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Information from books by Dr.
P. V. Vartak , Pune, INDIA
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line from year 23700 B.C.
THE SCIENTIFIC DATING OF THE MAHABHARAT WAR (by Dr. P.V. VARTAK )
(16th OCTOBER 5562 B.C.)
(
See Planetary Positions
)
INTRODUCTION
The Mahabharat has exercised a continuous and pervasive influence
on the Indian mind for millennia. The Mahabharat, originally
written by Sage Ved Vyas in Sanskrit, has been
translated and adapted into numerous languages
and has been set to a variety of interpretations. Dating back to "remote
antiquity", it is still a living force in the life of the
Indian masses.
Incidentally, the dating of the Mahabharat War has been
a matter of challenge and controversy for a century or two.
European scholars have maintained that the events described in the
ancient Sanskrit texts are imaginary and subsequently, the
Mahabharat derived to be a fictitious tale of a war fought between two
rivalries. Starting from the so- called
Aryan invasion into Bharat, the current Bharatiya chronology
starts from the compilation of the Rigved in 1200
B.C., then come other Ved's, Mahaveer Jain
is born, then Gautam Buddha lives around 585 B.C. and the rest follows.
In the meantime, the Brahmanas, Samhitas, Puranas,
etc. are written and the thought contained therein is
well-absorbed among the Hindu minds. Where does
the Ramayan and Mahabharat fit in ? Some say
that the Ramayan follows Mahabharat and some opine otherwise. In all
this anarchy of Indian histography, the date of
the Mahabharat (the mythical story!) ranges
between 1000 B.C. to 300 B.C. Sanskrit epics were academically
attacked occasionally in an attempt to disprove
the authenticity of the annals noted therein. For example, the European
Indologiest Maxmuller, tried the interpret the
astronomical evidences to prove that the observations recorded in
the Hindu scriptures are imaginary, probably because
it did not match the prevalent views of European historians!
On the contrary, many Bharatiya scholars have vehemently
maintained the actual occurrence of the Mahabharat War.
Astronomical and literary evidences or clues from the Pauranic and
Vedic texts have been deciphered to provide a conclusive
date for the Mahabharat War. The fifth century mathematician,
Aryabhatta, calculated the date of
the
Mahabharat War to be approximately 3100 B.C. from the planetary
positions recorded in the Mahabharat. Prof. C.V. Vaidya and Prof. Apte
had derived the date to be 3101 B.C. and Shri. Kota Venkatachalam
reckoned it to be 3139 B.C. However, the astronomical data used by
the above, and many other, scholars contained some errors as
examined by a scholar from Pune, Dr. P.V. Vartak. Using
astronomical references and variety of other sources,
Dr. Vartak has derived the date of the initiation of the Mahabharat War
to be 16th October 5562 B.C. This proposed date has
been examined by a few scholars and has been verified. This may
prove to be a break-through in deciding the chronology of the
events in the history of Bharat (and probably the World).
In the following few posts, I have made an attempt to provide a glance
at the proofs provided by Dr. Vartak in propounding
the date of the very important landmark in the history
of Bharat (World?), i.e., Mahabharat War. Only major
points have been extracted from two sources:
Dr. P.V. Vartak's
"Swayambhu" in Marathi Language
"Scientific Dating of the Mahabharat War" in English.
INSCRIPTIONS
------------
Some scholars rely on the various inscriptions found in the
temples and elsewhere to fix the date of Mahabharat War. If there
is no other alternative then this method is tolerable, otherwise it is
not reliable because all the known inscriptions are
dated as far back as 400 AD. Those who prepared those inscriptions
were not conversant with the scientific
methods available now in the modern Science Age. So, why should we
depend on the conjectures of the ancient people? Why not use scientific
methodology to come to the conclusion ourselves? I will prefer the use
of the modern scientific ways to fix the
date of Mahabharat War rather than to rely on the Inscriptions
which are vague and inconclusive. Let us examine two famous inscriptions
always quoted by the scholars.
