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THE INDIAN CALENDAR.

with Chaitra śukla pratipadâ in his Grahalâghava (A.D. 1520), but with mean Mesha saṅkrânti in his Tithichintāmaṇi (A.D. 1525.)

69. It is evident therefore that a certain kind of year, e.g., the solar or luni-solar year, or a certain opening month or day, or a certain arrangement of months and fortnights and the like, cannot be strictly defined as belonging exclusively to a particular era or to a particular part of India. We can distinctly affirm that the eras whose luni-solar years are Chaitrâdi (i.e., beginning with Chaitra śukla pratipadâ) are always Meshâdi (beginning with the Mesha saṅkrânti) in their corresponding solar reckoning, but beyond this it is unsafe to go.

70. Current and expired years. It is, we believe, now generally known what an "expired" or "current" year is, but for the benefit of the uninitiated we think it desirable to explain the matter fully. Thus; the same Śaka year (A.D. 1894) which is numbered 1817 vartamâna, or astronomically current, in the pañchâṅgs of the Tamil countries of the Madras Presidency, is numbered 1816 gata ("expired") in other parts of India. This is not so unreasonable as Europeans may imagine, for they themselves talk of the third furlong after the fourth mile on a road as "four miles three furlongs" which means three furlongs after the expiry of the fourth mile, and the same in the matter of a person's age; and so September, A.D. 1894, (Śaka 1817 current) would be styled in India "Śaka 1816 expired, September", equivalent to "September after the end of Śaka 1816" or "after the end of 1893 A.D". Moreover, Indian reckoning is based on careful calculations of astronomical phenomena, and to calculate the planetary conditions of September, 1894, it is necessary first to take the planetary conditions of the end of 1893, and then add to them the data for the following nine months. That is, the end of 1893 is the basis of calculation. It is always necessary to bear this in mind because often the word gata is omitted in practice, and it is therefore doubtful whether the real year in which an inscription was written was the one mentioned therein, or that number decreased by one.^[1]

In this work we have given the corresponding years of the Kali and Śaka eras actually current, and not the expired years. This is the case with all eras, including the year of the Vikrama^[2] era at present in use in Northern India.

71. Description of the several eras. In Table II., Part iii., below we give several eras, chiefly those whose epoch is known or can be fixed with certainty, and we now proceed to describe them in detail.

The Kali-Yuga.—The moment of its commencement has been already given (Art. 16 above). Its years are both Chaitrâdi (luni-solar) and Meshâdi (solar.) It is used both in astro-

↑ See 'Calculations of Hindu dates', by Dr. Fleet, in the Ind. Ant., vols. XVI. to XIX.; and my notes on the date of a Jain Purâṇa in Dr. Bhândârkar's "Report on the search for Sankrit manuscripts" for 1883—1884 A. D., p.p. 429—30 §§ 36, 37. [S. B. D.]
↑ The Vikrama era is never used by Indian astronomers. Out of 160 Vikrama dates examined by Dr. Kielhorn (Ind. Ant., XIX.), there are only six which have to be taken as current years. Is it not, however, possible that all Vikrama years are really current years, but that sometimes in writings and inscriptions the authors have made them doubly current in consequence of thinking them erroneously to be expired years. There is an instance of a Śaka year made twice current in an inscription published in the Ind. Ant., (vol. XX., p 191), The year was already 1155 current, but the number given by the writer of the inscription is 1156, as if 1155 had been the expired year.

As a matter of fact I do not think that it is positively known whether the years of the Christian era are themselves really expired or current years. Warren, the author of the Kálasaṅkalita was not certain. He calls the year corresponding to the Kali year 3101 expired "A.D. 0 complete" (p 302) or "1 current" (p. 294). Thus, by his view, the Christian year corresponding to the Kali year 3102 expired would be A.D. 1 complete or A.D. 2 current. But generally European scholars fix A. D. 1 current as corresponding to Kali 3102 expired. The current and expired years undoubtedly give rise to confusion. The years of the astronomical eras, the Kali and Śaka for instance, may, unless the contrary is proved, be assumed to be expired years, and those of the non-astronomical eras, such as the Vikrama, Gupta, and many others, may be taken as current ones. (See, however, Note 3, p. 42, below.) [S. B. D.]

[1] See 'Calculations of Hindu dates', by Dr. Fleet, in the Ind. Ant., vols. XVI. to XIX.; and my notes on the date of a Jain Purâṇa in Dr. Bhândârkar's "Report on the search for Sankrit manuscripts" for 1883—1884 A. D., p.p. 429—30 §§ 36, 37. [S. B. D.]

[2] The Vikrama era is never used by Indian astronomers. Out of 160 Vikrama dates examined by Dr. Kielhorn (Ind. Ant., XIX.), there are only six which have to be taken as current years. Is it not, however, possible that all Vikrama years are really current years, but that sometimes in writings and inscriptions the authors have made them doubly current in consequence of thinking them erroneously to be expired years. There is an instance of a Śaka year made twice current in an inscription published in the Ind. Ant., (vol. XX., p 191), The year was already 1155 current, but the number given by the writer of the inscription is 1156, as if 1155 had been the expired year.

As a matter of fact I do not think that it is positively known whether the years of the Christian era are themselves really expired or current years. Warren, the author of the Kálasaṅkalita was not certain. He calls the year corresponding to the Kali year 3101 expired "A.D. 0 complete" (p 302) or "1 current" (p. 294). Thus, by his view, the Christian year corresponding to the Kali year 3102 expired would be A.D. 1 complete or A.D. 2 current. But generally European scholars fix A. D. 1 current as corresponding to Kali 3102 expired. The current and expired years undoubtedly give rise to confusion. The years of the astronomical eras, the Kali and Śaka for instance, may, unless the contrary is proved, be assumed to be expired years, and those of the non-astronomical eras, such as the Vikrama, Gupta, and many others, may be taken as current ones. (See, however, Note 3, p. 42, below.) [S. B. D.]

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