History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.718

v6.c82.718

Though inscriptions before the Christian era rarely mentioned the names of months (such as Kārtika 14th in the Kharosthī Inscription of the Greek king Menander,¹⁰⁴⁵ 2nd century B. C.), the usual mode is to mention the ṛtu (season), then the number of the month (and not name) in the season and then divasa, e. g. vide the seven inscriptions from¹⁰⁴⁶ Mathurā and the Sārnāth Inscription of Mahārāja Kaniṣka.¹⁰⁴⁷ In some inscriptions only the *ṛtu* (season), the number of the pakṣa and the day occur; vide Nāgarjunikoṇḍa¹⁰⁴⁸ Ins. (3rd century A. D.), the Omgudu grant of Vijayaskandavarman (E. I. 15 p. 252 'Hemantapakṣe tṛtīye trayodaśyām'), the Nāga image Ins. of Kaniṣka's time (E. I. 17. p. 11) in sa. (Saṁvat) 8, grī. 4, di (divasa) 5. Vide also Luder's list No. 922 and No. 1202 (the latter of Mādharīputa Purisadata, saṁvachhare 20, Vāsāpakhaṁ 8, divasaṁ 10). Sometimes the month is mentioned but no pakṣa and the days are counted ocntinuously from 1 to 30, e. g. Khoh plates of Mahārāja Jayanātha (in year 177 and 22nd day of Caitra) and Khoh plate of Śarvanātha in year 193 month Caitra day 10th without the mention of the fortnight (vide Gupta Inscriptions pp 121 and 125), E. I. vol. 20 p. 59 at p. 63 (*saṁ* 159, apparently of the Gupta era, Māgha di. 7), E. I. 19 p. 96 (the Mathurā pedestal Ins. of Kushāṇa year 14 in Pauṣamāsa divasa 10), Gupta Ins. of Gupta year 129 in Jyeṣṭha-māsa di 18 (*Gupta Inscriptions* p 45 at p. 46). The non-mention of the pakṣa and the continuous counting of days from 1 to 30 continued even in the 9th century, *vide* Kota Inscription of Sāmanta Devadatta (I. A. 14. p 351) of *saṃvat* 879 (923 A. D) Māgha su. 20. It may by noted that here the month is pūrṇimānta In modern times people use such abbreviations as *su di* or *va di* or *vadya*. The first is abridged from *śukla dina* (or *divasa*) or *śuddha dina* and the latter from *bahula-dina* or *divasa* (*va* and *ba* being often interchangeable). For 'bahula', vide E. 1. vol. 16, p. 236 at p. 238 (inscription of Rudrasena in the year 127 held to be of the śaka era), Rudradāman's Junagadh inscription in the year 72 (150 A D.) of Mārgaśirṣa, bahula-pratipad (Luder's list No. 965 and E I. vol. VIII p 36 at p. 40), Udayagiri cave inscription in Gupta era 106 (425-26 A. D) 'bahuladine' (Gupta inscriptions p 258). For *śukla*, wide Gupta Inscriptions pp. 95, 102, 114 and for *śuddha*, vide the Nasik cave inscription in the year 42 of the reign of Uṣavadāta, son-in-law of Nahapāna, where we have 'Kātikasuďhe' (in E I VIII at p 82) and Pardi plates of Dahrasena in Kalacuri year 207 (i. e. 455-56 A D.) in C. I. I. vol IV pp 22, 24 (Vaiśākha-śuddha-trayodaśyāṃ), for *su di*, vide E. I 17 p 110 (of the Valabhi year 106, 525-26 A. D.). For '*ba di*' vide JBBRAS (New Series) vol. I. p. 66 'Bhādrapada ba 13' in Valabhi year 210 and E. I. 19 p. 126 plate of Dhruvasena in Valabhi year 210 Bhādrapada ba di 9). It may be noted that '*sudi*' and '*vadi*' are treated as indeclinables (*avyaya*) and included in the 'svarādigaṇa' ('svarādmipātamaavyayam' Pāṇ I. 1 37) by later grammatical writers. The Kāsikā, however, does not include these two in the 'svarādi-gaṇa' which is an *ākṛtigaṇa* and therefore liable to be added to. 'Vadya' is inexplicable except as an attempt to have some word with some assonance of sound parallel to śuddha and related to *va di* It is not clear why the word 'pakṣa' is not used in many inscriptions before and after the Christian era even though the word *pakṣa* occurs in such ancient works as the Brāhmaṇas¹⁰⁴⁹ and Upaniṣads. The Chāndogya-Upaniṣad (IV. 15 5 and V. 10. 1), the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad VI. 2 15-16 employ the words 'āpūryamāṇa-pakṣa' (also pūrvapakṣa' and 'aparapakṣa' in Bṛ Up.