History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.s4: Note C. The Harṣa era
History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.s4
- Language
- English
Note C. The Harṣa era
c11.s4.2
The findspots of the inscriptions supposed to be dated in the Harṣa era also do not militate against the view set forth above. These records may be classified as follows:
c11.s4.3
(a) Two inscriptions of Harṣa himself, Nos. 528 and 529.¹
c11.s4.4
¹ The numbers refer to Kielhorn’s list (*Ep. Ind.*, V, Appendix, pp. 73-75). We have omitted here the two Pratihāra inscriptions Nos. 542 and 544, which have been successfully demonstrated by Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar to be dated in the Vikrama era (*J. B. B. R. A. S.*, XXI, pp. 405f); also the eleven Nepalese inscriptions Nos. 530-534 and 536-541, which are dated in some local era, as discussed elsewhere. It is to be observed that Dr. Kielhorn also doubted this ascription, and he put a query mark against each of them (*Ep. Ind.*, V, Appendix, pp. 73-74). See also Dr. R. C. Majumdar, *J. B. O. R. S.*, 1923, pp. 322-23, on this point.
c11.s4.5
(b) An inscription of Ādityasena of Magadha, No. 535.
c11.s4.6
(c) Four miscellaneous inscriptions, Nos. 543, 545 to 547.
c11.s4.7
(d) Ahar stone inscription² and Pāṇḍava-kā-kilā fragmentary stone inscription.³ The two inscriptions of Harṣa come from Banskhera and Madhuban in the Shahjahanpur and Azamgarh districts of the present United Provinces respectively. The inscription of Ādityasena was discovered in Shahpur in the district of Patna. Those of the third category have been found in different localities. One comes from Nirmand in the Sutlej district; one from Khajuraho, not far from the borders of modern United Provinces; the third from Pehoa in the Karnal district; and the last from Panjaur in Thanesvar. Lastly, Ahar is in the Bulandshahr district, U. P., and Pāṇḍava-kā-kilā is in Delhi. Thus excluding the records of Harṣa there are only seven which are said to use the Harṣa era, although none of them refers to the era as such; and it is remarkable that all of them come from places that were within the limits of the Kanauj kingdom at this time. Hence even if it be held that an era could be employed in those territories only, which were once within the jurisdiction of its originator, the evidence of the findspots of these inscriptions is fully in accord with our conclusions.¹
c11.s4.8
² *Ep. Ind.*, XIX, pp. 52-62.
c11.s4.9
³ *Rajputana Museum Report*, 1924, p. 3.
c11.s4.10
¹ Alberuni, too, notes that the Harṣa era was used in his time in "Mathura and the country of Kanauj" (Sachau, Eng. Trans., II, p. 5).
Linked texts (1)
- Ahar stone inscription — Sanskrit