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Mahabharat War 5561 B.C : By Dr. P.V. Vartak (1/5)
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THE SCIENTIFIC DATING OF THE MAHABHARAT WAR
by Dr. P.V. VARTAK
(16th OCTOBER 5561 B.C.)
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INTRODUCTION
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The Mahabharat has excercised a continuous and pervasive influence on
the Indian mind for milleniums. The Mahabharat, orginally written by
Sage Ved Vyas in Sanskrut, 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.
Incidently, 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 Sanskrut texts are
imaginary and subsequently, the Mahabharat derived to be a fictitiou
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, Samhi-
tas, 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. Saunskrut epics were academically attacked occasion-
ally - an attempt to disprove the authencity 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 prevelant views of European historians!
On the contrary, many Bharatiya scholars have vehemently maintained
the actual occurance of the Mahabharat War. Astronomical and literary
evidences or clues from the Pauranic and Vaidik texts have been deci-
phered 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 posi-
tions 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 scho-
lar from Pune, Dr. P.V. Vartak. Using astronomical references and
variety of other sources, Dr. Vartak has derived the date of the ini-
tiation of the Mahabharat War to be 16th October 5561 B.C. This pro-
posed date has been examined by a few scholars and has been verfied.
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 Marathi book "Swayambhu" and "Scientific Dating of the
Mahabharat War" in English.
INSCRIPTIONS
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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 reli-
able 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
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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 interprete 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 upto 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 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
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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 upto 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 adifference of five Naksha-
tras, 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. More-
over, 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 affir-
matively that Astronomy was far advanced in the ancient times, and
the ancient Indian sages had perfected the science of time measure-
ment relying on Astronomy.
..... to be continued.
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Prasad Gokhale
University of New Brunswick, f0g1@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca
Fredericton, N.B. CANADA. f0g1@unbmvs1, f0g1@unb.ca
"Truth can wait, it is used to it". - Anonymous.
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