Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c18.s3.84

c18.s3.84

² As to the statement of Fleet endorsed by S. Konow, *Corpus*, lxxxvii, that the use of the Śaka era was foreign to Northern India attention may be invited to Kielhorn's *List of Ins. of Northern India*, Nos. 351, 352, 362, 364-365, 368, 379, etc. So far as North-West India is concerned there is as little positive proof of the early use of the Vikrama era as of the era of 78 A.D. The paucity of early records dated in the Śaka era in the valley of the Upper Ganges and its tributaries is possibly due to the fact that the era of 58 B.C. already held the field. Later eras of undoubtedly northern origin, like those of the Guptas and Harsha, have practically been forgotten, but the era of 58 B.C. is still in use. In Southern India the case is different. The use of regnal years in the records of the Mauryas (many of which are located in the south) and those of the Sātavāhanas, Chetas, and other early dynasties, proves beyond doubt that there was no early reckoning in use that could compete with the new era that was introduced by the Saka satraps. The story of the foundation of the Chālukya Vikrama era suggests that the Śaka reckoning was at times deliberately sought to be discontinued because of its foreign association. This might have happened in the north as well as in the south.