272 



INSCRIPTIONS. 



yuga, preference ought to be given to the former. In most 

 inscriptions and deeds the expired year (gatdbda) of Saliva- 

 hana or of the Kaliyuga is given simultaneously with the 

 current year of the cycle of Brhaspati. As these three years 

 of the Brhaspati cycle, of Salivahana, and of the Kaliyuga 

 coincide practically in their duration, their computation seems 

 to be very easy ; but the peculiar habit indicated has been the 

 cause of many errors. An example will enable the reader to 

 readily understand this mode of reckoning. The present year, 

 1882-3, corresponds to Citrabhanu, 1805 Saka, 4984 Kali- 

 yuga, but in inscriptions and documents it is called 1804 

 Saka, 4983 Kaliyuga. A Prussian document would afford an 

 analogous instance if in it this year 1882 were designated as 

 1881 A.D., the 23 of Wilhelm I (the present king succeeding 

 to the throne early in January 1860) ; 1881 A.D. taking the 

 place of the year of the Saka, and 23 the number of the year 

 in the sixty years' cycle. 



Colonel Warren has fully explained in his work Kdlasanka- 

 lita 29 the intricacies of Indian chronology, which he had 

 thoroughly mastered. In his chronological tables which he 

 published in his work he printed at the head of the columns 

 containing the eras of the Kaliyuga and Salivahana the word 

 expired, intimating by this way the custom which the Hindus 

 followed of writing down the expired year and not the 

 current. 



It was very unfortunate that Colonel Warren adopted this 

 method, which was not necessary, as a note intimating the 

 custom would have answered the purpose as well. For by 

 this arrangement years which are not synchronous with each 

 other may be mistaken as such. If the current Saka and 

 Kaliyuga years had been printed together with the Brhaspati 

 years, an attentive reader would have quickly deducted one 

 year from the current Saka or Kaliyuga year in order to 



29 A Collection of Memoirs on the various modes according to which the 

 Nations of the southern parts of India divide Time. By Lieutenant -Colon el 

 John Warren : Madras, 1S25. 



