as grī or gi (for Prakrit gimha). Likewise di or diva often stood for divasa and ti for tithi. In the commonly found expression śu-di or su-di, śu stands for śuddha (bright) and su seems to be its corrupt spelling. Similarly, in ba-di or va-di, ba stands for bahula (dark) and va is either a wrong spelling or stands for vadya. In the Kashmir region, śu-ti or su-ti and ba-ti or va-ti (i.e. śudha-tithi and bahula-tithi) are generally found for śu-di and ba-di. The names of the months were often abbreviated; e.g. Phā for Phālguna. Sometimes the expression rājya-saṁvatsara is contracted into rā-saṁ.⁴ In the medieval records of South India, very often the names of the week-days are likewise contracted; e.g. So standing for Soma-vāra, Ma for Maṅgala-vāra, etc.⁵
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³ Cf. Select Inscriptions, p. 131.
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⁴ Cf. Bhandarkar’s List, No. 1787.
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⁵ See Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIII, pp. 108, 112, 115. In Telugu-Kannaḍa epigraphs, Saturday was often called Bṛiha-vāra or Vaḍḍa-vāra (ibid., Vol. XXXI, p. 100; Vol. XXXIII, pp. 125-26). Both the names were sometimes also applied to Thursday.
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The numbers of the years, etc., in the earliest historical records of India, e.g. the inscriptions of Aśoka, were written in words. In later times, the practice of writing them by numerical figures became gradually popular.¹ In many cases, they are expressed by both words and figures. In some inscriptions from Dwarahat in the Almora District, U. P., the months and *tithis* of the lunar months are given in numbers; e.g. *māsa* 10 (i.e. the tenth month of the year).¹
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¹ Cf. *A. R. Ep.*, 1958-59, No. C 382 (V.S. 1081, Month 11, *tithi* 10, Friday=20th August 1025 A. D., the year being Kārttikādi and the month *Pūrṇimānta*); No. C 384 (*Śaka* 1136, month 11, Māgha su 7, Thursday= 8th January 1215 A. D., the year being Caitrādi).
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The numerals were written by symbols in the early inscriptions in Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī, the signs of the Kharoṣṭhī system being borrowed from the Aramaic alphabet with slight modifications. The decimal system of writing numbers with the figures for 1 to 9 and the cypher with the application of the principle of space value, which is the most convenient system of writing numbers and is now popular all over the world, originated in India, probably in West India amongst the astronomers of the Ujjayinī school, about the 5th century A. D.²
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² It was borrowed by the Arabs from the Indians and gradually spread to the rest of the world. See our *Indian Palaeography*, the section on Numerals.
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There was also a convention according to which ordinary words of the Sanskrit language, that can be associated with particualr numbers, were used to indicate those numbers. Thus words meaning 'the hand' (i.e. *kara*, etc.) came to be used to imply 2 since man has only two hands. Such words indicating numbers were arranged according to the principle of *vāma-gati*, i.e. 'the turning round of the sum', i.e. reading the figures from right to left.³ This system of expressing numbers is often noticed in the dates of inscriptions especially of the medieval age.⁴ Another system of expressing numbers by particular letters of the alphabet is known since 499 A.D. when Āryabhaṭa composed his *Āryabhaṭīya*. Although Āryabhaṭa's system is not noticed in inscriptions, a similar system called Kaṭapayādi, which developed in South India, is sometimes found in South Indian epigraphs of the medieval period. According to this system, the 10 letters from *ka* to *ña* and from *ṭa* to *na* have the values respectively of the numbers 1 to 9 and 0, while the 5 letters from *pa* to *ma* indicate the numbers 1 to 5 and the values of the numbers 1 to 9 are assigned respectively to the letters *ya* and *ḷa*. In the formation of chronograms, vowels, without numerical value, are added to the consonants and the last consonants in the conjuncts used have alone numerical values, while the principle of *vāma-gati* is also observed. Thus the Kandiyur inscription¹ of Kodavarman is dated in the 1,511,564th day of the Kali-yuga era expressed by the Kaṭapayādi chronogram *viṣamampuṇyamekam* in which *va*=4, *ṣa*=6, *ma*=5, *pa*=1, *ya*=1, *ma*=5 and *ka*=1 and they are to be read from right to left. Similar other known systems, such as the Nannādi developed in Kerala, do not appear in inscriptions.
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³ In a few cases, the *vāma-gati* principle is found to have been ignored. Cf. Bhandarkar's List, No. 620.
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⁴ See, e.g., *veda-aṅk-ābdh-indu-varṣa* (Bhandarkar's List, No. 775) in which *veda*=4, *aṅka*=9, *abdhi*=4 and *indu*=1 and, since the words are arranged according to the *vāma-gati* principle, they give the year as 1494 [ of the Vikrama-saṃvat ]. See below, pp. 228 ff.
