Mejport of the Arcliceologieal Swrvey. ir 



which still bears his name, beginning in 57 B. C. But if the prince- 

 who founded this era was a contemporary of Pravarasena, Baja of 

 Kashmir, and of the poet Kalidasa> as well as of the Astronomer Yaraha 

 Mihira, as- there seems good, reason to believe,, it is quite certain that 

 he cannot be dated earlier than the beginning of the sixth century of 

 the Christian era. This conclusion is supported by the strong testimony 

 of Abu Rihan, who states that the great victory over the Sakas was 

 gained at a place called Koror, between Multan and Loni, by a prince 

 named Yikramaditya, just 135 years after the prince of the same name 

 who founder] the Yikrama Samvat. As the date of this event corresponds 

 exactly with the initial point of the Sa>ke-QY& which was established by 

 Salivahana, it results that the Yikramaditya of Abu Rihan is identical 

 with the Salivahana of the popular Indian traditions. This conclusion 

 is further strengthened by the fact that in Colonel James Abbott'* 

 list of the Rajas of Syalkot, a reign of 90 years is assigned to Salivahana, 

 which is exactly the same as is allotted to Yikramaditya, the conqueror 

 of the Sakas, in all the seven copies of the Rajavali that I have seen. 

 On these grounds, I venture, with some confidence, to fix the date of 

 the defeat of the Saka conqueror- of Dilli in A. D. 79 y which is the 

 initial point of the Sahe era of Salivahana. 



15. Accepting this date as tolerably well established for an event 

 in ancient Indian history, the foundation of Dilli must be placed at 

 some earlier period,. and perhaps the date- of 57 B. C, or contemporary 

 with Yikramaditya r as recorded by Ferishta, may not be far from the 

 truth. Regarding the widely spread tradition that Dilli was deserted 

 for 792 years, from the conquest of Yikramaditya to the time of the 

 first Tomara Raja Anang Pal, I think that it may be fully explained 

 by supposing that during that period Dilli was not the residence of 

 the king. It is almost certain that it was not the Capital of the 

 powerful family of the Guptas, who most probably reigned from A. D. 

 78 to 319 ; and it is quite certain that it was not the Capital of the 

 great King Harsha Yarddhana and his immediate predecessors,, whose 

 metropolis was Kanoj, during the latter half of the sixth, and the first 

 half of the seventh century. That Dilli was most probably occupied 

 during this period, we may infer from the erection of the Iron Pillar 

 by Raja Dhava, the date of which is assigned to the third or fourth 

 century by James Prinsep. Mr. Thomas " considers that Prinsep has 

 assigned too high an antiquity to the style of writing employed on 



