History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.655

v6.c82.655

Some inscriptions are also dated in the era of the Mālava-gana (Mālava tribe), as e g the Mandasor¹⁰⁰² Inscription of Naravarman. The Kṛta and Mālava era are held to be identical and the inscriptions so far discovered as dated in these two eras are found in eastern Rajasthan and Western Malva. It is further to be noted that, whereas we have inscriptions in 282 and 295 of the Kṛta year, no inscription of the Mālava era has yet been found that is dated so early. It is possible that Kṛta is the earlier name and when the Mālavas adopted the same era it came to be called 'Mālava-gaṇāmnāta' or 'Mālaya-gana-sthiti.' But it may be remarked that if Kṛta and Mālava both refer to what later became the Vikrama era, they were both being used concurrently for at least one hundred years, as we have the Kṛta era 480 and also the Mālava era year 461. The author does not think it possible that the word Kṛta was applied to the era because it was believed at its foundation that the Kṛta-yuga had started. It is possible that Kṛta has the same meaning as *siddha* (just as kṛtānta means siddhānta) and it indicates that it was established by agreement among certain people. The Vikrama era is specifically mentioned by name only from about 8th or 9th century A. D 1002a Besides, the Vikrama era has hardly ever been employed in Sanskrit astronomical works and it is generally desiganted *samvat* to distinguish it from the śaka era. The Yedarāve Inscription of Cālukya Vikramāditya VI shows that that king superseded the śaka era and started a Cālukya Vikrama era the first year of which was 1076-77 A. D. Vide Bombay Gazetteer vol 1 part 2 p 447 and 477 (and I. A. VII pp. 61-66 for reference to 400 śakakāla 1478 A. D.).