the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Hindu Chronology
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or The subject of Hindu chronology divides naturally into three parts: the calendar, the eras, and other reckonings.
I. THE Calendar The Hindus have had from very ancient times the system of lunisolar cycles, made by the combination of solar years, regulated by the course of the sun, and lunar years, regulated by the course of the moon, but treated in such a manner as to keep the beginning of the lunar year near the beginning of the solar year. The exact manner in which they arranged the details of their earliest calendar is still a subject of research. We deal here with their calendar as it now stands, in a form which was developed from about A.D. 400 under the influence of the Greek astronomy which had been introduced into India at no very long time previously.
The Hindu calendar, then, is determined by years of two kinds, solar and lunar. For civil purposes, solar years are used in Bengal, including Orissa, and in the Tamil and Malayalam districts of Madras, and lunar years throughout the rest of India. But the lunar year regulates everywhere the general religious rites and festivals, and the details of private and domestic life, such as the selection of auspicious occasions for marriages and for starting on journeys, the choice of lucky moments for shaving, and so on. Consequently, the details of the lunar year are shown even in the almanacs which follow the solar year. On the other hand, certain details of the solar year, such as the course of the sun through the signs and other divisions of the zodiac, are shown in the almanacs which follow the lunar year. We will treat the solar year first, because it governs the lunisolar system, and the explanation of it will greatly simplify the process of explaining the lunar calendar.
The civil solar year is determined by the astronomical solar year. The latter professes to begin at the vernal equinox, but the actual position is as follows. In our Western astronomy the signs of the zodiac have, in consequence of the precession of the equinoxes, drawn away to year, a large extent from the constellations from which they derived their names; with the result that the sun now comes to the vernal equinox, at the first point of the sign Aries, not in the constellation Aries, but at a point in Pisces, about 28 degrees before the beginning of Aries. The Hindus, however, have disregarded precession in connexion with their calendar from the time (A.D. 499, 522, or 527, according to different schools) when, by their system, the signs coincided with the constellations; and their sign Aries, called Mesha by them, is still their constellation Aries, beginning, according to them, at or near the star Piscium. Their astronomical solar year is, in fact, not the tropical year, in the course of which the sun really passes from one vernal equinox to the next, but a sidereal year, the period during which the earth makes one revolution in its orbit round the sun with reference to the first point of Mesha; its beginning is the moment of the Mesha-samkranti, the entrance of the sun into the sidereal sign Mesha, instead of the tropical sign Aries; and it begins, not with the true equinox, but with an artificial or nominal equinox.
The length of this sidereal solar year was determined in the following manner. The astronomer selected what the Greeks termed an exeligmos, the Romans an annus magnus or mundanus, a period in the course of which a given order of things is completed by the sun, moon, and planets returning to a state of conjunction from which they have started. The usual Hindu exeligmos has been the Great Age of 4,3 20,000 sidereal solar years, the aggregate of the Krita or golden age, the Treta or silver age, the Dvapara or brazen age, and the Kali or iron age, in which we now are; but it has sometimes been the Kalpa or aeon, consisting according to one view of 1000, according to another view of io08, Great Ages. He then laid down the number of revolutions, in the period of his exeligmos, of the nakshatras, certain stars and groups of stars which will be noticed more definitely in our account of the lunar year; that is, the number of rotations of the earth on its axis, or, in other words, the number of sidereal days. A deduction of the number of the years from the number of the sidereal days gave, as remainder, the number of civil days in the exeligmos. And, this remainder being divided by the number of the years, the quotient gave the length of the sidereal solar year: refinements, suggested by experience, inference, or extraneous information, were made by increasing or decreasing the number of sidereal days assigned to the exeligmos. The Hindus now recognize three standard sidereal solar years determined in that manner. (1) A year of 365 days 6 hrs. 12 min. 30 sec. according to the Aryabhatiya, otherwise called the First Arya-Siddhanta, which was written by the astronomer Aryabhata (b. A.D. 476): this year is used in the Tamil and Malayalam districts, and, we may add, in Ceylon. (2) A year of 365 days 6 hrs. 12 min. 30.915 sec. according to the Rajamriga ka, a treatise based on the BrdhmaSiddhanta of Brahmagupta (b. A.D. S98) and attributed to king Bhoja, of which the epoch, the point of time used in it for calculations, falls in A.D. 1042: this year is used in parts of Gujarat (Bombay) and in Rajputana and other western parts of Northern India. (3) A year of 365 days 6 hrs. 12 min. 36.56 sec. according to the present Surya-Siddhanta, a work of unknown authorship which dates from probably about A.D. 1000: this year is used in almost all the other parts of India. It may be remarked that, according to modern science, the true mean sidereal solar year measures 365 days 6 hrs. 9 min. 9.6 sec., and the mean tropical year measures 365 days 5 hrs. 48 min. 46
054440 sec.
The result of the use of this sidereal solar year is that the beginning of the Hindu astronomical solar year, and with it the civil solar year and the lunar year and the nominal incidence .of the seasons, has always been, and still is, travelling slowly forward in our calendar year by an amount which varies accord ing to the particular authority. 1 For instance, Aryabhata's year exceeds the Julian year by 12 min. 30 sec. This amounts to exactly one day in i i 5j years, and five days in 576 years. Thus, if we take the longer period and confine ourselves to a time when the Julian calendar (old style) was in use, according to Aryabhata the Mesha-samkranti began to occur in A.D. 603 on 10th March, and in A.D. 1179 on 25th March. The intermediate advances arrange themselves into four steps of one day each in 116 years, followed by one step of one day in 112 years: thus, the Mesha-samkranti began to occur on 21st March in A.D. 719, on 22nd March in A.D. 835, on 23rd March in A.D. 951, and on 24th March in A.D. 1067 (whence 112 years take us to 25th March in A.D. 1179). It is now occurring sometimes on 11th April, sometimes on the 12th; having first come to the 12th in A.D. 1871.
The civil solar year exists in more varieties than one. The principal variety, conveniently called the Meshadi year, i.e. " the year beginning at the Mesha-samkranti," is the only one that we need notice at this point. The ?hi? beginning of it is determined directly by the astronomical solar year; and for religious purposes it begins, with that year, at the moment of the Mesha-samkranti. Its first civil day, however, may be either the day on which the samkranti occurs, or the next day, or even the day after that: this is determined partly by the time of day or night at which the samkranti occurs, which, moreover, of course varies in accordance with the locality as well as the particular authority that is followed; partly by differing details of practice in different parts of the country. In these circumstances an exact equivalent of the Meshadi civil solar year cannot be stated; but it may be taken as now beginning on or closely about the 12th of April.
