Indian Epigraphy c15.t20: 8. Cālukya-Vikrama Era

Indian Epigraphy c15.t20

Language: English

8. Cālukya-Vikrama Era

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³ Ojha, *Bhāratīya Prācīn Lipimālā*, pp. 181-82; 'The Cālukya-Vikrama Era' by P. B. Desai in *Quart. Journ. Myth. Soc.* (Karnataka Number), pp. 1-10 of reprint. See also *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXIV, pp. 193 ff.

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This era was introduced by king Vikramāditya VI (1076-1127 A.D.) of the Later Cālukya dynasty of Kalyāṇa, from the year of his accession with a view to outsting the use of the Śaka era from his dominions. It was continued by his successors and their subordinates and ultimately disappeared about a century after its start.

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Fleet believed that the first year of the reign of Vikramāditya VI, i.e. of the Cālukya-Vikrama era, began on Caitra-sudi 1 in the cyclic year Nala or Anala, corresponding to the 9th March 1076 A.D., while Kielhorn accepted this view and suggested that a year of this era could be converted to one of the Śaka era by adding 997 to the number.¹

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¹ Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part ii, p. 446; Ind. Ant., Vol. XXII, p. 109. Sewell equates the date with the 8th March 1076 A.D. (Hist. Ins. S. Ind., p. 85).

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But the inscriptions dated in the era variously equate the following four years with its first year: (1) Śaka 997 = Rākṣasa = 1075-76 A.D., (2) Śaka 998 = Nala (Anala) = 1076-77 A.D., (3) Śaka 999 = Piṅgala = 1077-78 A.D., and (4) Śaka 1000 = Kālayukti = 1078-79 A.D.² This fact shows that there was a good deal of confusion in the people's minds as regards the initial year of the era. It is also not certain that Vikramāditya VI was crowned on Caitra-sudi 1, i.e. on the first day of a Śaka and cyclic year. A. Venkatasubbiah suggests that the king's coronation took place either in Śaka 997 (1075-76 A.D.) or in Śaka 998 (1076-77 A.D.) and that the exact date of the event cannot be determined.³ He seems to be right. The confusion, referred to above, was apparently due to the fact that the authority of Vikramāditya VI was not recognised at the same time in all parts of the dominions of his brother and predecessor Someśvara II who is known to have ruled as late as the 1st September 1076 A.D.⁴ Thus we may add 1076 to a year of the Cālukya-Vikrama year in order to get its approximate Christian equivalent.

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² See Quart. Journ. Myth. Soc., loc. cit.

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³ Some Śaka Dates in Inscriptions, p. 91.

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⁴ See SII, Vol. XI, Part i, No. 117.

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P. B. Desai has drawn out attention to an inscription⁵ equating the first year of the Cālukya-Vikrama era with the cyclic year Piṅgala (Śaka 999=1077-78 A.D.) and referred the coronation of Vikramāditya VI to the 26th February 1077 A.D. on the supposition that the coronation took place on Caitra-sudi 1. The suggestion is not supported by any evidence worth the name. There is no reason to believe that the king was crowned exactly on the first day of the Śaka or cyclic year and that his first regnal year was universally regarded as corresponding exactly to a single Śaka or cyclic year.