Indian Epigraphy c15.t11.41

c15.t11.41

We may conclude therefore that the Lakṣmaṇa-saṃvat was originally counted from the date of the accession of king Lakṣmaṇasena of Bengal [and Bihar] about 1179 A.D., although its starting point was later suposed to be some date between 1108 and 1119 A.D. in North Bihar through confusion. This confusion appears to be associated with the fact that the era was initiated by the people of the Gaya region, but that it migrated, even in its infancy, to North Bihar with the migration of many people of South Bihar to the north as a result of the Muslim conquest of the former region at the close of the twelfth century. We know that in the late medieval period the people of North Bihar assigned the commencement of the era to different dates ranging between 1108 and 1119 A.D., although ultimately 1108 A.D. came to be generally regarded as the starting point. But the real circumstances leading to this confusion is difficult to determine. The commencement of the era, synchronizing with Lakṣmaṇasena’s accession in 1179 A.D., seems to have been later confused with the date of the said king’s birth, about which the people’s ideas were probably characterised by confusion owing to the absence of a unanimous tradition.