The solar year is divided into twelve months, in accordance with the successive samkrantis or entrances of the sun into the (sidereal) signs of the zodiac, which, as with us, are twelve in number. The names of the signs in Sanskrit are as follows: Mesha, the ram (Aries); Vrishabha, the bull (Taurus); Mithuna, the pair, the twins (Gemini); Karka, Karkata, Karkataka, the crab (Cancer); Sithha, the lion (Leo); Kanya, the maiden (Virgo); Tula, the scales (Libra); Vrischika, the scorpion (Scorpio); Dhanus, the bow (Sagittarius); Makara, the seamonster (Capricornus); Kumbha, the water-pot (Aquarius); and Mina, the fishes (Pisces). The solar months are known in some parts by the names of the signs or by corrupted forms of them; and these are the best names for them for general use, because they lead to no confusion. But they have elsewhere another set of names, preserving the connexion of them with the lunar months: the Sanskrit forms of these names are Chaitra, Vaisakha, Jyaishtha, Ashadha, S. ravana, Bhadrapada, Asvina or A§vayuja, Karttika, Margasira or Margasirsha (also known as Agrahayana), Pausha, Magha, and Phalguna: in some localities these names are used in corrupted forms, and in others vernacular names are substituted for some of them; and, while in some parts the name Chaitra is attached to the month Mesha, in other parts it is attached to the month Mina, and so on throughout the series in each case. The astronomical solar month runs from the moment of one samkranti of the sun to the moment of the next samkranti; and, as the signs of the Hindu zodiac are all of equal length, 30 degrees, as with us, while the speed of the sun (the motion of the earth in its orbit round the sun) varies according to the time of the year, the length of the month is variable: the shortest month is Dhanus; the I The disregard of precession, and the consequent travelling forward of the year through the natural seasons, is, of course, a serious defect in the Hindu calendar, the principles of which are otherwise good. Accordingly, an attempt was made by a small band of reformers to rectify this state of things by introducing a precessional calendar, taking as the first lunar month the synodic lunation in which the sun enters the tropical Aries, instead' of the sidereal Mesha; and the publication was started, in or about 1886, of the Sayana-Panchang or " Precessional Almanac." Further, the Hindu sidereal solar year is in excess of the true mean sidereal year by (if we use Aryabhata's value) 3 min. 20.4 sec. If we take this, for convenience, at 3 min. 20 sec., the excess amounts to exactly one day in 432 years. And so even the sidereal Mesha-samkranti is now found to occur three or four days later than the day on which it should occur. Accordingly, another reformer had begun, in or about 1865, to publish the Navin athava Patwardhani Panchang, the " New or Patwardhani Almanac," in which he determined the details of the year according to the proper Mesha-sarkranti.
longest is Mithuna. The civil solar month begins with its first civil day, which is determined, in different localities, in the same manner with the first civil day of the Meshadi year, as indicated above. The civil month is of variable length; partly for that reason, partly because of the variation in the length of the astronomical month. No exact equivalents of the civil months, therefore, can be stated; but, speaking approximately, we may say that, while the i'nonth Mesha now begins on or closely about 12th April, the beginning of a subsequent month may come as late as the 16th day of the English month in which it falls.
The solar year is also divided into six seasons, the Sanskrit names of which are Vasanta, spring;. Grishma, the hot weather; Varsha, the rainy season; Sarad, autumn; Hemanta, the cold weather; and Sisira, the dewy season. Vasanta begins at the Mina-samkranti; the other seasons begin at each successive second samkranti from that. Originally, this scheme was laid out with reference to the true course of the sun, and the startingpoint of it was the real winter solstice, with Si§ira, as the first season, beginning then: now, owing partly to the disregard of precession, partly to our introduction of New Style, each season comes about three weeks too late; Vasanta begins on or about 12th March, instead of 19th or 20th February, and so on with the rest. It may be added that in early times the year was also divided into three or four, and even into five or seven, seasons; and there appears to have been also a practice of reckoning the seasons according to the lunar months, which, however, would only give a very varying arrangement, in addition to neglecting the point that the seasons are naturally determined by the course of the sun, not of the moon. But there is now recognized only the division into six seasons, determined as stated above.
The solar year is also divided into two parts called Uttarayana, the period during which the sun is moving to the north, and Dakshinayana, the period during which it is moving to the south. The sol- The Uttarayana begins at the nominal winter solstice, s The s as marked by the Makara-samkranti; and the day on which this solstice occurs, usually 12th January at divisions of the present, is still a special occasion of festivity and re. joicing; the Dakshinayana begins at the nominal summer year solstice, as marked by the Karka-samkranti. It may be added here that, while the Hindus disregard precession in the actual computation of their years and the regulation of their calendar, they pay attention to it in certain other respects, and notably as regards the solstices: the precessional solstices are looked upon as auspicious occasions, as well as the non-precessional solstices, and are customarily shown in the almanacs; and some of the almanacs show also the other precessional samkrantis of the sun.
The civil days of the solar month begin at sunrise. They are numbered I, 2, 3, &c., in unbroken succession to the end of the civil month. And, the length of the month being variable The for the reasons stated above, the number of the civil day' days may range from twenty-nine to thirty-two.
The civil days are named after the weekdays, of which the usual appellations (there are various synonyms in each case, and some The week- of the names are used in corrupted forms) are in Sanskrit day. Adityavara or Ravivara, the day of the sun, sometimes called Adivara, the beginning-day (Sunday); Somavara, the day of the moon (Monday); Mangalavara, the day of Mars (Tuesday); Budhavara, the day of Mercury (Wednesday); Brihaspativara or Guruvara, the day of Jupiter (Thursday); Sukravara, the day of Venus (Friday); and Sanivara, the day of Saturn (Saturday). It may be mentioned, as a matter of archaeological interest, that, while some of the astronomical books perhaps postulate an earlier knowledge of the " lords of the days," and other writings indicate a still earlier use of the period of seven days, the first proved instance of the use of the name of a weekday is of the year A.D. 484, and is furnished by an inscription in the Saugor district, Central India.
The divisions of the civil day, as far as we need note them, are 60 vipalas =1 pala = 24 seconds; 60 palas =ighatika = 24 minutes; Divisions 60 ghatikas = 24 hours =1 day. There is also the muhurta =2 ghatikas = 48 minutes: this is the nearest approach of the to the " hour." The comparative value of these measures day. of time may perhaps be best illustrated thus: 21 muhurtas =2 hours; 21 ghatikas = I hour; 21- palas = I minute; 21 vipalas = 1 second.
