1855.] On the Epoch of the Gupta Dynasty. 375 



Valabhi era commenced in 319 A. D. and that " the Gupta rule 

 preceded it." [J. E. A. S. xii. 4.] 



The amended translation contains these words " and truly Ballaba 

 was after them" [the Guptas]. "What greater support does my argu- 

 ment require than the admission I have italicised ? And yet, will it 

 be credited ? — on the strength of a sentence admitted to contain 

 the substance of these words, it is unintentionally, but in effect — 

 attempted to establish that the Guptas and the Valabhis were 

 contemporaneous. 



Major Cunningham next enters upon certain remarks about 

 eras in general— designing to show that all eras necessarily begin 

 with the rise and not with the fall of a race ! and therefore that the 

 era of the Guptas " commenced with the settlement of their own 

 Dynasty." It is a pity, for the consistency of this view, that regard 

 was not had to the era of Tesdegird, which might well have been 

 brought to the writer's notice in the very pages of Al Biruni himself, 

 or that, when speaking of Yalabhi eras, it was not borne in mind, 

 that the first Maharaja of that race did not initiate the family cycle.* 

 But to let this pass, in whatever era the Guptas may date their 

 inscriptions, I should still claim to place the period embraced in all 

 its integrity and completeness before A. D. 319. 



Major Cunningham after assuming the employment of a Special 

 Gupta Kal goes on to apply it in its details, by constructing a chro- 



l'ere de Saca, je les ai vus ecrire 242, puis au-dessous 606, puis encore an-dessous 

 99, enfin additionner le tout ensemble ; ce qui donne l'ere de Saca. On peut in- 

 duire de la que le nombre 242 indique les annees qui precedent l'epoque ou les 

 Itidiens commencerent a se servir d'un cycle de cent, et que cet usage commenya 

 avec l'ere des Gouptas. D'apres cela, le nombre 606 indiquerait les samvatsaras 

 de cent complets, ce qui porterait chaque samvatsara a 101. Quant au nombre 

 99, ce seraient les annees qui se sont ecoulees du samvatsara non encore revolu. 

 C'est ce qui est en effet. J'ai trouve la confirmation et l'eclaircissement de cela 

 dans les tables astronomiques de Durlab le moultaniea ; ou y lit : E'cris 848 et ajoute 

 le Loka-kala, c'est-a-dire le comput du vulgaire ; le produit marquera l'annee de 

 l'ere de Saca." En effet, si nous ecirvons l'annee de l'ere de Saca qui correspond 

 a l'annee actuelle, et qui est l'annee 953, et que nous retranchions de ce nombre 

 la quantite 848, il restera 105 pour le Loka-kala, et l'annee de la ruine de Soume- 

 nat tombera sur le nombre 98. 

 * Wathen, J. A. S. B. IV. 481. 



