Indian Epigraphy c15.t7.40

c15.t7.40

There are conflicting traditions about the origin of the Śaka era. Works like the *Muhūrtamārtaṇḍa* suggest that it started from the birth of Śālivāhana⁴ while Jinaprabha-sūri’s *Kalpa-pradīpa* (c. 1300 A.D.) states that Śātavāhana (Śālivāhana) started it after having defeated king Vikramāditya of Ujjayinī and having established himself as the king of Pratiṣṭhāna.⁵ According to another tradition recorded by Al-Bīrūnī, Vikramāditya started the era after having defeated the Śaka king.⁶ Such traditions have of course no historical basis at all. The association of king Vikramāditya, originally of North Indian tradition, with the Vikrama-saṃvat led the people of the South to fabricate the relation of Śātavāhana or Śālivāhana, a similar hero of South Indian tradition and folklore, with the other early era popular in the South.