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Astrology / Vedic Jyotish
Dating Mahabharata
– Two Eclipses in Thirteen Days
Abstract
Mahabharata war is considered by many to be a historical event. The
epic states that a singularly ominous pair of eclipses occurred in
“Thirteen days” some time before the war. Using modern astronomical
software, our article shows that a number of “Thirteen day” eclipse pairs
were visible in Kurukshethra. Article suggests some candidate dates
for Mahabharata war.
Introduction
Mahabharata is a great epic, and is one of the pillars of present day
Hinduism. The Mahabharata story and its moral ethos have had
profound influence on millions over many generations. Mahabharata
war is said to have occurred before the transition of Dwapara Yuga
to Kali Yuga. Dating the Mahabharata war and start of
Kaliyuga has been elusive and going on for many centuries.
Aryabhata, is a famous early astronomer with contributions to
science, whose estimate of p, and the time of moon revolution around the
earth are so accurate, that his works are being extensively researched.
Aryabhata (476-550 AD) stated that Kaliyuga started 3600 years
before, when he was 23 years old, making the start as 3102 BC [Aryabhateeya
ref-1]). It would date Mahabharata war to around circa 3130-3140
BCJ.
Surya Siddhanta [Ref 2], a document evolved from roughly same
period, states that sun was 54 degrees away from vernal equinox when
Kaliyuga started on a new moon day, corresponding to February 17/18,
3102 BCJ, at Ujjain (75deg47minE 23deg 15min N).
Varaha Mihira (circa 560 AD), another famous astronomer, stated
that 2526 years before start of Saka count (either Shalivahana saka
starting in 79 AD or Vikrama Saka starting in 57 BC) [Brihat
Samhita Ref-3] as per text below.
When Saptarishis (ursa major) was near Magha Yudhistira
was king 2526 years before Saka time
Presently, traditional Sanatana Dharma followers consider that
Kaliyuga started at 3102 BCJ, when Sri Krishna passed away, and that
Mahabharata war occurred in 3138 BCJ. Millennium year 2000 AD is
Kali 5102.
Like Homer’s Iliad, another epic poetry from Greece, different scholars
have expressed opinions varying between the story of Mahabharata
being either total fiction or true record of historical facts. It took
efforts by Schliemann and others to show physical archeological evidence
of existence of Troy in present day Turkey, and Homer’s poems having
historical relevance.
Bharata has been continuously and relatively densely lived in for
thousands of years and in Northern Bharata the archeological
evidence is difficult to come by because of many 100’s of generations of
people living in same area. Hence, it is usual to look for Puranic
and Vedic (written and oral recitation) astronomical evidence to
substantiate the time periods. As is true of all such documents like bible
stories, Scandinavian, Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian and other documented
local folklore, the historical truths are likely to be anywhere between
absolute truth to vivid imagination. An objective analysis can help in
determining the likelihood of folklore being a historical fact or not.
Mahabharata
Mahabharata epic story was written by, Vedavyaasa (or Krishna
Dwaipaayana) after the Mahabharata war. Vyaasa is also
credited with codifying the existing branches of Vedas. It is
perhaps the longest poem of its kind of such antiquity. The presently
known oldest version of Mahabharata, based on its style, grammar
and other features was probably written down before the Gupta period. This
Mahabharata text does not refer to any Zodiac’s or Raashis
(a western concept probably accommodated in to Jyotishya some time
during 300BC to 200AD). The linguistic style of the oldest version of
Mahabharata clearly cannot be the basis for determining if and when
the events of Mahabharata occurred. It probably may have been
rewritten/re-rendered many times as the mode of transference was by oral
traditions as in the case of Vedic chandas prosody. The known
oldest version has nearly 90,000 to 100,000 poems dominantly with 32
syllables Anushtup chandas, in 18 chapters called Parva’s
[ref-4 and 5].
The Bhishma Parva and Udyoga Parva (specific chapters of
Mahabharata) provide considerable astronomical/astrological
descriptions and omens as the Mahabharata war was approaching. It
describes a period of draught, with many planetary positions. Then there
is this clear reference to pair of eclipses occurring on 13th day as shown
below.
Fourteenth day, Fifteenth day and in past sixteenth day, but I have never
known the Amavasya (New Moon day) to occur on the thirteenth day.
Lunar eclipse followed by solar eclipse on thirteenth day is in a single
lunar month etc…..
