History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.745

v4.c63.t2.745

It is difficult to believe that the Śakakāla referred to in that verse is different from the Śakendrakāla or Śakabhūpakāla, which the Pañcasiddhāntikā (I. 8) and the Bṛhat-saṁhitā (8. 20-21) make use of in several places. At least Varāhamihira gives no such indication. Mr. C. V. Vaidya in his ‘Mahābhārata, a criticism’ pp. 80-81 holds that the Śakakāla referred to in the verse ‘āsan maghāsu &c.’ is the era of Buddha’s Nirvāṇa. There is hardly any warrant for this assumption. His interpretation of ‘ṣaḍ-dvika-pañca-dviyutaḥ’ as meaning 2566 (and not 2526) is not bad and does not seriously affect the argument about the date of Yudhiṣṭhira. On that interpretation Yudhiṣṭhira would be placed in 2488 B. C. (instead of in 2448 B. C.). But there is no reason why the usual values of *ṣaṭ* (six), *dvika* (two) and other words should not be understood to be meant here.