The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s1.8

v1.c8.s1.8

Nor is there any force in the argument that the Vākāṭakas must have started the Chedi era because it is supposed to have been used by their feudatories, the Magha rulers of Kauśāmbī. This assumption that the Maghas were using the Chedi era leads us in fact to impossible conclusions. Recent discoveries have shown that these kings were ruling over South Kośala also (Rewa State and Bundelkhand). The assumption that they were using the Chedi era leads to the conclusion that kings Vaiśravaṇa and Bhīmavarman were ruling at Kauśāmbī and in South Kośala from *c.* A.D. 355 to 377. Why then do they not figure in the Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta among the kings subdued or overthrown by that mighty conqueror? These kings issued a copious currency; the Guptas are not known to have permitted any feudatory to have his own independent coinage. They could not therefore have been their contemporaries. Therefore the era used by them cannot have been the Chedi era.