As their civil day begins at sunrise, the Hindus naturally count all their times, in ghatikas and palas, from that moment. But Civil the moment is a varying one, though not in India to me. anything like the extent to which it is so in European latitudes; and under the British Government the Hindus have recognized the advantage, and in fact the necessity, especially in connexion with their lunar calendar, of having a convenient means of referring their own times to the time which prevails officially. Consequently, some of the almanacs have adopted the European practice of showing the time of sunrise, in hours and minutes, from midnight; and some of them add the time of sunset from noon.
The lunar year consists primarily of twelve lunations or lunar months, of which the present Sanskrit names, generally used in more or less corrupted forms, are Chaitra, Vaisakha, &c., to Phalguna, as given above in connexion with the solar months. It is of two principal varieties, according as it begins with a certain day in the month Chaitra, or The lunar year. with the corresponding day in Karttika: the former variety is conveniently known as the Chaitradi year; the latter as the Karttikadi year. For religious purposes the lunar year begins with its first lunar day: for civil purposes it begins with its first civil day, the relation of which to the lunar day will be explained below. Owing to the manner in which, as we shall explain, the beginning of the lunar year is always shifting backwards and forwards, it is not practicable to lay down any close equivalents for comparison: but an indication may be given as follows. The first civil day of the Chaitradi year is the day after the new-moon conjunction which occurs next after the entrance of the sun into Mina, and it now falls from about 13th March to about 11th April: the first civil day of the Karttikadi year is the first day after the new-moon conjunction which occurs next after the entrance of the sun into Tula., and it now falls from about 17th October to about 15th November.
The present names of the lunar months, indicated above, were derived from the nakshatras, which are certain conspicuous stars and groups of stars lying more or less along the neigh- The lunar bourhood of the ecliptic. The nakshatras are regarded month. sometimes as twenty-seven in number, sometimes as twenty-eight, and are grouped in twelve sets of two or three each, beginning, according to the earlier arrangement of the list, with the pair Krittika and Rohini, and including in the sixth place Chitra and Svati, and ending with the triplet Revati, Asvini and Bharani. They are sometimes styled lunar mansions, and are sometimes spoken of as the signs of the lunar zodiac; and it is, no doubt, chiefly in connexion with the moon that they are now taken into consideration. But they mark divisions of the ecliptic: according to one system, twenty-seven divisions, each of 13 degrees 20 minutes; according to two other systems, twenty-seven or twenty-eight unequal divisions, which we need not explain here. The almanacs show the course of the sun through them, as well as the course of the moon; and the course of the sun was marked by them only, before the time when the Hindus began to use the twelve signs of the solar zodiac. So there is nothing exclusively lunar about them. The present names of the lunar months were derived from the nakshatras in the following manner: the full-moon which occurred when the moon was in conjunction with Chitra (the star a Virginis) was named Chaitri, and the lunar month, which contained the Chaitri full-moon, was named Chaitra; and so on with the others. The present names have superseded another set of names which were at one time in use concurrently with them; these other names are Madhu (= Chaitra), Madhava, Sukra, Suchi, Nabhas, Nabhasya, Isha, Urja (= Karttika), Sahas, Sahasya, Tapas, and Tapasya (= Phalguna): they seem to have marked originally solar seasonmonths of the solar year, rather than lunar months of the lunar year.
A lunar month may be regarded as ending either with the newmoon, which is called amavasya, or with the full-moon, which is called purnamasi, purnima: a month of the former kind is termed amanta, " ending with the new-moon," or sukladi, " beginning with the bright fortnight;" a month of the latter kind is termed purnimanta, " ending with the full-moon," or krishnadi, " beginning with the dark fortnight." For all purposes of the calendar, the amanta month is used in Southern India, and the purnimanta month in Northern India. But only the amanta month, the period of the synodic revolution of the moon, is recognized in Hindu astronomy, and for the purpose of naming the lunations and adjusting the lunar to the solar year by the intercalation and suppression of lunar months; and the rule is that the lunar Chaitra is the amanta or synodic month at the first moment of which the sun is in the sign Mina, and in the course of which the sun enters Mesha: the other months follow in the same way; and the lunar Karttika is the amanta month at the first moment of which the sun is in Tula, and in the course of which the sun enters Vrischika. The connexion between the lunar and the solar months is maintained by the point that the name Chaitra is applied according to one practice to the solar Mina, in which the lunar Chaitra begins, and according to another practice to the solar Mesha, in which the lunar Chaitra ends. Like the lunar year, the lunar month begins for religious purposes with its first lunar day, and for civil purposes with its first civil day.
One mean lunar year of twelve lunations measures very nearly 354 days 8 hrs. 48 min. 34 sec.; and one Hindu solar year measures 365 days 6 hrs. 12 min. 30 sec. according to Aryabhata, or slightly more according to the other two authorities. Consequently, the beginning of a lunar year pure and simple would be always travelling backwards through the solar year, by about eleven days on The seasons. each occasion, and would in course of time recede entirely through the solar year, as it does in the Mahommedan calendar. The Hindus prevent that in the following manner. The length of the Hindu astronomical solar month, measured by the samkrantis of the sun, its successive entrances into the signs of the zodiac, ranges, in accordance with periodical lion of variations in the speed of the sun, from about 29 days 7 hrs. 38 min. up to about 31 days 15 hrs. 28 min. The ths. length of the amanta or synodic lunar month ranges, in accordance with periodical variations in the speed of the moon and the sun, from about 29 days 19 hrs. 30 min. down to about 29 days 7 hrs. 20 min. Consequently, it happens from time to time that there are two new-moon conjunctions, so that two lunations begin, in one astronomical solar month, between two samkrantis of the sun, while the sun is in one and the same sign of the zodiac, and there is no sarhkranti in the lunation ending with the second new-moon: when this is the case, there are two lunations to which the same name is applicable, and so there is an additional or intercalated month, in the sense that a name is repeated: thus, when two new-moons occur while the sun is in Mesha, the lunation ending with the first of them, during which the sun has entered Mesha, is Chaitra; the next lunation, in which there is no samkranti, is Vaisakha, because it begins when the sun is in Mesha; and the next lunation after that is again Vaisakha, for the same reason, and also because the sun enters Vrishabha in the course of it: in these circumstances, the first of the two Vaisakhas is called AdhikaVaisakha, " the additional or intercalated Vaisakha," and the second is called simply Vaisakha, or sometimes Nija-Vaisakha, " the natural Vaisakha." On the other hand, it occasionally happens, in an autumn or winter month, that there are two samkrantis of the sun in one and the same amanta or synodic lunar month, between two new-moon conjunctions, so that no lunation begins between the two samkrantis: when this is the case, there is one lunation to which two names are applicable, and there is a suppressed month, in the sense that a name is omitted: thus, if the sun enters both Dhanus and Makara during one synodic lunation, that lunation is Margasira, because the sun was in Vrischika at the first moment of it and enters Dhanus in the course of it; 1 the next lunation is Magha, because the sun is in Makara by the time when it begins and will enter Kumbha in the course of it; and the name Pausha, between Margasira and Magha, is omitted. When a month is thus suppressed, there is always one intercalated month, and sometimes two, in the same Chaitradi lunar year, so that the lunar year never contains less than twelve months, and from time to time consists of thirteen months. There are normally seven intercalated months, rising to eight when a month is suppressed, in 19 solar years, which equal very nearly 235 lunations; 2 and there is never less than one year without an intercalated month between two years with intercalated months, except when there is only one such month in a year in which a month is suppressed; then there is always an intercalated month in the next year also. The suppression of a month takes place at intervals of 19 years and upwards, regarding which no definite statement can conveniently be made here. It may be added that an intercalated Chaitra or Karttika takes the place of the ordinary month as the first month of the year; an intercalated month is not rejected for that purpose, though it is tabooed from the religious and auspicious points of view.
