Thread on Śaka era

Kali Yuga of 4,32,000y is divided into 6 sub-divisions called Śaka eras. Each Śaka is founded by a king called Śakakāraka. The king who defeats the Śaka tribes (Mleccha) becomes the founder of a Śaka era. When he does that the existing Śaka era is replaced by+

a new Śaka era. These eras cannot start on some date as they form the basis for time calculations. A new era can be formed only at the completion of a Kali year.

All these eras must have been framed by the “Pura-Vidah”, the sages of the earlier time who devised the Kali Yuga+

computation. The names of the eras and the duration of each of them must have been given by them. If on the other hand, the era classification was done in the period of King Vikrama who initiated the Vikrama Śaka, there is no rationale in allotting just 135 years to his era +

while giving 18,000 years to the next era of Shalivahana. Definitely Vikrama could not have been content with a meager 135 years.
So we can say for sure that Vikrama did not replace the then existing Yudhishthira Śaka on his own volition. As the date of the new era was nearing,+

the event of slaying the Śaka tribes must have been achieved by him. Recognizing these markers, the learned people of his time must have endorsed the change of the Śaka.
This rationale solves the question on the identity of the king Shalivahana, the founder of the 3rd era.+

His identity still being elusive, it appears that this name was given by the ‘Purā-Vidah’ when they handed down the complete structure of Kali Yuga with its Śaka sub-divisions. Whichever king existed at the end of Vikrama Śaka and subdued the Śaka tribes must have been+

recognized as the Śakakāraka of the 3rd era of Shalivahana Śaka.
Shalivahana must have been an assumed name by the king who found himself qualified to be the Śakakāraka at that juncture. So it is futile to search for a king by name “Shalivahana” but would be rewarding to locate+

a king at the expiry of 135 years of Vikrama Śaka who was known to have defeated the Śaka tribes.

That will be done in 15th part of the series.

For related info on the above thread read http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-saka-divisions-of-kali-yuga.html