Note 39 — Chapter VIII · THE VALABHIS (a.d. 509–766.)

Similarly S. 205 the date given by some of Col. Tod’s authorities (An. of Ráj. I. 82 and 217–220) represents a.d. 524 the practical establishment of the Valabhi dynasty. The mistake of ascribing an era to the overthrow not to the founding of a state occurs (compare Sachau’s Alberuni, II. 6) in the case both of the Vikrama era b.c. 57 and of the Śáliváhana era a.d. 78. In both these cases the error was intentional. It was devised with the aim of hiding the supremacy of foreigners in early Hindu history. So also, according to Alberuni’s information (Sachau, II. 7) the Guptakála a.d. 319 marks the ceasing not the beginning of the wicked and powerful Guptas. This device is not confined to India. His Mede informant told Herodotus (b.c. 450 Rawlinson’s Herodotus, I. 407) that b.c. 708 was the founding of the Median monarchy. The date really marked the overthrow of the Medes by the Assyrian Sargon. ↑