History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.713

v6.c82.713

It has already been shown that in ancient Brāhmaṇa times the months ended with the Full Moon (i. e. were pūrṇimānta). When foreigners like Kaniṣka and Huviṣka ruled over Northern India they struck to the Pūrṇimānta Indian months in their records, though here and there they employ Macedonian month names. For example, the Greek month Gurppiya is used in Huviṣka's reign (28th year) in the Mathurā Brāhmī Inscription and the Greek month¹⁰⁴¹ Artemisios also occurs. In the Zeda Inscription the month must be held to be pūrṇimānta as the nakṣatra Uttarāphalgunī is there said to have occurred on the 20th day of Āṣāḍha.¹⁰⁴² The Tekkali plates of Devendravarman record a grant on the occasion of a lunar eclipse on the 30th day of Māgha.¹⁰⁴³ Similarly, in the Lodhia plates of Sivagupta Bālārjuna of Kośala (i. e. Chhattīsgarh region) published in E.I. vol. 27 p. 319 the date 'Sambatsare sapta pañcāśattame Kārtika-pornamāsyām ankena saṁvat 57, Kārtika-dina 30' (p. 325) shows that the month was pūrṇimānta. The Rājatarangiṇī¹⁰⁴⁴ says that king Harirāja came to the throne at the beginning of Āṣāḍha in the 4th year (of the Laukika era), who ruled only for twenty-two days and died on 8th of the bright half of Śuci (i. e. Āṣāḍha) and thereby shows that the month was pūrṇimānta in Kāshmīr then as now.