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
