XVIII. The Kaliyuga Era of B.C. 3102

J. F. Fleet

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00041885

XVIII. The Kaliyuga Era of B.C. 3102

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

J. F. Fleet

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The case set out in the first part of this article, pp. 479–96 above, will, it is hoped, make it clear that the Kaliyuga era is not of historical origin, dating from the occurrence of any actual event in b.c. 3102, and running in actual use from that time. It is nothing but an artificial reckoning —(almost as much so as is our Julian Period, beginning 1 January, b.c. 4713)—devised by the Hindū astronomers some thirty-five centuries after the initial point which they assigned to it; that is, roughly, at some time about a.d. 350–400. And it is the principal Hindū, astronomical reckoning (the other being the Śaka era begiṅning in a.d. 78); used in particular —(just as we use the Julian Period)— for the ahargaṇa or sum of days from the beginning of the reckoning down to any given time.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , July 1911 , pp. 675 - 698

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00041885 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1911

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^{page 675 note 1} For a note on the Śaka era and its adoption by the astronomers, see this Journal, 1910. 818.

^{page 675 note 2} It is perhaps desirable not to omit to remark, though the point is not exactly relevant to our present topic, that another school differed radically from those which interest us here, and placed the Pāṇḍavas and the Kurus 653 years after the beginning of the Kaliyuga; that is, in b.c. 2449. This view is presented by Varāhamihira (died a.d. 587) in a well-known verse in which, quoting, he tells us, the opinion of a previous writer, Vṛiddha-Garga, he says (Bṛiliat-Saṁhitā, 13. 3):— “The Munis (the Saptarshis, the seven stars of the Great Bear) were in the nahshatra Maghā when king Yudhishṭhira ruled the world; and the Śaka time is joined with 2526 (years) of that king.” The verse was given to furnish the means of finding, by the Śaka reckoning, the nakshatra for the Saptarshis at any given time, on the basis that they entered Maghā when Yudhishṭhira began to reign, and that that event took place in 2526 – 77 = b.c. 2449.

This view was adopted by Kalhana for the chronology presented in his Kājataramgiṇī, which he wrote in a.d. 1148–50: he says (1. 48–56, and compare 8. 3407) that some people had built up a false chronology through being misled by a statement that the Bhārata affair took place at the end of the Dvāpara; and, following Varāhamihira's verse, which he quotes, he tells us that the Pāṇḍavas and the Kurus lived when there had elapsed 653 years of the Kali.

^{page 676 note 1} Regarding the order and indicated chronology of these events, see the Special Note A, p. 684 below.

^{page 677 note 1} Ētat = Kaliyugaṃ nāma achirād =yat= pravartatē: 3, Vanap., Calcutta text, § 149, verse 11261; Kumbakonam text, § 151, verse 39. So also, 9, Śalyap., § 61, verse 3364, speaks of the Kali age as having arrived (prāptaṁ Kaliyugaṁ viddhi): this is one of the excuses made by Kṛishṇa for the unfair fatal blow dealt by Bhīma to Duryōdhana in their fight with clubs.

On the other hand, another statement, 1, Ādip., § 2. 282, speaks of the great war as taking place in the interval between the Dvāpara and the Kali (antarē Kali-Dvāparayōḥ). But this statement, made in the general introduction to the epic, is plainly nothing but a broad one which is not to be taken literally, any more than the statement in the same passage, verse 272, that (Paraśu)-Rāma slew the Kshatrij'as at the junction of the Trētā and the Dvāpara (Trētā-Dvāparayōḥ saṁdhan).

^{page 678 note 1} See the Special Note B, p. 688 below.

^{page 679 note 1} So, also, our leading almanacs and diaries show the running year of the Julian Period: but little practical use, if any, is made of the reckoning for the record of current events.