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¹ *Trav. Arch. Ser.*, Vol. I, p. 294. See also the Srirangam inscription (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIX, pp. 71 ff.) of Sadāśivarāya in which the *Śaka* year 1467 is expressed by the chronogram *setu-vandya* which gives *sa*=7, *ta*=6 *va*=4 and *ya*=1, i.e. 1467. See below, pp. 233 ff.
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The dates in the earlier inscriptions generally do not give details enough for finding out their equivalents in known calendars. Mention of the week-day together with the name of the month or that of the month and the fortnight as well as of the year of an era with known epoch is very useful for this purpose. Such details are often found in later inscriptions. Gifts were generally made on auspicious occasions such as the eclipses of the sun and the moon, the full-moon and new-moon days, the sun's movement from the south to the north or vice versa, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the holy *tithis* and particular positions of the planets, etc., and these are often clearly indicated in the inscriptions recording royal grants. For the purpose of verification of dates, one requires to have some knowledge about the nature of the Indian years, months, etc. The beginning of the years, which were either solar or lunar, was counted variously from the months of Kārttika, Caitra, Āṣāḍha or Śrāvaṇa while the months were counted differently as solar or lunar.
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The ecliptic is divided into 12 *rāśis* or signs of the Zodiac, viz. (1) Meṣa, (2) Vṛṣa, (3) Mithuna, (4) Karkaṭa, (5) Siṃha, (6) Kanyā, (7) Tulā, (8) Vṛścika, (9) Dhanus, (10) Makara, (11) Kumbha, and (12) Mīna. The sun's passage from the beginning of Meṣa to the end of Mīna is called a *saura* (solar) year (*varṣa, saṃvatsara, vatsara, etc.*). Generally the length of the solar year is regarded as 365 days, 15 *ghaṭikās* or *daṇḍas*, 31 *palas* and 30 *vipalas*,¹ although there is some slight difference of opinion among astronomers on this point. The sun's passage from the beginning to the end of a *rāśi* is called a *saura-māsa* (solar month) and its entry into a new *rāśi* a *saṅkrānti* or *saṅkramaṇa*. The day on which the *saṅkrānti* falls is counted as the first day of the solar month in the Punjab while, if it falls in the night, the following day becomes the first day of the month. The system followed in the Tamil region is similar to that followed in the Punjab. But, in Bengal, the day following the *saṅkrānti* day is regarded as the first day of the month. This leads to considerable difference in the almanacs of various parts of the country.
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¹ The *ghaṭikā* or *daṇḍa* is the one-sixtieth part of the day, i.e. about 24 minutes, while the *pala* is its one-sixtieth part and the *vipala* is one-sixtieth of the *pala*.
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The solar months are usually named after the particular *rāśi* through which the sun passes at the time, although the names of the lunar months are also often applied to them. The solar years are prevalent in Bengal and the Punjab and their neighbourhood as well as in the Tamil- and Malayāḷam-speaking areas. The solar month of Meṣa, with which the solar year begins, is called Vaiśākha in Bengal but Caitra (Cittirai) in the Tamil-speaking area.
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There are generally between 29 and 32 days in a solar month and they are counted from 1 to 29, 30, 31 or 32 without reference to a *tithi* or lunar day (i.e. one-thirtieth part of the whole lunation) of the dark or bright fortnight (*pakṣa*), even though the *tithis* are also counted for the observance of particular functions in the areas where the solar months are prevalent.¹
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¹ The names of the solar months in Tamil and Bengali are as follows: (1) Meṣa—Cittirai, Vaiśākha; (2) Vṛṣabha—Vaikāsi, Jyaiṣṭha; (3) Mithuna—Āni, Āṣāḍha; (4) Karkaṭa—Āḍi, Śrāvaṇa: (5) Simha—Avani, Bhādra: (6) Kanyā—Puraṭṭāśi (Puraṭṭādi), Āśvina; (7) Tulā—Aippaśi, Kārttika; (8) Vṛścika—Kārttigai, Mārgaśīrṣa; (9) Dhanus—Mārgaḷi, Pauṣa; (10) Makara—Tai, Māgha; (11) Kumbha—Māśi, Phālguna; (12) Mīna—Paṅguni, Caitra.
