Indian Epigraphy c15.t21: 9. Siṃha Era

Indian Epigraphy c15.t21

Language: English

9. Siṃha Era

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² Ojha, Bhāratīya Prācīn Lipimālā, pp. 182 ff.

This era is used in a few epigraphs found in Kathiawar. An inscription³ on the Soḍhḍi vāv (bāvdī, step-well) at Mangrol bears the date : Monday, Āśvina-badi 13, in Vikrama 1202 and Siṃha-saṃvat 32. A grant⁴ of Cālukya Bhīma II was issued on Thursday, Mārgaśira-sudi 14, in Vikrama 1266 and Siṃha-saṃvat 96, while the Veraval inscription of the time of Caulukya-Vāghelā Arjuna bears the date : Āṣāḍha-badi 13 in Siṃha-saṃvat 151, Vikrama (probably Kārttikādi) 1320, etc. These records suggest the difference between the Vikrama and the Siṃha-saṃvat to be 1170 years. Thus the equivalents

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³ Bhandarkar's List, Nos. 268 and 1461.

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⁴ Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 112.

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ponding to the 6th August 1077 A.D. The Wadageri inscription, dated in the Cālukya-Vikrama year 1, Phālguna-sudi 5, Thursday, records the performance of several Mahādānas in connection with the festivities related to the coronation of Vikramāditya VI (Prog. Rep. Kan. Res. Inst., 1953-57, pp. 50-52). To reconcile the evidence of this record with the theory assigning the king's coronation on the 26th February 1077 A.D., it has been supposed that Phālguna-sudi 5 of the year Nala 'must be in accordance with the Pūrṇimānta reckoning, which is equivalent to Caitra-sudi 5 of the next Amānta year Piṅgala, Śaka 999'. This seems to be due to misunderstanding since the bright half of a month is the same in both the Pūrṇimānta and the Amānta schemes. Although the date of the Wadageri inscription is irregular (Phālguna-sudi 5 corresponds to the 31st January 1077 A.D., which was a Tuesday), it shows that the coronation of Vikramāditya VI took place before the Phālguna-pūrṇimā of the year Nala, i.e. before the 10th February 1077 A.D. It is pushed back earlier than Pauṣa-badi 3 and Caitra-sudi 6 of that year respectively by the Mattikote and Kuruva inscriptions (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIV, p. 195).

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in the Christian era can be found by adding 1113-14 to the years of the Siṃha-saṃvat.

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Nothing is known about the founder of the era. Bhagwanlal Indraji suggested that the Siṃha-saṃvat may have been introduced by the Caulukya king Jayasiṃha Siddharāja to commorate the annexation of Southern Kathiawar to his dominions, the event probably taking place in 1113-14 A.D.¹ If this view is accepted, we have to think that the name Jayasiṃha was contracted to Siṃha in the naming of the era and that it was introduced for use only in Kathiawar since the era is not known to have been used elsewhere even in the epigraphs of the Caulukyas. The suggestions of some scholars attributing the dates of a few inscriptions discovered outside Kathiawar to this era have been shown to be untenable by Ojha who regarded those dates as years of the Vikrama era without the mention of hundreds.² The years of the era began on Amānta Āṣāḍha-sudi 1.

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¹ Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, Part i, p. 176.

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² Ojha, op. cit., p. 182, note 6.