^{page 679 note 2} For the inscriptional instances see the Special Note C, p. 689 below. If any readers of this article can adduce any other such dates ranging from before a.d. 1100 for Southern India and a.d. 1169 for Northern India, and any literary dates earlier than a.d. 976, their contributions to the history of the reckoning will be welcome.

^{page 680 note 1} That is, after the statement in which Āryabhaṭa indicated his date and age: and, while he gave what is virtually a year of the Kali reckoning, he did not cite it as such: see p. 111 f. above.

^{page 680 note 2} The verse giving the date, which I quote from the Kāvyamālā, part 9 (1893), p. 31, runs thus:—

Vasu-muni-gagan-ōdadhi(4078)-sama-

kālē yātē Kalēs = tathā Lōkē |

dvāpañchāśē varshē

rachit =ēyaṁ Bhīmagupta-nṛipē ―

The details of the month, etc., not being given, the date does not admit of actual verification. The given Kaliyuga year, 4078 expired, means a. d. 977–78; but the Lōkakāla or Laukika year 52 indicates a. d. 976–77, unless, as was suggested by Professor Kielhorn (Ind. Ant., 20. 154), we may understand that, contrary to the usual custom for this reckoning, it is here cited as the expired year: on this point compare the date of a. d. 1428 or 1429, p. 693, below.

^{page 680 note 2} See the translation by Beveridge, vol. 2, p. 21 f.

^{page 680 note 3} See the Special Note D, p. 694 below.

^{page 681 note 1} This is an imaginary king, whose name first figures in connexion with the era in an inscription of a. d. 1272, and seems plainly to have been introduced in imitation of the coupling of the equally imaginary king Vikrama, Vikramāditya, with the era of b.c. 58.

^{page 682 note 1} Perhaps Chitōr in Udaipur, Rājputānā: perhaps Chitarkōṭ in Bānda, United Provinces.

^{page 683 note 1} Translation by Jarrett, vol. 2, p. 15. As regards the first era, the passage says:—“In the beginning of the present Yug, Rājā Judhishthira conquered the universe and being at the completion of an epoch [i.e., at the end of the Dvāpara age], constituted his own reign an era.”

^{page 683 note 2} No. 41 in my List of Spurious Records, Ind. Ant., 1901. 219.

^{page 683 note 3} See the Special Note E, p. 697 below.

^{page 683 note 4} The amānta month is the synodic lunar month, beginning and ending with the new-moon. The pūrṇimānta month begins and ends with the full-moon.

^{page 684 note 1} India; trans. Sachau, vol. 2, p. 186.

^{page 685 note 1} Mahābhārata, Calcutta ed., 1, Ādiparvan, § 139. 5517.

^{page 685 note 2} Sabhāp., §32. 1230, 1247; §35. 1307; §45. 1628–30.

^{page 686 note 1} 12, Śāntip., § 37. 1386–92; § 40. 1443; § 41. 1475.

^{page 686 note 2} 13, Anuśāsanap., § 167. 7732; § 168. 7765.

^{page 686 note 3} 14, Āśvamēdhikap., § 66. 1943.

^{page 686 note 4} 14, Āśvamēdhikap., § 72. 2095; § 89. 2644.

^{page 686 note 5} 15, Āsramavāsikap., § 1. 6; § 3. 71–2, 84, 96; § 15. 428.

^{page 687 note 1} 15, Āśramāvāsikap., § 23. 624.

^{page 687 note 2} 15, Āśramavāsikap., § 37. 1011.

^{page 687 note 3} 15, Āśramavāsikap., §39. 1102.

^{page 687 note 4} 16, Mausalap., § 1. 1, 13; § 2. 52.

^{page 687 note 5} 16, Mausalap., § 4. 125–30.

^{page 687 note 6} 17, Mahāprasthānikap., § 1. 1, 2.

^{page 687 note 7} 17, Mahāprasthānikap., § 1. 6.

^{page 687 note 8} 17, Mahāprasthānikap., § 1. 24–5.

