Rajatarangini of Kalhana:Kings of Kashmira/Appendix A
| Wikified by:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.) |
Being A Translation of the Sanskrit Work
Rajatarangini of Kalhana Pandita
By Jogesh Chunder Dutt
1887
London: Trubner & Co.[p.i]: Here we give a line-for-line translation of Kahlana Pandita's calculation, fixing the age of Gonanda, the first king of Kashmira, mentioned in his book.
Line 48: In Kali Yuga, Gonanda and others reigned in Kashmira for 2268 years.
Line 49: Some authors have made this erroneous calculation (as given in line 48) being misled by the supposition that the battle described in Mahabharata took place at the end of the Dvapara Yuga.
Line 50: For, if the number of years during which these kings reigned be added together, and the sum be deducted from the years of Kali Yuga which are past, there remains nothing.
Line 51: The Kurus and the Pandavas lived when 653 years of Kali were past.
Line 52: Now the 24th year of the Laukika (current) era coincides with 1070 of Saka era.
Line 53: From the time when Gonanda lived 2,330 years are a past.
Line 54: The fifty-two kings (whose history is a blank) reigned for 1,266 years.
Line 55: In Chitrashikhandi it is said that to travel from one star (Riksha) to another, the Great Bear (Munis) takes a hundred years ; and historians have given the following calculations.
Line 56: When Yudhishthira reigned the Great Bear was at Magha star. He therefore reigned at 2,526th year (before) the Saka era.
Note.— Kahlana Pandita makes Gonanda contemporaneous with the battle of Mahabharata, and fixes the date of that event at 653rd year of Kali. He rejects the opinion held by some that it took place at the end of Dvapara. Now the reigns of the kings whose history is known, covered a period of 2,330 years, up to the lime of Kahlana Pandita ; and those of the fifty two kings whose history is not known covered a period of 1,266 years, making a total of 3,596 years, between the tune of the first king of Kashmira and Kahlana. But the first king,
[p.ii]: Gonanda, lived in 653 of the Kali Yuga, hence Kahlana lived in the year 4,249th of Kali. Again the author says, that he wrote- his book in the year 1070 of Saka era ; and we have just seen that Gonanda lived 3,596 years before Kahlana, hence we find that Gonanda reigned 2,526 years before the Saka era (as stated in line 56). There prevailed a peculiar era in Kashmir called the Laukika, or the current era, according to which, as each century was completed, it was left out of calculation. We have the author's statement that he was writing on its 24th of this era. Deducting 24 from 3,596 we get 3,572 (from the time of Gonanda), and this year was therefore the Close of a century of the Laukika era. Dividing it by 100 we have 3572, i.e., Gonanda was reigning on the 72nd year of the 36th century before the current Laukika century in which the historian wrote.
From the above, it is easy to fix dates according to the Christian era which is, roughly speaking, 78 years before the Saka era. The following statement of the times of Gonanda and Kahlana Pandita respectively, will shew the dates at a glance.
| S.No. | Kali. | Saka | Laukika | Christian Era |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gonanda | 653 | (Before). 2,526 | (Before) *36-72 | 2,448 BC |
| Kahlana | (After.) 4,249 | 1,070 | (After.) 1-24 | 1,148 AD |
* Beckoning as 1 the current Laukika centary in which Kahlana wrote.