The manner in which this arrangement of intercalated and suppressed months works out, so as to prevent the beginning of the Chaitradi lunar year departing far from the beginning of the Meshadi It might also be called Pausha, because the sun enters Makara in the course of it; and it may be observed that, in accordance with a second rule which formerly existed, it would have been named Pausha because it ends while the sun is in Makara, and the omitted name would have been Margasira. But the more important condition of the present rule, that Pausha begins while the sun is in Dhanus, is not satisfied.
The well-known Metonic cycle, whence we have by rearrangement our system of Golden Numbers, naturally suggests itself; and we have been told sometimes that that cycle was adopted by the Hindus, and elsewhere that the intercalation of a month by them generally takes place in the years 3, 5, 8, II, 24, 16, and 19 of each cycle, differing only in respect of the 24th year, instead of the 13th, from the arrangement which is said to have been fixed by Meton. As regards the first point, however, there is no evidence that a special period of 19 years was ever actually used by the Hindus during the period with which we are dealing, beyond the extent to which it figures as a component of the number of years, 19 X 150 = 2850, forming the lunisolar cycle of an early work entitled RomakaSiddhanta; and, as was recognized by Kalippos not long after the time of Meton himself, the Metonic cycle has not, for any length of time, the closeness of results which has been sometimes supposed to attach to it; it requires to be readjusted periodically. As regards the second point, the precise years of the intercalated months depend upon, and vary with, the year that we may select as the apparent first year of a set of 29 years, and it is not easy to arrange the Hindu years in sets answering to a direct continuation of the Metonic cycle.
solar year, may be illustrated as follows. In A.D. 1815 the Meshasarhkranti occurred on nth April; and the first civil day of the Chaitradi year was 10th April. In A.D. 1816 and 1817 the first civil day of the Chaitradi year fell back to 29th March and 18th March. In A.D. 1817, however, there was an intercalated month, ? ravana; with the result that in A.D. 1818 the first civil day of the Chaitradi year advanced to 6th April. And, after various shiftings of the same kind - including in A.D. 2822 an intercalation of Asvina and a suppression of Pausha, followed in A.D. 1823, when the first civil day of the Chaitradi year had fallen back to 13th March, by an intercalation of Chaitra itself - in A.D. 1834, when the Meshasamkranti occurred again on 11th April, the first civil day of the Chaitradi year was again Loth April.
The lunar month is divided into two fortnights (paksha ), called bright and dark, or, in Indian terms, Bukla or Buddha, Budi, sudi, and krishna or bahula, badi, vadi: the bright fortnight, ' The lunar ' Bukla-paksha, is the period of the waxing moon, ending fort- at the full-moon; the dark fortnight, krishna-paksha, is the period of the waning moon, ending at the new moon. In the amanta or Bukladi month, the bright fortnight precedes the dark; in the purnimanta or krishnadi month, the dark fortnight comes first; and the result is that, whereas, for instance, the bright fortnight of Chaitra is the same period of time throughout India, the preceding dark fortnight is known in Northern India as the dark fortnight of Chaitra, but in Southern India as the dark fortnight of Phalguna. This, however, does not affect the period covered by the lunar year; the Chaitradi and Karttikadi years begin everywhere with the bright fortnight of Chaitra and Karttika respectively; simply, by the amanta system the dark fortnights of Chaitra and Karttika are the second fortnights, and by the purnimanta system they are the last fortnights, of the years. Like the month, the fortnight begins for religious purposes with its first lunar day, and for civil purposes with its first civil day.
The lunar fortnights are divided each into fifteen tithis or lunar days. 3 The tithi is the time in which the moon increases her distance from the sun round the circle by twelve degrees; and the T almanacs show each tithi by its ending-time; that is, d ay. by the moment, expressed,,,in ghalikas and galas, after sunrise, at which the moon completes that distance. In accordance with that, the tithi is usually used and cited with the weekday on which it ends; but there are special rules regarding certain rites, festivals, &c., which sometimes require the tithi to be used and cited with the weekday on which it begins or is current at a particular time. The first tithi of each fortnight begins immediately after the moment of new-moon and full-moon respectively; the last tithi ends at the moment of full-moon and new-moon. The tithis are primarily denoted by the numbers I, 2, 3, &c., for each fortnight; but, while the full-moon tithi is always numbered 15, the new-moon tithi is generally numbered 30, even where the purnimanta month is used. The tithis may be cited either by their figures or by the Sanskrit ordinal words prathama, " first," dvitiya, " second," &c., or corruptions of them. But usually the first tithi of either fortnight is cited by the term pratipad, pratipada, and the new-moon and fullmoon tithis are cited by the terms amavasya and purnima; or here, again, corruptions of the Sanskrit terms are used. And special names are sometimes prefixed to the numbers of the tithis, according to the rites, festivals, &c., prescribed for them, or events or merits assigned to them: for instance, Vaisakha sukla 3 is Akshaya or Akshayya-tritiya, the third tithi which ensures permanence to acts performed on it; Bhadrapadasukla 4 is Ganesa-chaturthi, the fourth tithi dedicated to the worship of the god Ganesa, Ganapati, and the amanta Bhadrapada or purnimanta Asvina krishna 13 is Kaliyugadi-trayodasi, as being regarded (for some reason which is not apparent) as the anniversary of the beginning of the Kaliyuga, the present Age. The first tithi of the year is styled Samvatsara-pratipada, which term answers closely to our " New Year's Day." The civil days of the lunar month begin, like those of the solar month, at sunrise, and bear in the same way the names of the weekdays. But they are numbered in a different manner; v il fortnight by fortnight and according to the tithis. The da . general rule is that the civil day takes the number of the y tithi which is current at its sunrise. And the results are as follows. As the motions of the sun and the moon vary periodically, a tithi is of variable length, ranging, according to the Hindu calculations, from 21 hrs. 34 min. 24 sec. to 26 hrs. 6 min. 24 sec.: it may, therefore, be either shorter or longer than a civil day, the duration of which is practically 24 hours (one minute, roughly, more or less, according to the time of the year). A tithi may end at any moment during the civil day; and ordinarily it ends on the civil day after that on which it begins, and covers only one sunrise and gives its number to the day on which it ends. It may, however, begin on 3 It is customary to render the term tithi by " lunar day:" it is, in fact, explained as such in Sanskrit works; and, as the tithis do mark the age of the moon by periods approximating to 24 hours, they are, in a sense, lunar days. But the tithi must not be confused with the lunar day of western astronomy, which is the interval, with a mean duration of about 24 hrs. 54 min., between two successive meridian passages of the moon.
