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4 W. R. ANTARKAR

visit to Nepal, in the reign of King Vrsadevavarman, the 18lh king of the Suryavajftśa dynasty of Nepal. According to one inscriplion of King Sivadevavarman, the 27lh king of the same dynasty, this king was coronated in the year 119 of Harsa Sariwat, whieh is said to give us 338 B.C.⁷ This king is said to be removed from king Vrsadevavarman by 150 years., thus giving his years as 488 B.C., which is also given in the Vartiśśvalj as the year of Sań.^#s visit to Nepal.

Lastly, when I visiled Puri in 1958 A.D. and met the pontiff of the Govardhana Mutl, I was told by the pontiff that the Mutt, which I had visited, was not the original site of the same eslablished by Sart. The original site was inside the JagannStha’s tempie, from whcre it was shifted to the present site about 1150 years ago and that it was long after S&rt/s time. This seems to square with 484 B.C. mentioned in the list of the Mutfs Acfcryas as the year of the establishment of the Mutt by Sart.

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Ali these pieccs of cvidcnce seem to prove that Sart. was born in 509 B.C. and dicd in 477/6 B.C., or that his period was from 510 B.C. to 477 B.C. This is many limes called the 6lh cent. B.C. theory. Therc arc, however, many and very serious objeclions to this theory and they havc been put forward, parlicularly by the nalive scholars like Shri K.R. Venkataraman, Shri Raja Gopal Sharma and Prof. R.M. Umesh as also some olher scholars who have tried to lackie the issue of Sart/s datę. Prof. Umesh has in particular tried to cxpose the utler unreliability of all the Mutt rccords, which point to this theory and then tried to show by independent evidence

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and arguments bascd ihcreon that Sań. will have to be placcd somewhere in the second hall' of the 7th cent. A.D. only.

The various objeclions to this theory arc:

1) The authorities like Dr.Ś. V., Pr.Ś. V., Sari. Vil. and the Jain work referred to and quotcd from by Susami, Shri T.S. Narayan Sastry, and Shri Rashivadekar are not available anywherc so far. Evcn Sań. Vil. which is said to give 788 A.D. as the datę of birth of Śri Abhi. Śań.⁸, the 36lh or 38th head of the Kćlńcl Kima. Mutt is not available anywhere.

For about 40 years I have been trying to get one or morę of these works throughoul India and yet, I have failed to tracę them - cven one. I have, however, strong grounds for holding that they existed till very reccntly and possibly exist even today. The Advaila RSjya LaksmT, a commentary on the Sariksepa Sarikara Jaya of Madhava as well as Susami quote profusely from both these works. Morę than this, the late Shri T.S.N. Sastry, a Madras

High Court Advocate, has stated in no unccrtain terms that he had with

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him a copy of the second part of Dr. S.V. of Cii. and from his book, he also seems to have had with him some other books also like Gauda. Ullśsa, Sań. Vil. which seem to have been ulilised by him at first hand while writing