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The minting date, here 153 (100-50-3 in Brahmi script numerals) of the Saka era, therefore 231 CE, clearly appears behind the head of the king. The Shaka era ( IAST : Śaka, Śāka ) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) [ 2 ] of which corresponds to Julian year 78.
Usage started officially on 1 Chaitra 1879 Saka Era, or 22 March 1957. However, despite the government's attempts to propagate the calendar through official Rashtriya Panchangs, the Indian national calendar did not find acceptance with panchang makers or the general public, and current usage is largely limited to governmental offices.
The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Indo-Scythians were defeated by the Satavahana emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Indo-Scythian rule in the northwestern subcontinent ceased when the last Western Satrap Rudrasimha IIII was defeated by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II in 395 CE.
The second system is called Saka Era of 78 AD, or simply Saka Era, a system that is common in epigraphic evidence from southern India. [33] Saka era of Southeast Asia: The Hindu calendar system in Indonesia is attributed to the legend of Hindus arriving with a sage Aji Saka in 1st-century Java, in March 78 CE.
The date of Castana is not certain, but many believe his reign started in the year 78 CE, thus making him the founder of the Saka era. [46] This is consistent with the fact that his descendants (who we know used the Saka era on their coins and inscriptions) would use the date of their founder as their era.
Cataphract-style parade armour of a Saka royal, also known as "The Golden Warrior", from the Issyk kurgan, a historical burial site near Almaty, Kazakhstan. Circa 400–200 BC. [5] [6] The Saka [a] were a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin from the 9th century BC to the 5th century AD.
Among modern scholars, the beginning of the Saka era is widely equated to the ascension of Chashtana (possibly to Mahakshatrapa) in 78 CE. [10]A statue found in Mathura together with statues of the Kushan king Kanishka and Vima Taktu, and bearing the name "Shastana" (Middle Brahmi script of the Kushan period: Ṣa-sta-na) is often attributed to Chashtana himself. [4]
Like the Scythians whom Herodotus describes in book four of his History (Saka is an Iranian word equivalent to the Greek Scythes, and many scholars refer to them together as Saka-Scythian), Sakas were Iranian-speaking horse nomads who deployed chariots in battle, sacrificed horses, and buried their dead in barrows or mound tombs called kurgans ...