^{page 688 note 1} For the Brahmāṇḍa I quote the text printed at the Śrī-Veṇkaṭēśvara Press, Bombay, in Saṁvat 1963, Śakē 1828 (a.d. 1906–7); chapter 74, verse 241. For the Vāyu, the edition in the Ānandāśrama Sanskṛit Series (1905); chapter 99, verses 428–9.

^{page 688 note 2} Ed. Ānandāśrama Sanskṛit Series (1907); chapter 273, verses 49–50.

^{page 688 note 3} Text printed at the Nirṇayasāgar Press, Śakē 1826, San (a.d.) 1905, book 12, chapter 2, verse 33.

^{page 688 note 4} Text printed at Krishnasastri Sarman Gurjara's Press in the Kshaya saṁvatsara (a.d. 1866–67); book 4, chapter 24, verse 40.

^{page 688 note 5} Loc. cit. in note 3 above, verses 29–33.

^{page 688 note 6} The Kali age is personified as Kali, an evil spirit presiding over it.

^{page 689 note 1} Loc. cit. in note 4 on p. 688 above, verses 35–8, 40.

^{page 689 note 2} Epi. Ind., vol. 6, p. 7.

^{page 689 note 3} Read gatēshr.

^{page 690 note 1} Epi. Ind., vol. 8, p. 320.

^{page 690 note 2} See, e.g., No. 4 below.

^{page 691 note 1} See the Travancore Archæological Series, No. 1 (1910), p. 5. The editor has wrongly placed the record in a.d. 864–65.

^{page 691 note 2} Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1905–6, p. 183.

^{page 691 note 3} Read varshaṃ.

^{page 691 note 4} Read Irēvadi.

^{page 692 note 1} Epi. Ind., vol. 8, p. 261.

^{page 692 note 2} See the Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, 1908–9, para. 41.

^{page 692 note 3} See the Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, 1907–8, para. 53.

^{page 692 note 4} I am indebted to Dr. Vogel for being able to notice these three here.

^{page 693 note 1} See Mr. Marshall's Note on Archæological Work in Kashmir, 1908, p. 19.

^{page 693 note 2} Unless we may correct the reading into Kalēs=tu or something like that, we can only find here an imaginative genitive invented to suit the verse.

^{page 693 note 3} Read śirshē.

^{page 693 note 4} Compare the date of a.d. 976 or 977, p. 680 above.

^{page 693 note 5} The results are the same both by the tables in Sewell and Dikshit's Indian Calendar, and by Jaeobi's tables in Epi. Ind., vol. 1.

^{page 694 note 1} See Professor S. K. Bhandarkar's Second Report on Sanskrit MSS., 1907, p. 98.

^{page 694 note 2} Read °ṇa.

^{page 694 note 3} As a result of being the standing name of an era of very leading importance, the word śaka, also its derivative śāka, came eventually to be used in the general senses of ‘an era’ and ‘a year.’

^{page 695 note 1} Read °raṇyāṁ.

^{page 695 note 2} For the copies of this almanac and the next one, from which I quote them, I am indebted to Mr. R. K. Tarigondkar, Nazir of the District Court, Dhārwār.

^{page 695 note 3} Read Pratishthāna-nagarē.

^{page 695 note 4} Read °raṇyāṁ.

^{page 695 note 5} Read °shaṇ=nṛipāḥ.

^{page 696 note 1} For the copy from which I quote I am indebted to Mr. Hint Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner, C. P., and Mr. Prem Shankar.

^{page 696 note 2} Except that a commentary on it was written by Bhāvaratna in the Vikrama year 1768 expired, in a.d. 1711 or 1712. The pretended date of the work is given in chapter 22, verse 21. A translation of chapter 22, the last, by Dr. Bhau Daji, may be seen in JBBRAS., 6. 26. Weber proposed to refer the work to about the sixteenth century: Sanskrit Literature, p. 201, note.

^{page 697 note 1} For what is meant by the ‘twilight’ of an age, see p. 481 above.

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