A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.33

c6.33

All the early inscriptions are dated in the regnal years of kings, and often there is no guide to absolute chronology except the palæography of the inscriptions; synchronisms are rare, but very decisive where they clearly occur. The first mention of the Śaka era by name is found in the Bādāmi rock inscription of Pulakeśin I, dated Śaka 465 (A.D. 543), recording the fortification of the hill of Vātāpi by that monarch; the existence of this record was brought to light only in 1941. Later inscriptions, whether they bear Śaka dates or not, often contain astronomical details which do not always work out satisfactorily; in some cases, there is no way of reconciling all the data given in the inscriptions, and our choice must depend on the probabilities and remain to some extent arbitrary. One inscription in the reign of the Chola Parāntaka I from South Arcot is dated by counting the number of days that had elapsed since the commencement of the Kaliyuga and the date arrived at supplies satisfactory verification of the other details recorded. In giving the regnal years of kings, the Pāṇḍyan inscriptions often mention one year opposite another; the exact significance of this has not been understood, and epigraphists are agreed in adding up the figures and treating the total as the year of the reign when the inscription was issued.