1875.] Bajendralala Mitra — The KanishJca dates. 47 



have to be placed between 96 of that era, in which year Vasu Deva was also 

 reigning, and the commencement of the Saka era, that is A.D. between 39 A. D. 

 and 78 A. D. and if Cunningham's attribution of the Garb wa inscription dated 

 in 86 to Chandra Gupta the second be correct, there would be about 86 

 years for the five next kings viz., Ghatot Kacha, Chandra Gupta I, Samudra 

 Gupta and 60 years from 86 to 146 the date of the Eran inscription for 

 Chandra Gupta II. Kumara and Skanda Gupta, or 146 years for six kings 

 or an average of over 25 years each. This is no doubt a somewhat long- 

 but by no means impossible average, though no doubt it indicates a period 

 also of comparative freedom from internal discord, a period of peace and 

 prosperity, as indeed from the comparatively numerous coins and inscriptions 

 of the Gupta Dynasty seemed very probable. In fact save for a short period 

 in the middle of the first century A. D. India would seem to have enjoyed 

 comparative tranquillity from 57 B. C. to towards the end of the first quarter 

 of the 3rd century. 



Babu Eajendralala Mitra said, that as he had not entered into the 

 subject of the Kanishka dates in his paper and had only referred to them 

 casually in his verbal remarks, it was not necessary for him to discuss it at 

 length. He thought, however, that the question of the era of Kanishka's 

 records was still an open one. In all the inscriptions of that sovereign, the 

 era is indicated by the syllable ^', which may be an abbreviation of the 

 Samvat of Vikramaditya, or of Samvatsara, the Sanskrit for a year, and there 

 was therefore ample room for discussion. Extraneous evidence might or 

 might not be forthcoming to settle the doubt, but the fact .of the earlier 

 dates of the Indo -Scythians falling in with the later ones of the Guptas was 

 a remarkable one and needed careful enquiry. The earliest known date of 

 Chandra Gupta was 87, the latest of Kanishka 47, the earliest 9. One of 

 the Mathura inscriptions gives 44 for the date of Vasudeva, so he cannot be 

 called a successor of Kanishka. There were ' two predecessors of Chandra 

 Gupta of the Gupta line, and it was questionable whether the period of 

 their united reigns would just fill in the gap between the known dates of 

 Kanishka and Chandra Gupta. But it was quite immaterial whether it did 

 so or not, as the Indo-Scythians reigned in a very different part of the 

 country from where the Guptas exercised their power. It had been said 

 that the fact of Ghatotkacha calling himself a destroyer of Asuras implied 

 that he came after the overthrow of the last successor of Kanishka ; but the 

 assumption was not tenable, as the founder of the Samvat era also called 

 himself a destroyer of the S'akas, and he lived before Kanishka flourished in 

 India. Babu Kajendralala Mitra did not, however, wish to press the ques- 

 tion, as he did not think that sufficient materials were at hand to come to a 

 satisfactory conclusion. 



