The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s1.10

v1.c8.s1.10

³ Pai has argued that a dynasty which starts an era need not necessarily use it, and refers to the Sātavāhanas who did not use the Śaka era begun by them (*JIH*, xiv, 26). The argument has no force, for it is certain that the Sātavāhanas did not begin the Śaka era. It was more than a thousand years after the collapse of the Sātavāhanas that popular fancy connected these rulers with the Śaka era. Jayaswal's argument that Pravarasena I must have started an era because he took the title emperor (*samrāṭ*) has not much evidential force; Maukhari, Cālukya, and Rāṣṭrakūṭa kings who took the title of Emperor, did not initiate any eras.