Ancient Indian History

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Ishwa,

Thanks again for your detailed post!

Shalivahana did start a new era within a very short span of time after vikrama era. He could have merely wanted to commemorate his victory, but the mere fact of establishing a new era implicitly implies that the new kingdom doesn't encourage the use of the older era. Both eras had similar claim to fame, e.g. driving away the shakas, both were established in the same geographical region and within a narrow temporal span. The kings in general suffer from a deep yearning for glory, barring the sage-kings or avataras. So, altjhough it is quite possible that there was no malice in shalivahana towards vikrama, but a competition for glory is quite evident.

HH,

Nice writeup on Bhoja-rAja. It seems the Wikipedia has summarily quoted your article without any references to your blog.

Re: pArada (mercury) and its various uses in rasAyana
Have you come across any evidence that may suggest that pArada could stand for molten-metal (liquid metal) in general?

Bodhji,

Thanks for reminding me the saying about rAjA bhoj and gangoo teli. I didn't know about the other one.