Indian Epigraphy c15.t14.2

c15.t14.2

The era was used by the Kalacuris, who ruled over the ancient Cedi country with their capital at Tripurī near Jabalpur, and was called the Kalacuri- or Cedi-saṃvat.³ These Kalacuris carried the use of the era to the Jabalpur region from their original home in the lower valley of the Narmadā. About the said region, the era was first used by the Traikūṭakas of the Northern Konkan area in the 5th century A.D., then by the early Kalacuris ruling over the Northern part of the Marāṭhī-speaking tract and Malwa in the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. as well as by the rulers of the Gurjara and some other dynasties ruling about the Gujarātī-speaking area from the 6th century onwards.⁴ There is no doubt that the era originated in the region around the Northern Konkan. It is impossible to believe that its use spread far away from the said area before the rise of the Later Kalacuris of the Jabalpur region. The attempt to trace the use of this era in early records such as the U.P. epigraphs like those of the Maghas¹ of Kausāmbi, M.P. inscriptions like those of the Mahārājas of Uccakalpa,² and Orissan records like the Patiakela and Soro plates³ of Śambhuyaśas is no doubt absolutely untenable. Its identification with the Kaniṣka era is no better than fantastic.⁴