Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s3.52

c18.s3.52

³ For discussions about the origin of the so-called Vikrama era see *JRAS.*, 1913, pp. 637, 994 ff.; Kielhorn in *Ind. Ant.*. xx. (1891), 124 ff.; 397 ff.; *Bhand. Com. Vol.*, pp. 187 ff. *CHI.* pp. 168, 533, 571; *ZDMG.*, 1922, pp. 250 ff. *Ep. Ind.* xxiii. 48 ff.; xxvi. 119 ff.; Kielhorn (and now Altekar) adduce evidence which seems to show that the early use of the era, as may be inferred from records with dates that may be recognised to refer to this reckoning, was mainly confined to Southern and Eastern Rājputāna, Central India and the Upper Ganges Valley. The name of the era found in the earliest inscriptions recalls designations like that of king KṚITA o Penzer, *The Ocean of Story*, III, 19. Kṛitiya rulers are mentioned by Fleet, *JRAS.*, 1913, 998n. Kṛita may also have reference to the inauguration of a Golden Age after a period of toil and moil. From the fifth to the ninth century the reckoning was believed to be used