AIHOLE INSCRIPTION
------------------
All the scholars have relied on this inscription found in
the Jain Temple at Aihole prepared by one
Chalukya King Pulakeshi. It says, according to
scholars, that the temple was
constructed in 30+3000+700+5 = 3735 years, after the
Bharat War and 50+6+500 = 556 years of Shaka era in Kali
era. Today Shaka era is 1910. Hence 1910- 556 =
1354 years ago the temple was constructed. Thus the
year of inscribing this note is 634 AD. At this time 3735
years had passed from the Bharat War. So the date of the War
comes to 3101 BC. This is also the date of Kali Yuga Commencement.
Naturally, it is evident that relying on the beginning of Kaliyuga Era
and holding that the War took place just before the commencement of
Kaliyuga, this inscription is prepared.
It is obvious from the Mahabharat that the War did not
happen near about the beginning of Kaliyuga. (I have considered
this problem fully at a later stage.) If we can see that the inscription
is prepared by relying on some false assumption, we have to
neglect it because it has no value as an
evidence. Moreover the interpretation done by the scholars is doubtful
because they have not considered the clauses separately
and they held Bharat War and Kali Era as one and the same.
The verse inscribed is :
Trinshatsu Trisahasreshu Bhaaratdahavaditaha | Saptabda
Shatayukteshu
Gateshwabdeshu Panchasu | Panchashatasu Kalaukale Shatasu Panchashatsu
cha | Samatsu Samatitasu Shakaanamapi Bhoobhujaam ||
I would like to interpreter the verse considering the clauses
of the verse. It says "3030 years from the Bharat War"
in the first line, ( Trinshatsu Trisahasreshu Bhaaratdahavaaditaha)
where the first clause of the sentence ends.
in the second line, the second clause starts and runs
up to the middle of the
third line thus ( Saptabda.....Kalaukale) This
means 700+5+50 = 755 years passed in the Kali Era. The remaining
third clause is ( Shatasu
Here the verse does not specifically say the
Shalivahan Shaka but Scholars have taken
granted that it is Shalivahan Shaka without any base or reasoning.
The verse may have mentioned some other
Shaka kings from ancient era. So we neglect the doubtful part of the Shaka counting which is
useless and adhere to the Kali
era expressly mentioned. It is clear from the former portion of
the verse that 3030 years passed from the Bharat War and 755 years
passed from Kali Era. Kali Era started
from 3101 BC. 755 years have passed so 3101-755 = 2346 BC is the
year when 3030 years had passed from the Bharat
War. So 2346+3030 = 5376 BC appears to be the date of Bharat
War.
HISSE BORALA INSCRIPTION OF DEVA SENA
-------------------------------------
This inscription is of 5th century AD and scholars hold that it throws
light on the time of Mahabharat War. It states. that
Saptarshis were in Uttara at the time of this inscription.
Scholars hold that Saptarshis were
in Magha at the time of Yudhishthira
because Varahmihira has stated so in Brihat-Samhita. Scholars
also hold that Yudhishthira's time is 3137 BC.
Saptarshis stay in one Nakshtra for 100 years, and there are 27
Nakshatras. Hence Saptarshis would be
again in Magha 2700 years later during 4th century BC.
From here if we count up to 5th century AD there fall eight
Nakshatras. Hence in the 5th century AD,
Saptarshis should be in Anuradha and not Uttara. From Anuradha to Uttara
Ashadha there is a difference of five Nakshatras, while
from Anuradha to Uttara Phalguni there is a difference of six
Nakshatras. So it is quite evident
that at the time of Yudhisthira Saptarshis
were not in Magha as held by the scholars. Here I have
shown a mistake of five to six hundreds of years.
Moreover, there are three 'Uttaras' and the
inscription has not stated specifically which Uttara it denotes. Thus
this source is unreliable and should be rejected.
I have considered Saptarshi Reckoning in details at a later stage
on page 11. While going to examine the sources
scientifically, I shall give the honour of the first place to
Astronomy. One may question that how far
Astronomy was advanced in those olden days? I say affirmatively that
Astronomy was far advanced in the ancient times,
and the ancient Indian sages had perfected the science
of time measurement relying on Astronomy.
Next page
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From "SWAYAMBHU", a research Book by Dr. P. V. Vartak
on Mahabharat.
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