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A lunar month consists of two fortnights or *pakṣas*, viz. dark and bright. The fifteen *tithis* or lunar days of either of the dark or bright fortnight, called respectively the *kṛṣṇa* or *bahula* and the *śukla*, are counted from 1 to 15. In North India, the lunar month is generally counted as *Pūrṇimānta*, i.e. ‘ending in the full-moon (i.e. sudi 15)’ or lasting from *Kṛṣṇa* (i.e. badi) 1 to *Śukla* (i.e. sudi ) 15, while, in the land to the south of the Narmadā, the lunar month is *Amānta*, i.e. it begins on *Śukla* (sudi) 1 and ends with the new-moon (i.e. badi 15).²
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² *Amānta* | *Pakṣa* | *Pūrṇimānta*
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The twelve lunar months are named after the *nakṣatras* or lunar mansions on which the full-moon occurs in each one
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| Phālguna ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Caitra |
| Caitra ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Vaiśākha |
| Vaiśākha ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Jyaiṣṭha |
| Jyaiṣṭha ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Āṣāḍha |
| Āṣāḍha ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Śrāvaṇa |
| Śrāvaṇa ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Bhādrapada |
| Bhādrapada ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Āśvina |
| Āśvina ... ... ... | {Śnkla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Kārttika |
| Kārttika ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Mārgaśīrṣa |
| Mārgaśīrṣa ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Pauṣa |
| Pauṣa ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} ... ... ... Māgha |
| Māgha ... ... ... | {Śukla Kṛṣṇa} Śukla ... ... ... Phālguna |
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of them.¹ These are : (1) Caitra, (2) Vaiśākha, (3) Jyaiṣṭha, (4) Āṣāḍha, (5) Śrāvaṇa, (6) Bhādrapada, (7) Āśvina (also called Āśvayuja), (8) Kārttika, (9) Mārgaśīrṣa (also called Agrahāyaṇa probably because the beginning of the year was once counted from it in some parts of the country), (10) Pauṣa, (11) Māgha, and (12) Phālguna.
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¹ The nakṣatras are 27 in number, viz. (1) Aśvinī, (2) Bharaṇī, (3) Kṛttikā, (4) Rohiṇī, (5) Mṛgaśīrā, (6) Ārdrā, (7) Punarvasu, (8) Puṣyā, (9) Aśleṣā, (10) Maghā, (11) Pūrva-Phalgunī, (12) Uttara-Phalgunī, (13) Hastā, (14) Citrā, (15) Svātī, (16) Viśākhā, (17) Anurādhā, (18) Jyeṣṭhā, (19) Mūlā, (20) Pūrv-Āṣāḍhā (21) Uttar-Āṣāḍhā, (22) Śravaṇā, (23) Dhaniṣṭhā, (24) Śatabhiṣā, (25) Pūrva-Bhādrapadā, (26) Uttara-Bhādrapadā, and (27) Revatī.
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The length of the lunar year made of twelve such months is regarded as 354 days, 22 ghaṭikās or daṇḍas, 1 pala and 24 vipalas, the year therefore being shorter than the solar year by 10 days, 56 ghaṭikās or daṇḍas, 30 palas and 6 vipalas. Thus 32 lunar months become roughly equal to 31 solar months. Since the tithis have considerable importance in the religious life of the people throughout the country, the lunar year is made equal to the solar year in the areas following the solar system by what may be called the luni-solar reckoning. According to this, the lunar month, in which the saṅkrānti (i.e. the sun's entry into a rāśi) does not occur, is called the Adhika or Mala month, while the lunar month witnessing two saṅkrāntis is regarded as the Kṣaya or Nija month. Medieval inscriptions sometimes mention yogas and karaṇas in the dates. The yogas (the word yoga meaning 'conjunction' used with reference to the astronomical association of the movements of the sun and the moon and noticed in some records)² are 27 in number; e. g. (1) Viṣkambha, (2) Prīti, (3) Āyuṣmat, (4) Saubhāgya, (5) Śobhaṇa, (6) Atigaṇḍa, (7) Sukarman, (8) Dhṛti, (9) Śūla, (10) Gaṇḍa, (11) Vṛddhi, (12) Dhruva, (13) Vyāghāta; (14) Harṣaṇa, (15) Vajra, (16) Siddhi or Asṛja, (17) Vyātīpāta, (18) Varīyas, (19) Parigha, (20) Śiva, (21) Siddha, (22) Sādhya, (23) Śubha, (24) Śukla, (25) Brahman, (26) Aindra and (27) Vaidhṛti. The karaṇas, each of which indicate half of a tithi, are noticed in medieval inscriptions like the Ajmer inscription of Vikrama 1210.¹ The karaṇas called (1) Bava, (2) Bālava, (3) Kaulava, (4) Taitila, (5) Gara, (6) Vaṇija and (7) Viṣṭi (Bhadrā or Kalyāṇī) make a cycle which are repeated for eight times covering 56 half tithis from the second half of śudi 1 to the first half of badi 14. The remaining four half tithis from the second half of badi 14 to the first half of śudi 1 are covered by the karaṇas : (8) Śakuni, (9) Catuṣpada, (10) Kintughna and (11) Nāga.
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² See, e. g., Bhandarkar's List, No. 27 dated Vikrama 898.
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¹ See Bhandarkar's List, No. 289.
