Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c14.2

c14.2

In modern times the Saka era is called the Sâlivâhana era or an era founded by Sâlivâhana When it began to be attributed to him it is difficult to determine precisely All the copper-plate grants up to the eleventh century speak of the era as Śakanṛipakâla, *i e*, the era of the Śaka king, or Śakakâla, *i e*, the era of the Śaka, and in an inscription at Bâdami it is stated to be the era beginning from "the coronation of the Śaka king" Subsequently, the simple expression "Śâke, in the year of the Śaka," was used, and thereafter Śâke or "in the Śaka" The word Śaka thus came to be understood as equivalent to "an era" generally, the original sense being forgotten And since the era had to be connected with some great king it was associated with the name of Sâlivâhana whom tradition had represented to be such a king, and thus we now use the expression Sâlivâhana Saka, which etymologically can have no sense and is made up of the names of two royal families. The current legend makes Sâlivâhana the son of a Brâhman girl who was a sojourner at Paithan and lived with her two brothers in the house of a potter. On one occasion she went to the Godâvarî to bathe, when Sesha, the king of serpents, becoming enamoured of her, transformed himself into a man and embraced her In due course she gave birth to Sâlivâhana, who was brought up in the house of the potter.¹ Some time after, king Vikramâditya of Ujjayinî, to whom a certain deity had revealed that he was destined to die at the hands of the son of a girl of two years, sent about his Vetâla or king of Ghosts to find out if there was such a child anywhere. The Vetâla saw Sâlivâhana playing with his girlish mother and informed Vikramâditya. Thereupon he invaded Paithan with a large army, but Sâlivâhana infused life into clay figures of horses, elephants, and men, by means of a charm communicated to him by his father, the king of serpents, encountered [38] Vikramâditya, and defeated him. This descent of a king of Ujjayin on Paithan I have already alluded to and endeavoured to explain. The Sâlivâhana referred to in this tradition appears to be Pulumâvi who in conjunction with his father freed the country from the Sakas and fought with Chashṭana or Jayadâman and Rudradâman whose capital appears to have been Ujjayinî. It was in consequence of some faint reminiscence of Pulumâvi Sâlivâhana's relations with the Śakas and their Satrap kings that his name was attached to the era first used by his adversaries