Matsya purana on Saka era

October 9, 2008

Dear all,

i have notified you earlier that my research reveals that the Eras such

as Samvata era and Saka era are repetitive. matsya purana suggests the same

A. 1st Saka era :

Puranas state that it is 1500 years between King Pariskit and the start

of rule of nandas, We know that pariskit started his rule in 3102 bce

and hence, the rule of Nandas is dated to 1602 bce. Nandas have ruled

for 100 years i.e. till 1502 bce. After this, Nandas have ruled

for 137 years, with Brhdratha, the last king ruling for 7 years.

ie till 1365 bce.Till here, most of the Puranas agree. It is here that

Matsya purana gives us extra information.

While Brhdratha was killed by his Sunga commander, his descandents have

ruled for 63 years more (since the purana states that it is 70 years

inclusive of brhdratha, we have taken 63 years, after deducating 7

years of his rule) this will land us in 1302 bce.

matsya purana declares that " after this, there is a king Saka who came

by and ruled for 26 years " Thus, we can take 1302 bce to be the first

saka era.

B. 2nd Saka era:

it is stated by Varaha mihira , a famous astronomer,

that Yudhistara started ruling as king 2526 years

before start of Saka . Varaha mihira was quoting from Garga Samhita

produced sometime in 2nd bce and hence, this could not be the 78 CE

saka era we know of.

The encyclopaedia of Jainism states that the saka era started sometime

towards the end of 7th C. (602 bce or so) during the reign of

Vinayamitra Dewal, king of Khotan, Central Asia.

Since Mbh war took place in 3138 bce and Yudhistir became king in the

same year, Saka era of 7th C can be accurately placed at 612 bce

(3138 -2526 = 612 bce)

Now that we have calculated the two Saka eras, it may be note worthy to

see that they are set apart by exactly 690 years from one another

1302 bce+ 690 = - 1302 + 690= 612 bce + 690 =-612+690= 78 Ce

This is a new discovery in the Traditional chronology.

best regards,

Kishore patnaik

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