Sunday, August 27, 2023

Identity of the Śakakāraka of Shalivahana Śaka (Supplement to Mahabharata date series 16)

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Recap:

The knowledge of the beginning date of Kali Maha Yuga being vital in deciphering the date of the Mahabharata war, this supplementary series was made to clear the doubts and questions of Kali Yuga.

Kali Yuga has six sub-divisions, known as Śaka-s, already mentioned in the 13th Part. They are listed down here again.

1.         Yudhiṣṭhira Śaka

2.         Vikrama Śaka

3.         Śālivāhana Śaka

4.         Vijayābhinandana Śaka

5.         Nagārjuna Śaka

6.         Bali Śaka 

The duration of each of these Śaka is already fixed by the sages as shown in the table below:

The complete plan of Kali Yuga of 4,32,000 years already in existence implies that it was devised at the time Kali Yuga computation was handed down. This was done by ‘Purā-vidah’- the learned people of the past who declared that Kali Yuga started on the day Kṛṣṇa left for his higher realm, as per Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. 

We have already discussed in the previous parts the references from Jyotirvidābharaṇa by Kalidasa on how a Śakakāraka is decided, based on defeating the Śaka tribes. This text was written in 57 BCE, 24 years after the Vikrama Śaka began.

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The first Śaka of Kali yuga was named after Yudhiṣṭhira, who annihilated many Śaka tribes in the Mahābhārata war. Yudhiṣṭhira Śaka did not include the 35 years of rule by Yudhiṣṭhira but it started only with the beginning of Kali Mahā Yuga, after Yudhiṣṭhira abdicated the throne and Parīkṣit was crowned. Even though Yudhiṣṭhira had left, his rule of the law was prevailing. Hence, the name Yudhiṣṭhira Śaka. This Śaka went on for 3044 years. 

(It is shocking to see several scholars of yester years, assigning the year of the Mahabharata war as the beginning of Yudhishthira Śaka. I noticed this particularly while going through the previous works on the date of Adi Shankara. Almost everyone who attempted to fix a date for Adi Shankara has taken Yudhishthira Śaka as starting from the Mahabharata war date, while it refers to the Kali Yuga date)

The next Śaka was that of king Vikramāditya who defeated the Śaka and the Ramatha tribes.  (14th Part) Seeing him subdue the Śaka tribes when the new Śaka era was due, the scholars of that time crowned him as the Śakakāraka. If the Śaka classification was arbitrarily made by Vikrama himself, he could have given more years to his own era and not just 135 years and a long duration of 18,000 years for the next Śaka! This goes to show that the Śaka divisions were made at the time of the start of the Kali Yuga and the kings abided by them.

In this article, let me focus on the 3rd subdivision namely, Śālivāhana Śaka.

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The third sub-division of Kali Yuga was Śālivāhana Śaka, whose initiator is not exactly known. However, going by the requisites of a Śakakāraka, I have zeroed in on Gautamīputra Śatakarṇi of the Sātavāhana empire.

He defeated Nahapāna of the Śaka tribes in addition to the Yavana-s, Pahlava-s and Parthia-s. This information is written in the Nashik inscriptions of his mother Gautamī Bālaśri as “Śaka-yavana-pahlava-niṣudana”. His victory over the king Nahapāna of the Śaka tribes is authenticated by the discovery of a hoard of coins at Jogalthambi, numbering more than 13,000 originally issued by Nahapāna, but more than 9000 of them counterstruck with the legends and symbols of Gautamīputra Śatakarṇi.  

His name is associated with the Tamil Cera king Senkuttuvan, who made an expedition to the Himalayas to procure stones for making the image of Kannagi. According to the olden Tamil Epic, Silappadhikāram, the Cera king was assisted by a Śatakarṇi in his trip. The army of the Cera king and that of the Śatakarṇi had fought together against the Yavana-s settled in the environs of the Amarnāth cave, whose peak known as “Paruppadam” in Tamil, was the destination of the Cera King. Silappadhikāram mentions twice about the victory of the Cera King over the Yavana-s (van sol yavanar valanādu āndu / வன்சொல் யவனர் வளநாடு ஆண்டு).[i]

Gautamīputra Śatakarṇi being the only Śatakarṇi associated with a victory over the Yavana-s, it is deduced that he was the one mentioned in Silappadhikāram. This victory also made him the Śakakāraka of the third Śaka, namely Śālivāhana Śaka.

Nashik inscription about Gautamīputra Śatakarṇi

The Nashik inscription provides an important information that this king devised Time and place for the pursuit of three goals, perhaps referring to Dharma, Artha and Kāma. Written specifically as “suvibhatativaga desa kālasa”, this seems to indicate the initiation of Śālivāhana Śaka. Starting from this Śaka, many Karaṇa texts were written to prepare the tables for Pancānga-s for usage in religious, cultural, civil, and administrative works. The relevant parts of this inscription referring to the king’s Time and his victory over the Śaka tribes is produced above.[ii]

On the eastern walls of the veranda of Cave 3 where the inscription on devising Time and the victory over the Śaka-s are found, there is another inscription dictated by Gautamīputra Śatakarṇi from his military camp at the battlefield soon after winning the Śaka king ‘Usabadata’ (Rishabhadatta), the son-in-law of Nahapāna, transferring the villages previously under the control of the Western Kṣatrapa-s to the ascetics.[iii]

The deed declares that it was issued on the 18th year of the rule of the king, on the 1st day of the second fortnight of the rainy season. In Caitra, the next year, this king must have got established as the Śakakāraka. This was at the expiry of 3179 Kali year, corresponding to 78 CE.

The name Śālivāhana given by the Purā-Vidah at the time of Vyāsa was taken over to refer to this new era which we, the Bhāratīya-s continue to use till date.

 

(End of the series)

 



[i] Silappadhikāram, 28.141; 29.25

[ii] Epigraphia Indica, Vol VIII, p.60

[iii] Epigraphia Indica, Vol VIII, p.71


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