one civ:l day and end on the next but one, and so cover two sunrises; and it is then treated as a repeated tithi, in the sense that its cumoer is repeated: for instance, if the seventh tithi so begins and ends, the civil day on which it begins is numbered 6, from the tithi which is current at the sunrise of that day and ends on it; the day covered entirely by the seventh tithi is numbered 7, because that tithi is current at its sunrise; the next day, at the sunrise of which the seventh tithi is still current and during which it ends, is again numbered 7; and the number 8 falls to the next day after that, when the eighth tithi is current at sunrise.' On the other hand, a tithi may begin and end during one and the same civil day, so as not to touch a sunrise at all: in this case, it exists for any practical purposes for which it may be wanted (it is, however, to be avoided if possible, as being an unlucky occasion), but it is suppressed or expunged for the numbering of the civil day, in the sense that its number is omitted; for instance, if the seventh tithi begins and ends during one civil day, that day is numbered 6 from, as before, the tithi which is current at its sunrise and ends when the seventh tithi begins; the next day is numbered 8, because the eighth tithi is current at its sunrise; and there is, in this case, no civil day bearing the number seven. In consequence of this method of numbering, it sometimes happens, as the result of the suppression of a tithi, that the day of a full-moon is numbered 14 instead of 15; that the day of a new-moon is numbered 14 instead of 30; and that the first day of a fortnight, and even the first day of a lunar year, is numbered 2 instead of r.
There are, on an average, thirteen suppressed tithis and seven repeated tithis in twelve lunar months; and so the lunar year averages 354 days, rising to about 384 when a month is intercalated. It occasionally happens that there are two suppressions of tithis in one and the same fortnight; and the almanacs show such a case in the bright fortnight of Jyaishfha, A.D. 1878: but this occurs only after very long intervals.
The tithi is divided into two karanas; each karana being the time in which the moon increases her distance from the sun by six The degrees. But this is a detail of astrological rather than chronological interest. So, also, are two other details to which a prominent place is given in the lunar calendars; to yoga, or time in which the joint motion in longitude, the sum of the motions of the sun and the moon, is increased by 13 degrees 20 minutes; and the nakshatra, the position of the moon as referred to the ecliptic by means of the stars and groups of stars which have been mentioned above under the lunar month.
In the Indian calendar everything depends upon exact times, which differ, of course, on every different meridian; and (to cite what is perhaps the most frequent and generally important occurrence) suppression and repetition may affect one tithi and civil day in one locality, and another tithi and civil day in another locality not very far distant. Consequently, neither for the lunar nor for the solar calendar is there any almanac which is applicable to even the whole area in which any particular length of the astronomical solar year prevails; much less, for the whole of India. Different almanacs are prepared and published for places of leading importance; details for minor places, when wanted, have to be worked out by the local astrologer, the modern representative of an ancient official known as Sariivatsara, the " clerk of the year." Eras As far as the available evidence goes (and we have no reason to expect to discover anything opposed to it), any use of eras, in the sense of continuous reckonings which originated in historical occurrences or astronomical epochs and were employed for official and other public chronological purposes, did not prevail in India before the ist century B.C. Prior to that time, there existed, indeed, in connexion with the sacrificial calendar, a five-years lunisolar cycle, and possibly some extended cycles of the same nature; and there was in Buddhist circles a record of the years elapsed since the death of Buddha, which we shall mention again further on. But, as is gathered from books and is well illustrated by the edicts of Asoka (reigned 264-227 B.C.) and the inscriptions of other rulers, the years of the reign of each successive king were found sufficient for the public dating of proclamations and the record of events. There is no known case in which any Indian king, of really ancient times, deliberately applied himself to the foundation of an era: and we have no reason for thinking that such a thing was ever done, or that any Hindu reckoning at all owes its existence to a recognition of historical requirements. The eras which came into existence 1 We illustrate the ordinary occurrences. But there are others. Thus, a repeated tithi may occasionally be followed by a suppressed one: in this case the numbering of the civil days would be 6, 7, 7, 9, &c., instead of 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, &c. Or it may occasionally be preceded by a suppressed one: in this case the numbering would be 5, 7, 7, 8, &c., instead of 5, 6, 7, 7,8, &c.
from the ist century B.C. onwards mostly had their origin in the fortuitous extension of regnal reckonings. The usual course has been that, under the influence of filial piety, pride in ancestry, loyalty to a paramount sovereign, or some other such motive, the successor of some king continued the regnal reckoning of his predecessor, who was not necessarily the first king in the dynasty, and perhaps did not even reign for any long time, instead of starting a new reckoning, beginning again with the year i, according to the years of his own reign. Having thus run for two reigns, the reckoning was sufficiently well established to continue in the same form, and to eventually develop into a generally accepted local era, which might or might not be taken over by subsequent dynasties ruling afterwards over the same territory. In these circumstances, we find the establisher of any particular era in that king who first continued his predecessor's regnal reckoning, instead of replacing it by his own; but we regard as the founder of the era that king whose regnal reckoning was so continued. We may add here that it was only in advanced stages that any of the Hindu eras assumed specific names: during the earlier period of each of them, the years were simply cited by the term sathvatsara or varsha, " the year (bearing suchand-such a number)," or by the abbreviations samvat and sam, without any appellative designation.