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The conception of a week of seven days does not appear in very early Indian literature. As indicated above, the name of the week-day first occurs in an Indian epigraph of the last quarter of the 5th century A.D., and it is generally believed that the conception was borrowed by the Indians from Greek astronomers. As in the West, the Indian week-days are named after seven out of the nine grahas : (1) the sun (called Ravi, Āditya, etc.), (2) the moon (called Soma, Candra, etc.), (3) Mars (called Bhauma, Maṅgala, etc.), (4) Mercury (called Budha, etc.), (5) Jupiter (called Bṛhaspati, Suraguru, etc.), (6) Venus (called Śukra, Daityaguru, etc.), and (7) Saturn (called Śani, Śanaiścara, etc.). Thus Sunday is called Ravi-vāra, Āditya-vāra, etc.
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From the nature of the Indian year and month discussed above, it will be seen that the verification of the dates of some records is beset with difficulties. By way of illustration, it may be pointed out that it is often difficult to determine whether the years quoted, even when they are referred to an era, are Kārttikādi, Caitrādi, Āṣāḍhādi or Śrāvaṇādi and whether the month is Amānta or Pūrṇimānta. It is also often unknown whether the regnal years of kings were counted exactly from the date of his accession or they were adjusted with the regular years of the almanac. Another difficulty is that the years were sometimes regarded as current though generally they were counted as expired.² But there is a greater difficulty which is the possibility of errors in the enumeration of the dates. There is no doubt that such errors account for a large number of irregular dates in the inscriptions of various ages in different parts of the country.
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² Sometimes the records use the words *pravartamāna* and *atīta* to indicate respectively the current and expired years of a reckoning.
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Some of the errors in the dates of Indian records have to be ascribed to the astrologer at the villages and courts.¹ With the innumerable copies of printed almanacs, called Pañjī, Pañjikā or Pañcāṅga, of various types in each one of the numerous regional languages, available to the literate people in all parts of India, it is impossible in these days of advanced literacy in the country to realise the great importance of the astrologer in Indian social life before the 19th century.² There is epigraphic evidence to show that the office of the village astrologer was an institution recognised by the State during Hindu rule.³ That the astrologers at the royal courts of ancient and medieval India were often not competent astronomers is also clearly shown by the Sarkho plates⁴ of Kalacuri Ratnadeva II, dated 1128 A.D.
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¹ See IHQ, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 342 ff.
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² See L. B. Day, Bengal Peasant Life, Chapter VIII; Dubois, Hindu Manners and Customs, 3rd ed., pp. 135-36. Cf. Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra, Vol. III, p. 126.
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³ Cf. T. V. Mahalingam, Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagara, pp. 218-19. The Brahmanical family name Jośi (Sanskrit Jyotiṣin), found in various parts of India, seems to speak of royal recognition for the families of the astrologers in question. The family name Praharāja (Sanskrit Praharāja), found among Oriya Brāhmaṇas, was originally a title conferred on an astrologer by the king.
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⁴ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXII, pp. 159 ff. It is stated that the astronomers at the court of the Kalacuri king were following wrong methods of calculation, as a result of which their predictions relating to eclipses hardly came true. A good astronomer named Padmanābha discovered the mistakes in their methods, made the required bīja-saṃskāra and correctly calculated the exact time of a lunar eclipse. Padmanābha was rewarded by the king for his success.
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There is a tendency among a section of epigraphists to view the genuineness of an inscription bearing an irregular date with suspicion. But it seems to be a wrong approach to the problem since the irregularity in the dates may be due to factors absolutely unconnected with the question of the genuineness of the documents. Many cases of irregularity were no doubt due to mistakes in the calculation of incompetent astrologers and the erroneous method of calculation followed in the preparation of the almanacs.¹ Varying local traditions regarding the astrological character of particular days, *tithis* or moments may have also contributed to the difference referred to. Another cause of irregularity in the dates of royal documents seems to have been the fact that, in some cases at least, the court astrologer had reason to fabricate an auspicious moment when really there was none. This was hardly difficult for him to do since his royal master and most of the latter’s courtiers were blessedly ignorant of astronomy and had to depend entirely on the astrologer for the determination of an appropriate moment for a particular undertaking. Of course there may be other possible reasons for an irregularity creeping into the date of a royal charter.
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¹ The almanacs now published in different parts of India or even in the same part of the country do not exactly tally with one another owing principally to the difference in the method of calculation followed or in the approach to particular astronomical problems. If the details of a date do not tally with those quoted by modern astronomers (e.g. L. D. Swamikannu Pillai in his *Indian Ephimeris*), it may be irregular technically speaking, even though it was quite regular according to a particular almanac from which the details were quoted in the inscription.
Linked texts (2)
- Āryabhaṭīya — Āryabhaṭa, Sanskrit
- Aśoka