165 
1894.] V. A. Smith— History and Coinage of the Gupta Period. 
My remark (Observations , p. 80) that ‘ the year of the Gupta Era 
appears, according to the most recent calculations, to have been A. I). 
319-20,’ is somewhat obscure. It means, as stated in the Synoptic 
Table, that the year 0 was 318-19, and the year 1 was 319-20. The 
statement rests on the dictum of Dr. Biihler (On the Origin of the Gupta 
Valabhi Era , p. 3), that 4 the weight of the evidence is in favour of the 
year 318-19, as the true beginning of the Gupta Era.’ 1 Dr. Fleet is, 
or was, of opinion (Indian Ant. Vol. XX , p. 388) that the Gupta Era, 
as used in Central India and Nepal, and all northern inscriptions, is to be 
expressed by the formula,—Year 0 = 9 March, A.D. 319—25th Feb., A.D. 
320. Year 1 (current) = 26tli Feb., A.D. 320—15th Maxell, A. D. 321. 
According to Dr. Fleet, the equations for the Yalabhi variety of the era, 
are year 0 = 11th Oct., A.D. 318—30th Sept., A.D. 319. Year 1 (current) 
= 1st Oct., A.D. 319—,18th Oct., A.D. 320. I presume that this western, 
or Yalabhi Era, is to be used in interpreting the coins and inscriptions 
from Gujarat, though this detail does not seem to be yet determined. 
I am quite incapable of understanding the elaborate calculations about 
Hindu dates in which Dr. Fleet and some of his coadjutors delight, and 
must content myself with expressing the hope that the experts who 
do understand them will soon be able to complete their labours, and 
settle definitely the exact era to be used in the calculation of Gupta 
dates, both for Western and Northern India. 
The copper-plate inscription found at Pali, near Kosam (Kau^ambi) 
in the Allahabad District, in 1891, is dated in the year 158, which is 
probably to be referred to the Gupta era. This plate is now in the 
Lucknow Provincial Museum, and has been described in Epigraphia 
Indica , Yol. II., p. 363. 
Another newly-discovered inscription of the Gupta Period lias been 
briefly noticed by Dr. Hoernle in the Indian Antiquary for February, 1892, 
Yol, XXI., p. 45. This record, which may be called the Faridpur Inscrip¬ 
tion, was found in the Faridpur district of Eastern Bengal. It is a cop¬ 
per-plate bearing an inscription in early Gupta characters of the North- 
Eastern class. The purport of it is to record a gift of land to a Brah- 
man in the reign of Qri Mahardjddhirdja Eharmdditya. The seal bears 
the device of Laksrai, standing, with an elephant on each side, besprink¬ 
ling her. Dr. Hoernle suggests that this device may have been the early 
seal of the Gupta kings before they adopted the Garuda device. The 
inscription begins in the style usual in the Gupta inscriptions, and 
1 Kielliorn (Trans. Intern. Congress of 1892. I, 429) holds that, according to the 
prevailing custom of the Hindus, the dates are given in expired years, and that “ a 
similar conclusion is forced on us in regard to the Gupta era, the true epoch of 
which I believe to be A.D. 318-319, not 319-320.” 