The Hindus have had two religious reckonings, which it will be convenient to notice first. Certain statements in the Ceylonese chronicles, the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, endorsed by an entry in a record of Maim, show that in dhist and the 3rd century B.C. there existed among the Buddhists Jain re- a record of the time elapsed since the death of Buddha ligious in 483 B.C., from which it was known that Asoka was jn °SO°- anointed to the sovereignty 218 years after the death. The reckoning, however, was confined to esoteric Buddhist circles, and did not commend itself for any public use; and the only known inscriptional use of it, which also furnishes the latest known date recorded in it, is found in the Last Edict of Asoka, which presents his dying speech delivered in 226 B.C., 256 years after the death of Buddha. In Ceylon, where, also the original reckoning was not maintained, there was devised in the 12th century A.D. a reckoning styled Buddhavarsha, " the years of Buddha," which still exists, and which purports to run from the death of Buddha, but has set up an erroneous date for that event in 544 B.C. This later reckoning spread from Ceylon to Burma and Siam, where, also, it is still used. It did not obtain any general recognition in India, because, when it was devised, Buddhism had practically died out there, except at Bodh-Gaya. But, as there seems to have been constant intercourse between Bodh-Gaya and Ceylon as well as other foreign Buddhist countries, we should not be surprised to find an occasional instance of its use at Bodh-Gaya: and it is believed that one such instance, belonging to A.D. 1270, has been obtained.
The Jains have had, and still maintain, a reckoning from the death of the founder of their faith, Vira, Mahavira, Vardhamana, which event is placed by them in 528 B.C. This reckoning figures largely in the Jain books, which put forward dates in it for very early times. But the earliest known synchronous date in it - by which we mean a date given by a writer who recorded the year in which he himself was writing - is one of the year 980, or, according to a different view mentioned in the passage itself, of the year 993. This reckoning, again, did not commend itself for any official or other public use. And the only known inscriptional instances of the use of it are modern ones, of the 19th century. While it is certain that the Jain reckoning, as it exists, has its initial point in 528 B.C. it has not yet been determined whether that is actually the year in which Vira died. All that can be said on this point is that the date is not inconsistent with certain statements in Buddhist books, which mention, by a Prakrit name of which the Sanskrit form is Nirgrantha-Jnataputra, a contemporary of Buddha, in whom there is recognized the original of the Jain Vira, Mahavira, or Vardhamana, and who, the same books say, died while Buddha was still alive. But there are some indications that Nirgrantha-Jnataputra may have died only a short time before Buddha himself; and the event may easily have been set back to 528 B.C. in circumstances, attending a determination of the reckoning long after the occurrence, analogous to those in which the Ceylonese Buddhavarsha set up the erroneous date of 544 B.C. for the death of Buddha.
In the class of eras of royal origin, brought into existence in the manner indicated above, the Hindus have had various reckonings which have now mostly fallen into disuse. We may mention them, without giving them the detailed treat Eras of ment which the more important of the still existing royal reckonings demand.
The Kalachuri or Chedi era, commencing in A.D. 248 or 249, is known best from inscriptional records, bearing dates which range from the 10th to the 13th century A.D., of the Kalachuri kings of the Chedi country in Central India; and it is from them that it derived the name under which it passes. In earlier times, however, we find this era well established, without any appellation, in Western India, in Gujarat and the Thana district of Bombay, where it was used by kings and princes of the Chalukya, Gurjara, Sendraka, Katachchuri and Traikutaka families. It is traced back there to A.D. 457, at which time there was reigning a Traikutaka king named Dahrasena. Beyond that point, we have at present no certain knowledge about it. But it seems probable that the founder of it may be recognized in an Abhira king Isvarasena, or else in his father Sivadatta, who was reigning at Nasik in or closely about A.D. 248-49.
The Gupta era, commencing in A.D. 320, was founded by Chandragupta I., the first paramount king in the great Gupta dynasty of Northern India. When the Guptas passed away, their reckoning was taken over by the Maitraka kings of Valabhi, who succeeded them in K.athiawar and some of the neighbouring territories; and so it became also known as the Valabhi era.
From Halsi in the Belgaum district, Bombay, we have a record of the Kadamba king Kakusthavarman, which was framed during the time when he was the Yuvaraja or anointed successor to the sovereignty, and may be referred to about A.D. 500. It is dated in " the eightieth victorious year," and thus indicates the preservation of a reckoning running from the foundation of the Kadamba dynasty by Mayuravarman, the great-grandfather of Kakusthavarman. But no other evidence of the existence of this era has been obtained.
The records of the Ganga kings of Kalinganagara, which is the modern Mukhalingam-Nagarikatakam in the Ganjam district, Madras, show the existence of a Ganga era which ran for at any rate 254 years. And various details in the inscriptions enable us to trace the origin of the Gahga kings to Western India, and to place the initial point of their reckoning in A.D. 590, when a certain Satyasraya-Dhruvaraja-Indravarman, an ancestor and probably the grandfather of the first Ganga king Rajasimha-Indravarman I., commenced to govern a large province in the Konkan under the Chalukya king Kirtivarman I.
An era commencing in A.D. 605 or 606 was founded in Northern India by the great king Harshavardhana, who reigned first at Thanesar and then at Kanauj, and who was the third sovereign in a dynasty which traced its origin to a prince named Naravardhana. A peculiarity about this era is that it continued in use for apparently four centuries after Harshavardhana, in spite of the fact that his line ended with him.
The inscriptions assert that the Western Chalukya king Vikrama or Vikramaditya VI. of Kalyani in the Nizam's dominions, who reigned from A.D. 1076 to 1126, abolished the use of the Saka era in his dominions in favour of an era named after himself. What he or his ministers did was to adopt, for the first time in that dynasty, the system of regnal years, according to which, while the Saka era also remained in use, most of the records of his time are dated, not in that era, but in the year so-and-so of the Chalukya-Vikrama-kala or Chalukya-Vikrama-varsha, " the time or years of the Chalukya Vikrama." There is some evidence that this reckoning survived Vikramaditya VI. for a short time. But his successors introduced their own regnal reckonings; and that prevented it from acquiring permanence.
In Tirhut, there is still used a reckoning which is known as the Lakshmanasena era from the name of the king of Bengal by whom it was founded. There is a difference of opinion as to the exact initial point of this reckoning; but the best conclusion appears to be that which places it in A.D. 1119. This era prevailed at one time throughout Bengal: we know this from a passage in the Akbarnama, written in A.D. 1584, which specifies the Saka era as the reckoning of Gujarat and the Dekkan, the Vikrama era as the reckoning of Malwa, Delhi, and those parts, and the Lakshmanasena era as the reckoning of Bengal.
