Indian Epigraphy c15.t6.54

c15.t6.54

We have seen that the Vikrama-saṃvat was earlier known as Kṛta. The word is sometimes taken to mean ‘made’, i.e. invented by astronomers. But the theory is improbable as the era, the years of which can be traced from its first century, was apparently the continuation of a regnal reckoning. According to another theory, Kṛta was the name of a king who founded the era.³ It has also been conjectured that Kṛta was the name of a *gaṇa-mukhya* of the Mālava tribe or that it indicates an era supposed to have been handed down from the Kṛta-yuga or the Golden Age. These are, however, guesses that it is impossible to substantiate with any evidence in the present state of our knowledge. Sometimes the word is taken to be actually *kṛta*,¹ ‘purchased’, pointing to the origin of the reckoning with the barbarian kings of North-Western India who, according to a Buddhist tradition recorded by Hiuen-tsang,² were known as ‘the Purchased’. But, though we have early instances of spelling the word as *kṛta* which may be a mistake for *krīta*, the suggestion does not satisfactorily explain the substitution of *kṛta* for *krīta* unless it is supposed that the word is an Indian modification of a foreign expression. This however is not improbable since Krīta as the name of a foreign people is mentioned in an early medieval inscription.³