Indian Epigraphy c15.t1.1

c15.t1.1

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