The last reckoning that we have to mention here is one known as the RajyabhishekaS aka, " the era of the anointment to the sovereignty," which was in use for a time in Western India. It dated from the day Jyaishthasukla 13 of the Saka year 1597 current, =6 June, A.D. 1674, when Sivaji, the founder of the Maratha kingdom, had himself enthroned.
There are four reckonings which it is difficult at present to class exactly. Two inscriptions of the 15th and 17th centuries, recently brought to notice from Jesalmer in Rajputana, present a reckoning which postulates an initial point in A.D. 624 or in the preceding or the following year, and bears an appellation, Bhatika, which seems to be based on the name of the Bhatti Miscel- tribe, to which the rulers of Jesalmer belong. No histori- laneows cal event is known, referable to that time, which can have given rise to an era. It is possible that the apparent initial date represents an epoch, at the end of the Saka year 546 or thereabouts, laid down in some astronomical work composed then or soon afterwards and used in the Jesalmer territory. But it seems more probable that it is a purely fictitious date, set up by an attempt to evolve an early history of the ruling family.
In the Tinnevelly district of Madras, and in the territories of the same presidency in which the Malayalam language prevails, namely, South Kanara below Mangalore, the Malabar district, and the Cochin and Travancore states, there is used a reckoning which is known sometimes as the Kollam or Mamba reckoning, sometimes as the era of Parasurama. The years of it are solar: in the southern parts of the territory in which it is current, they begin with the month Simha; in the northern parts, they begin with the next month, Kanya. The initial point of the reckoning is in A.D. 825; and the year 1076 commenced in A.D. 1900. The popular view about this reckoning is that it consists of cycles of moo years; that we are now in the fourth cycle; and that the reckoning originated in 1176 B.C. with the mythical Parasurama, who exterminated the Kshatriya or warrior caste, and reclaimed the Konkan countries, Western India below the Ghauts, from the ocean. But the earliest known date in it, of the year 149, falls in A.D. 973; and the reckoning has run on in continuation of the thousand, instead of beginning afresh in A.D. 1825. It seems probable, therefore, that the reckoning had no existence before A.D. 825. The years are cited sometimes as " the Kollam year (of such-and-such a number), " sometimes as " the year (so-and-so) after Kollam appeared; " and this suggests that the reckoning may possibly owe its origin to some event, occurring in A.D. 825, connected with one or other of the towns and ports named Kollam, on the Malabar coast; perhaps Northern Kollam in the Malabar district, perhaps Southern Kollam, better known as Quilon, in Travancore. But the introduction of Parasurama into the matter, which would carry back (let us say) the foundation of Kollam to legendary times, may indicate, rather, a purely imaginative origin. Or, again, since each century of the Kollam reckoning begins in the same year A.D. with a century of the Saptarshi reckoning (see below under III. Other Reckonings), it is not impossible that this reckoning may be a southern offshoot of the Saptarshi reckoning, or at least may have had the same astrological origin.
In Nepal there is a reckoning, known as the Newar era and commencing in A.D. 879, which superseded the Gupta and Harsha eras there. One tradition attributes the foundation of it to a king Raghavadeva; another says that, in the time and with the permission of a king Jayadevamalla, a merchant named Sakhwal paid off, by means of wealth acquired from sand which turned into gold, all the debts then existing in the country, and introduced the new era in commemoration of the occurrence. It is possible that the era may have been founded by some ruler of Nepal: but nothing authentic is known about the particular names mentioned in connexion with it. This era appears to have been discarded for state and official purposes, in favour of the Saka era, in A.D. 1768, when the Gurkhas became masters of Nepal; but manuscripts show that in literary circles it has remained in use up to at any rate A.D. 1875.
Inscriptions disclose the use in Kathiawar and Gujarat, in the 12th and 13th centuries, of a reckoning, commencing in A.D. 1114, which is known as the Simha-sarinvat. No historical occurrence is known, on which it can have been based; and the origin of it is obscure.
The eras mentioned above have for the most part served their purposes and died out. But there are three great reckonings, dating from a very respectable antiquity, which have held their own and survived to the present day. These are the Kaliyuga, Vikrama, and Saka eras. It will be convenient to treat the Kaliyuga first, though, in spite of having the greatest apparent antiquity, it is the latest of the three in respect of actual date of origin.
The Kaliyuga era is the principal astronomical reckoning of the Hindus. It is frequently, if not generally, shown in the almanacs: but it can hardly be looked upon as being now in practical use for civil purposes; and, as regards the custom of previous times as far as we can judge it from the inscriptional use, which furnishes a good guide, the position is as follows: from Southern India we have one such instance of A.D. 634, one of A.D. 770, three of the 10th century, and then, from the 12th century onwards, but more particularly from the 14th, a certain number of instances, not exactly very small in itself, but extremely so in comparison - with the number of cases of the use of the Vikrama and Saka eras and other reckonings: from Northern India the earliest known instance of is A.D. 1169 or 1170, and the later ones number only four. Its years are by nature sidereal solar years, commencing with the Mesha-sainkranti, the entrance of the sun into the Hindu constellation and sign Mesha, i.e. Aries (for this and other technical details, see above, under the Calendar); 1 but they were probably cited as lunar years in the inscriptional records which present the reckoning; and the almanacs appear to treat them either as Meshadi civil solar years with solar months, or as Chaitradi lunar years with lunar months amanta (ending with the new-moon) or pu y nimanta (ending with the full-moon) as the case may be, according to the locality. Its initial point lies in 3102 B.C.; and the year 5002 began in A.D. 1900.2 This reckoning is not an historical era, actually running from 3102 B.C. It was devised for astronomical purposes at some time about A.D. 400, when the Hindu astronomers, having taken over the principles of the Greek astronomy, recognized that they required for purposes of computation a specific reckoning with a definite initial occasion. They found that occasion in a conjunction of the sun, the moon, and the five planets which were then known, at the first point of their sign Mesha. There was not really such a conjunction; nor, apparently, is it even the case that the sun was actually at the first point of Mesha at the moment arrived at. But there was an approach to such a conjunction, which was turned into an actual conjunction by taking the mean instead of the true positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets. And, partly from the reckoning which has come down to us, partly from the astronomical books, we know that the moment assigned to the assumed conjunction was according to one school the midnight between Thursday the 17th, and Friday the 18th, February, 3102 B.C., and according to another school the sunrise on the Friday.
