Roughly some time in 78 CE, a ruler, whose name remains unverified from the historians’ point of view, declared the beginning of the Saka era. Interestingly, this date was earlier identified with the rise of the great Kushana ruler, Kanishka. The fact that the Kushanas were contemporaneous to the Indo-Scythian rulers of the same name (Sakas) also gave some relevance to this association. Hence, the Saka era was associated with Kanishka for a long time. But in light of the recent findings by Henry Falk, the link between the Saka era and Kanishka was severed. It is now widely accepted that the Saka era was initiated by King Shalivahana of the Satavahana dynasty that was prominent in the Deccan region. King Shalivahana is also the proposed name for the 23rd Satavahana ruler, Sri Gautami Putra Satkarni, who was famously known as the ‘destroyer of the Sakas’. Perhaps, the ‘Saka Era’ was a symbolic reference to the end of the Saka rule in India at the hands of the Satavahana ruler. While the mystery behind the original founder remains unresolved, the accuracy of the dating structure of the Saka era has been widely accepted by scholars.

Due to its similarities with the Gregorian calendar, followed all over the world, the Government of India in 1957 adopted the Saka Samvat as the national calendar. The idea was to preserve the intellectual achievements and the history of our past rulers.

It was an ambitious plan indeed and a rational one, too, considering the nation was still trying to shake off the British elements from their people’s minds. Hence, the Saka calendar and time began to be used for all official purposes. But it only went as far ahead as this.

There are very few people who follow the Saka calendar and even fewer who are actually aware of a national calendar. It is important to note that several regions in India do celebrate different spring festivals around the same time as the Saka New year in the month of Chaitra. However, most people and particularly the younger generations, are not aware of the connection of these festivals of the national new year. Moreover, these festivals only have a regional significance, so the kind of unified celebration and nationwide recognition that Nehru envisaged was never witnessed. Imagine all the people in the country performing a countdown to the new year on December 31st. Now imagine all the people from different parts of the country doing the same on March 21st. That’s not likely to happen anytime soon because we are still living in the shadow of the West.

The existence of the Saka calendar proves that Indians were as creative and advanced as the westerners. It shows that the ancient rulers of our country were visionaries and gave us a history we can be proud of. The Saka calendar is quite popular outside India. Many Hindu communities living in Java, Bali and Indonesia celebrate the Saka new year with equal enthusiasm. The Nepal Samvat is also partly influenced by the Indian Saka calendar. While it is important to maintain our pace with the world, we must also learn to peek into our past traditions to relive some glorious moments our ancestors had created for us.