Indian Epigraphy c16.s1.4

c16.s1.4

In later epigraphs also, we have *saṃ*, *saṃva* (sometimes spelt *samva* or *samba*), *saṃvat* (often spelt *samvat* and rarely *sambat*) and *saṃvacha* or *saṃvaccha* for the word *saṃvatsara*.³ But in many medieval records the contraction is noticed in various corrupt forms such as *samata*, *samatta*, *samanta*, *saṃvatta*, *saṃvvat*, *saṃvata*, *saṃvatu*, *saṃvatū*, *samaṃthu*, *saṃvatuṃ*, *sammat*, *samat*, *samta*, *smat*, etc.⁴ In medieval Orissa, the word was generally written as *samasta*.⁵ When *saṃvat* came to be stereotyped in the sense of ‘an era’, it was occasionally used with case-endings, e.g., saṁvataḥ, saṁvatā, saṁvati and saṁvatām.¹ The word was sometimes regarded as saṁvata, and we have in rarely saṁvate in the seventh case-ending.² The word śrāhi or śrāhi is often found in the medieval inscriptions of Orissa and the Telugu-Kannaḍa area in the sense of saṁvat; but sometimes both the words are used together apparently through some sort of confusion. The word śrāhi seems to be derived from Sanskrit śaradi through Prakrit sarahi.³