The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.110

c8.s11.110

The precise date of any of the Kadambas is not yet known. Their records contain no reference to the Saka or any other era, and are, with one exception, dated only in regnal years; and neither from them, nor from any other genuine early records, can any names or facts be obtained, tending to establish definite synchronisms with other kings whose dates are known.¹ The exception to the dating in regnal years, is in the grant of Kâkusthavarman, which is dated in the eightieth victorious year. The year purports, by strict translation, to be his own eightieth year. But it cannot be the eightieth year of his Yuvarâja-ship; and, even if such a style of dating were usual, it can hardly be even the eightieth year of his life. It must, therefore, be the eightieth year from the paṭṭabandha of his ancestor Mayûravarman, which is mentioned in the Tâlgund inscription.² This, however, helps us no more towards arriving at any definite date. As regards the more general question,—that all these records are of decidedly early date is proved, partly by the palæographic standard of them, partly by the mention of the twelve-year cycle of Jupiter in two of Mrigêśavarman’s grants, and partly by the references to the eighth fortnight of the rainy season in the grant of his third year, and to the sixth fortnight of the cold season in Bhânuvarman’s grant, which shew that, in the period of these records, the primitive division of the year into three seasons only,—not into six, as now,—was still followed.³ On the other hand, the reference to a Sâtakarṇi, or the Sâtakarṇis, in the Tâlgund inscription, may eventually be used to fix the earliest period to which the Kadambas may be referred. But here, again, it still remains to determine which of the Sâtakarṇis is meant, and to fix his date. At present, all that can be safely said, is, that the Kadambas are to be referred approximately to the sixth century A. D.