The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s9.16

c8.s9.16

Now the Bombay mode of reckoning, which is one year behind that prevalent in Madras, is, I believe, due to a mistake. We have seen it was more usual in recording a date to mark the years that had expired than the current year. A word expressive of that sense such as gateshu, “having elapsed,” was used after the number, and another such as pravartamâne, “being current,” was used in connection with the name of the cyclic year. These words were, for brevity’s sake, afterwards dropped; and in the course of time the sense, to express which they were used, was also forgotten, and the number came to be regarded as denoting the current year. So that what we do on this side of the country is that we use the past or expired year without knowing that it is the past year. And there are in the inscriptions instances of mistakes due to the circumstance that the real past year came to be regarded as the current year. Thus in No. 86 of the Pâli, Sanskrit, and old Kânarese inscriptions, S'aka 911 is given along with the cyclic year Vikṛiti. Now, according to the tables, the number of years that had expired before Vikṛiti was 912 and the current year was 913. This discrepancy is to be explained by the supposition that S'aka 912 which represented the years that had expired came to be thought of as the current year, just as we, on this side of the country, consider 1805 as the current year now, though it indicates the past year, and the writer of the inscription wishing to give the years that had expired before his current year, put them as 911. The same is the case with Nos. 27, 67, 115, 130, 224, and 284, the S'aka dates in which are 1444, 1084, 1430, 1453, 1114, and 1128, respectively, and are two years behind the current year as determined by the cyclic years given along with them. In some cases the S'aka dates are in advance of the Samvatsara or cyclic year by one year. Thus in the Vani-Diṇḍori grant of Govinda III. the S'aka date is 730 and the Samvatsara Vyaya, and in the Kânheri inscription of Amoghavarsha we have S'aka 775 and the Prajâpati Samvatsara. Now the S'aka years immediately preceding Vyaya and Prajâpati were 728 and 773, while the current years were 729 and 774 respectively. This difference might be accounted for on the supposition that the *current* years 729 and 774 were from the usual custom understood to be *past* years and the writers of the documents desirous of giving the *current* years added 1 and put them down as 730 and 775. The date in No. 79 of Pâli, Sanskrit, and old Kânarese inscriptions is three years behind the 'current *Samvatsara*, and that in No. 228, four years; No. 221 has 1113 for 1121; and No. 246, 1492 for 1485. These must be considered to be mistakes.