Page:A History of Civilisation in Ancient India based on Sanscrit Literature Vol 1.djvu/70

difficulty in finding out what great events these Eras really commemorate; and the conclusions arrived at are not yet beyond the pale of controversy.

It has been now ascertained that the Sakâbda or Saka Era is the Era of the Saka king Kanishka, who conquered Kashmir and Western India in the first century after Christ, and spread Buddhism over neighbouring countries. Thus the Sakâbda was originally a Buddhist Era. It was adopted in Buddhist India, and it was known and used in all Buddhist countries — in Thibet and Burma, in Ceylon and Java. It was after the Hindu revival of the sixth century that the date was adopted by Hindus, and the story was added, that the Era marked, not the reign of a Buddhist Saka king, but the defeat of the Sakas by a Hindu king. But wherever the Era is cited by ancient writers, it is cited as the Era of the Saka king;^[1] and to the present day the Era is known in our almanacs as the Sakâbda, or more fully as Saka Narapater A tîtâbda, which means the Era of the Saka king, not the Era of the destruction of the Sakas by a Hindu king.

The Samvat Era is still more perplexing. Popularly it is known as the Era of a great victory of Vikramâditya. But history knows of no Vikramâditya of Ujjayini in 56 B.C., and it is pretty certain, that Vikramâditya the Great, the patron of Kâlidâsa, lived in the sixth century after Christ.

It is still more curious that the Samvat Era has come into use in comparatively recent times. No instance has yet been discovered of the use of this Era in the centuries

1. The exceedingly careful and observant scholar, Colebrooke, pointed out seventy years ago, that the astronomer, Varâhamihira, who lived in the sixth century A.D., cited the Saka Era as the Saka Bhupa Kâla or Sakendra Kâla, i.e., the Era of the Saka king. His commentator explains this as the Era when the barbarians called Sakas "were discomfited by Vikramâditya." Again, the astronomer Brahmagupta, who flourished in the seventh century A.D., cites the Era as Saka Nripânte, i.e., after the Saka king. His commentator explains this as "after the reign of Vikramâditya, who slew a people of barbarians called Sakas."—Colebrooke's Algebra, &c, from the Sanscrit, p.xliii. London, 1817.