The reckoning thus devised was subsequently identified with the Kaliyuga as the iron age, the last and shortest, with a duration of 432,000 years, of the four ages in each cycle of ages in the Hindu system of cosmical periods. Also, traditional history was fitted to it by one school, represented notably by the Puranas, which, referring the great war between the Pandavas and the Kurus, which is the topic of the Mahabharata, to the close of the preceding age, the Dvapara, placed on the last day of that age the culminating event which ushered in the Kali age; namely, the death of Krishna (the return to heaven of Vishnu on the termination of his incarnation as Krishna), which was followed by the abdication of the Pandava king Yudhishthira, who, having installed his grand-nephew Parikshit as his successor, then set out on his own journey to heaven. Another school, however, placed the Pandavas and the Kurus 653 years later, in 2449 B.C. A third school places in 3102 B.C. the anointment of Yudhishthira to the sovereignty, and treats that event as inaugurating the Kali age; from this point of view, the first 3044 years of the Kaliyuga - the period from its commencement in 3102 B.C. to the commencement of the first historical era, the so-called Vikrama era, in 58 B.C. - are also known as " the era of Yudhishthira." The Vikrama era, which is the earliest of all the Hindu eras in respect of order of foundation, is the dominant era and the vtk- great historical reckoning of Northern India - that is, of the territory on the north of the rivers Narbada of 58 and Mahanadi - to which part of the country its use B. C. has always been practically confined. Like, indeed, the Kaliyuga and Saka eras, it is freely cited in almanacs in any part of India; and it is sometimes used in the south by immigrants from the north: but it is, by nature, so essentially foreign to the south that the earliest known inscriptional instance of the use of it in Southern India only dates from A.D. 1218, and the very few later instances that have been obtained, prior to the 15th century A.D., come, along with the instance of A.D. 1218, from the close neighbourhood of the dividing-line between the 1 It is always to be borne in mind that, as already explained, while the Hindu Mesha answers to our Aries, it does not coincide with either the sign or the constellation Aries.
2 We select A.D. 1900 as a gauge-year, in preference to the year in which we are writing, because its figures are more convenient for comparative purposes. In accordance with the general tendency of the Hindus to cite expired years, the almanacs would mostly show 5001 (instead of 5002) as the number for the Kaliyuga year answering to A.D. 1900-1901. And, for the same reason, this reckoning has often been called the Kaliyuga era of 3101 B.C. There is, perhaps, no particular objection to that, provided that we then deal with the Vikrama and Saka eras on the same lines, and bear in mind that in each case the initial point of the reckoning really lies in the preceding year. But we prefer to treat these reckonings with exact correctness.
north and the south. The Vikrama era has never been used for astronomical purposes. Its years are lunar, with lunar months, but seem liable to be sometimes regarded as solar, with solar months, when they are cited in almanacs of Southern India which present the solar calendar. Originally they were Karttikadi, with purnimanta months (ending with the full-moon). They now exist in the following three varieties: in Kathiawar and Gujarat, they are chiefly Karttikadi, with amanta months (ending with the new-moon); and they are shown in this form in almanacs for the other parts of the Bombay Presidency: but there is also found in Kathiawar and that neighbourhood an Ashaelhadi variety, commencing with Ashadha sukla 1, similarly with amanta months; in the rest of Northern India, they are Chaitradi, with pu y nimanta months. The era has its initial point in 58 B.C., and its first civil day, Karttika sukla is 19th September in that year if we determine it with reference to the Hindu Tula-salnkranti, or 18th October if we determine it with reference to the tropical equinox. The years of the three varieties, Chaitradi, Ashadhadi, and Karttikadi, all commence in the same year A.D.; and the year 1958 began in A.D. 1900.
Hindu legend connects the foundation of this era with a king Vikrama or Vikramaditya of Ujjain in Malwa, Central India: one version is that he began to reign in 58 B.C.; another is that he died in that year, and that the reckoning commemorates his death. Modern research, however, based largely on the inscriptional records, has shown that there was no such king, and that the real facts are very different. The era owes its existence to the Kushan king Kanishka, a foreign invader, who established himself in Northern India and commenced to reign there in B.C. 58.' He was the founder of it, in the sense that the opening years of it were the years of his reign. It was established and set going as an era by his successor, who continued the reckoning so started, instead of breaking it by introducing another according to his own regnal years. And it was perpetuated as an era, and transmitted as such to posterity by the Malavas, the people from whom the modern territory Malwa derived its name, who were an important section of the subjects of Kanishka and his successors. In consonance with that, records ranging in date from A.D. 473 to 879 style it " the reckoning of the Malavas, the years of the Mala y a lords, the Mala y a time or era." Prior to that, it had no specific name; the years of it were simply cited, in ordinary Hindu fashion, by the term samvatsara, " the year (of such-and-such a number)," or by its abbreviations samvat and sawn: and the same was frequently done in later times also, and is habitually done in the present day; and so, in modern times, this era has often been loosely styled " the Sarimvat era." The idea of a king Vikrama in connexion with it appears to date from only the 9th or 10th century A.D.
The Saka era, though it actually had its origin in the southwest corner of Northern India, is the dominant era and the great historical reckoning of Southern India; that is, of the territory below the rivers Narbada and Mahanadi. It is also the subsidiary astronomical A.D.7 8. reckoning, largely used, from the 6th century A.D. onwards, in the Karanas, the works dealing with practical details of the calendar, for laying down epochs or points of time furnishing convenient bases for computation. As a result of that, it came to be used in past times for general purposes also, to a limited extent, in parts of Northern India where it was not indigenous. And it is now used more or less freely, and is cited in almanacs everywhere. Its years are usually lunar, Chaitradi, and its months are y nimanta (ending with the full-moon) in Northern India, and amanta (ending with the new-moon) in Southern India; but in times gone by it was sometimes treated for purposes of calculation as having astronomical solar years, and it is now treated as having Mesh di civil solar years and solar months in those parts of India where that form of the solar calendar prevails. It has its initial point in A.D. 78; and its first civil day, Chaitra sukla 1, is 3rd March 3 It may be remarked that there are about twelve different views regarding the date of Kanishka and the origin of the Vikrama era. Some writers hold that Kanishka began to reign in A.D. 78, and founded the so-called Saka era beginning in that year; one writer would place his initial date about A.D. 123, others would place it in A.D. 278. The view maintained by the present writer was held at one time by Sir A. Cunningham: and, as some others have already begun to recognize, evidence is now steadily accumulating in support of the correctness of it.
in that year, as determined with reference either to the Hindu M `na-salnkranti or to the entrance of the sun into the tropical Pisces. The year 1823 began in A.D. 1900.
Regarding the origin of the Saka era, there was current in the 10th and 11th centuries A.D. a belie
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Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Hindu Chronology'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/h/hindu-chronology.html. 1910.
