Indian Epigraphy c15.t9.4

c15.t9.4

It is prevalent in the Malayāḷam-speaking area (i.e. in the present Kerala State) and in the contiguous Tamil regions of Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari. The Malayalis call it Paraśurāma’s reckoning and imagine that the years of the era are counted in cycles of 1000, i.e. from year 1 to year 1000 and then again from year 1 without counting the hundreds. This is of course due to the people’s eagerness to assign a respectable antiquity to the era and to connect it with the Puranic hero Paraśurāma who is very popular in the tradition of the western coast land of India.