The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c14.20.2

v1.c14.20.2

In an inscription of his successor, however, his sovereign power is recognised by the title of *Mahārājādhirāja*.³ The inscriptions of Aṁśuvarman are dated in years from 30 to 39 of the new era.⁴ Though there is unanimity amongst scholars about the age of Aṃśuvarman, the latter being identified with the Nepalese ruler who was dead shortly before the itinerary of Yuan Chwang in Northern India in about the middle of the 7th century A.D., yet there are considerable differences of opinion when it comes to determining the exact epoch of the era used in his inscriptions.¹ In his ‘Considerations on the History of Nepal,’ Bhagwanlal Indraji definitely rejected the possibility of Aṃśuvarman founding a new era, and offered plausible arguments for the belief that the era used was the Harṣa era. This view was accepted by Fleet in his critical examination of the ‘Chronology of the Early Rulers of Nepal.’ But the strength of their arguments were much weakened when Prof. Lévi showed that the passage of the *Harṣacarita* which had so long been accepted as an allusion to the conquest of Nepal by Harṣa is capable of another interpretation.² A more serious objection to the acceptance of the view of Bhagwanlal is probably the fact that it seems to involve a contradiction of the statement of Yuan Chwang that Aṃśuvarman was dead when he visited Northern India (606-07+45=651-52 A.D.).