Indian Epigraphy c15.t14.9

c15.t14.9

The use of the expression *pravardhamāna-rājya-saṃvatsara*, with reference to the era by the Traikūṭakas⁵ who used it earlier than the other dynasties of West India,⁶ may suggest that it was started by them. But the earliest date of the era in the Traikūṭaka inscriptions is year 207 (455 A.D.), and very little of the earlier history of the family is known. It has been suggested that the Traikūṭakas were originally feudatories of the Ābhīras who probably became independent of the Śakas in the North Marāṭhā country about the middle of the 3rd century A.D., that the era started from the first regnal year of Ābhīra Īśvarasena mentioned in a Nasik inscription⁷ and that it was continued by the erstwhile subordinate families like the Traikūṭakas and early Kalacuris. The suggestion may not be impossible and, although there is really little proof in support of the conjecture, it seems that the era was started from the foundation of an independent kingdom carved out of the dominions of the Śakas in order to oust the use of the Śaka era from the said area.