The Spread of Saka Era in South India

Summary

V.V. Mirashi surveys the origin and diffusion of the Saka era, a chronological era starting in AD 78, with special attention to its adoption in South India. The era’s founder is uncertain; it may have been begun by the Kushan emperor Kaniṣka and was used by his successors, but early inscriptions do not name it. The term ‘Saka’ first appears in a sixth‑century inscription of Pulakeśin I. Mirashi reviews how the era was employed by northern dynasties such as the Maghas and Western Kṣatrapas and how it was supplanted by the Gupta era in North India by the late fourth century. Remarkably, after disappearing from the north for nearly five centuries, the Saka era re‑emerged alongside the Vikrama era in a ninth‑century Jain inscription. In the Deccan and South India, however, the era gained ground much earlier. Mirashi cites Nahapāna’s inscriptions (Saka 41–46), Satavahana, Pallava, Kadamba and Western Chalukya records and numerous copper‑plate charters to show that the Saka era became the principal chronological system in the peninsula, often used in tandem with regnal or regional eras. He also distinguishes Saka dates from those of the Kalacuri/Cedi era and corrects misreadings in previous scholarship. By compiling epigraphic evidence, the article elucidates the spread and persistence of the Saka era in South India and its role in reconstructing the chronology of southern dynasties.