1923.] The Date of the Khadga Dynasty of Bengal. 377 
side with the new system of digit numerals the old system of 
numeration by aksharas or syllables which I have termed 
‘ Letter-numerals. 
vardhana that ‘2’ is denoted by a numeral figure but the 
preceding ‘20’ and the following ‘1’ by numerical symbol.” 
_ _Now if the Plate A is dated in the year 13 and the Plate B 
in the year 79 (or 73) the question arises, are both of these to 
be referred to the regnal years of king Devakhadga or to one 
and the same era? None of these two hypotheses seems to be 
probable, for it is difficult to believe that a king ruled for such 
epi period as 73 or even 60 years (difference between 73 and 
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culty against this supposition. Both the plates were written 
by one and the same man Piradasa, a devout Buddhist. Now 
he could hardly have been appointed to such an important 
post as the official scribe before the age of 25 and, if we take 
both the years as referring to the regnal years or to the same 
era, we are led to the conclusion that he was employed in the 
same post even while he was eighty-five or more. On these 
grounds it is better to take the year 13 as the regnal year 
and 79 (or 73) as that of an era. 
Instances are not rare where the records of one and the 
same king are dated differently, i.e. both in the regnal years as 
Well as in the years of an era. Two instances may be ci 
rom the seventh century A.D., the period to which in our 
opinion the plates A and B belong. Thus, the Badami cave 
inscription of the Western Chalukya king Mangalésa is dated 
in Saka 500, while the Mahakita pillar inscription is dated in 
the 5th year of his reign.2, Again, the Gadval plates of 
Vikramaditya I are dated in the Saka year 596 * while the 
Karnul district plates of the same king are dated in the 3rd 
and 10th years of his reign.* 
ere remain thus no objections to referring the plate B to 
the year 79 (or 73) of anera. In order to determine what this 
era is we have to discuss the paleography of the inscriptions. 
In general the alphabets of the two plates A and B 
resemble those of the Khalimpur copper plates of Dharmapala. 
The letters th .ph, and a in our plates no doubt appear to have 
more advanced forms; but th occurs only in conjunction with 
ES ee ne ke lg OE RAINE CaSO oe Pear RN ne en aman i Te ame a aaa 
! Kielhorn’s List of Northern Inscriptions, No. 528, footnote. 
? Kielhorn’s List of Southern Inscriptions, Nos. 3 and 5. 
3 Ep. Ind., Vol. X., p. 100. 
* Kielhorn’s List of Southern Inscriptions, Nos. 18 and 19, 
