पञ्चसिद्धान्तिका (आचार्य वराहमिहिर - सूर्य, रोमक, पौलिश, वासिष्ठ एवं पितामह सिद्धान्त)

Appendix VII Śaka and Samvatsara, Time of Varāhamihira, Reasons of falsification 1. Śaka and Samvatsara Śaka is considered related to Śaka tribe or the Śaka–dvīpa (continent) which surrounds or is adjacent to Jambū- dvīpa as per purāṇas. Another misconception is that it was started by Kuṣāṇa (a branch of Śaka-tribe) king Kaniṣka. This assumption has 3 fallacies-(a) As per Rājatarangiṇī of Kalhaṇa, three Turkistan chieftains Huşka, Juşka, and Kaniṣka ruled from 1294 to 1234 BC. They were Buddhists, but they had not started any calendar.(b) Śālivāhana-Śaka started in 78 AD long after period of Kaniṣka whose period is shifted by 1200 years to make it tally with this era. (c) Śālivāhana is not the only Śaka- there are śakas in name of Yudhiṣṭhira starting on 17-12- 3139 BC, Śūdraka in 756 BC, Śrī Harṣa śaka in 456 BC, Kalchuri or Chedi śaka in 248 AD, and various local śa- kas started by local kings in Nepal (Newar in 889 AD, claimed unification in 1769 AD), Shivaji śaka in 1673 AD, Kapilendra śaka in Orissa 1426 etc. None of these kings are of Śaka tribe. Even Siddhārtha Buddha (1886-1805 BC as per purāṇas) is called 'Śākyamuni' though he was descendant of Sūryavamśī Rāmachandra, not of śaka tribe. Similarly, only the following years are called 'Samvat- (a) Sṛṣṭi (creation) samvat from which time planetary system of sun is moving in present manner as per Sūrya- siddhānta (about 198 crore years) (b) Paraśurām-samvat, called Kollam (Kalamba) in Kerala, starting in 6,177 BC. (c) Kali Samvat starting on 17/18-2-3102 BC (without counting 0 AD), Ujjain mid-night. (d) Vikrama (Vikramāditya of Paramāra-Agni dynasty of Ujjain, 82 BC to 19 AD)- Samvat starting in 57 BC. It is surprising that even the astronomers are now using these two words - śaka and samvatsara- in same meaning due to ignoring our veda and purāṇas and depending on deliberately distorted and ignorant European books. Śālivāhana-Śaka is frequently called as 'Śaka -samvat' which has no meaning. It can be either 'Śaka' or 'samvat', and there are many other Śaka, as per examples shown above. Otto Neugebauer in his book- 'Exact Sciences of Antiquity'(Harvard university,1957) has written that two sys- tems of calendar were simultaneously in use in Egypt- one was for mathematical purpose which tallied with sea- sons and the other for civil purpose which was simple to use. Only other reference to double system is 'amali (from amal or rule of a king), and 'fasali'(tallying with seasonal cycle of agriculture) in Persian language. To indicate year Vedas have used only 'samvatsara' whose short form is 'samvat'. This is further shortened to san in Persian. Samvatsara has the following derivations and meanings- (i) Collection of seasons-'Samvasanti ṛtavah yasmin'= in which ṛtu (seasons) reside. This has two meanings. In the space of solar system there are 6 zones of varying energy-Zone number location Ahargaṇa No.(radius of nth zone = earth radius x 2 n-3) 0 Earth surface 3 (2 layers within earth as image of solar system, galaxy) 1 2⁶ times earth 9 (sphere enclosing moon orbit) 2 2¹² times earth 15 (sphere extending up to 60% of venus orbit) 3 2¹⁸ times earth 21sphere around sun, radius of 1000 sun diameter)