This reference to “Thirteen day” eclipse pair appears to be a unique
astronomical observation.
Mahabharata text also refers to
retrograde motions of planets prior to war and provides their location
with reference to 27/28 Vedic star locations. Mahabharata Drona Parva
also refers to Jayadhratha’s killing during a dark episode on 13th
day of the war, which some consider as another short solar eclipse.
This document is basically concerned with analysis of all eclipses visible
at Kurukshethra (Location where Mahabharata war took place,
north of New Delhi, Longitude 76 deg 49 min East, Latitude 29 deg 59 Min
North) from 3300 BC to about Buddha-Mahavira-Parshvanaatha time of
about 700BC. Analysis of the time between successive eclipses,
specifically time between end of one and beginning of other has been made,
with a view to look at astronomical feasibility of back-to-back eclipses
in 13 days, using modern astronomical computer software.
Another major issue of how did observers of the period define and
determine period between eclipses when no clocks existed, has been
addressed.
Eclipses
Lunar eclipse occurs when Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon. There are
about 150 lunar eclipses per century. Lunar eclipses can occur only at
full moon, and can be either total or partial. Further they can be umbral
and or penumbral. Total lunar eclipses can last up to 2 hours, while
partial lunar eclipses can last up to 4 hours. Any observer on dark face
of earth can see when lunar eclipse when it occurs. During period 3500BC
to 700 BC, nearly 4350 lunar eclipses have probably occurred. A good
fraction of these would have been visible in Kurukshethra [ref-6].
Solar Eclipse occurs when Moon’s shadow falls on earth observer. About 240
solar eclipses occur every century. During period 3500BC to 700 BC, nearly
6960 Solar Eclipses have occurred. Solar can occur only at new moon. Solar
eclipses may be total or annular. Total solar eclipses can last up to
about 8 minutes, and partial solar eclipses can last up to 115minutes. The
shadow of moon has a limited size of few thousand miles falling on nearly
8000-mile diameter earth. Hence, solar eclipses can be seen only in a
limited range of longitude-latitude where the shadow falls. Elsewhere,
even though sun is visible, eclipse will not be seen.
Eclipse evaluating computational software and its validation in present
context
Astronomical calculations have been greatly improved since past 30 years,
particularly with considerable amount of trajectory work conducted in Moon
and other scientific projects. High accuracy computer models and software
have been developed. These are validated against databases from US Naval
Observatory’s Interactive computer Ephemeris, and Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in California. One such code is LodeStar Pro copy righted by
Wayne C Annala in 1994 [Ref- 7]. The Lodestar Pro was checked for
historical eclipses of 1000-2500 BC from clay tablet records of
Mesopotamia area presently available with British Museum. Wayne Mitchell
has analyzed this data [Ref-8]. Lodestar Pro provided excellent match with
ref-8.
Eclipses at Kurukshethra
During the period of our interest, 3500BC to 700 BC, nearly 4350 Lunar
Eclipses and 6960 solar eclipses have occurred on earth. Of these nearly
673 solar and lunar eclipses occurred in pairs of time gap of about
nominal 15 days corresponding to roughly half lunar month. We need to
search amongst these 673 for eclipse pairs visible in Kurukshethra,
which occurred in “Thirteen” days.
A very detailed scan of all the visible lunar and solar eclipses for every
year from 3300BC to 700 BC was made on the Lodestar software for
Kurukshethra location. These are tabulated and plotted. Maximum
eclipse time gap (end of one eclipse and beginning of next eclipse for
naked eye observers) was found to be about 379 hours while the minimum was
about 332 hours. A plot of time gap between back-to-back eclipses versus
eclipse pair number is shown below. (This time corresponds to maximum to
maximum – not end of one to beginning of next as in the future table).
The plot shows that during the period 3300BC to 700 BC, (Julian year
corresponds to zero at 4712 BC- an imaginary date- Our range corresponds
to 1412 Julian year to 4012 Julian Year) nearly 672 pairs of eclipses
occurred on earth, which in principle may have been visible at
Kurukshethra. Amongst these, nearly 32 pairs would be occurring for
period less than 14 days. Many of these were found to be weak penumbral
eclipses of moon, and solar eclipses had such low obscurity as to raise
the issue whether any body could see them. Six pairs of “thirteen day”
eclipses could be seen unambiguously.
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