When Did The Mahabharata War Happen? The Mystery of Arundhati Nilesh Nilkanth Oak Danphe, USA © 2011 by Nilesh Nilkanth Oak All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-0983034407 ISBN-10: 0983034400 E-Book ISBN: 978-1-4392-8348-6 Printed in the United States of America To , Rupa Acknowledgements To Mangesh Murdeshwar, for discussions on wide ranging subjects and for introducing me to works of P V Vartak; Shashikant B Potdar for introducing me to celestial couple, Arundhati and Vasistha; Narahari Achar, for his paper ‘On the identification of the Vedic nakshatras’ and for introducing me to works of P V Kane; K. Chandra Hari, for providing multiple papers on ‘Rohini-Shakat Bheda’ , which in turn removed one of the many roadblocks in my work; and Aravind Kanho Kulkarni, for his help in procuring books of P V Vartak. To Dave Rich, for exciting and all encompassing discussions on philosophy, science, astronomy and finance, and for indirectly rejuvenating my interest in Mahabharata astronomy and works of Karl Popper; Jeremiah Smedra, for introducing me to Idea mapping, which was so critical in keeping my thoughts together while writing this book; Deepa Pawate, for suggesting a title for this book ‘The stars were aligned’, which is preserved in a modified form as title for one of the chapters - ‘The planets were aligned’; Eugene Milone (and his graduate students), for educating me on basics of astronomy measurements; Tim DeBenedictis of Carina Software, for his professional assistance and helpful suggestions; Pranisha Shrestha for her assistance with Figures 1 and 2. I am indebted to all past and current Mahabharata researchers (Table 1) for their works. Their theories and proposals provided me opportunities to test their proposed year(s) of the Mahabharata War and to analyze their theories. Their works provided me numerous insights and made my job easier. The views represented in this book are my own and not necessarily of those who have been kind to me, directly and indirectly in this endeavor. Paramatma inspired me and sustained my faith in the words of Vyasa. Popper’s specific approach to falsification and corroboration of a theory allowed me to interpret words of Vyasa. There is very little of mine in it. Contents Introduction 1 The Problem 2 Theories & Conjectures 3 Astronomy Basics 4 Mahabharata Astronomy 5 Envious Sister & Fall of Abhijit 6 The Epoch of Arundhati 7 The Planets Were Aligned 8 The First Day of Mahabharata War 9 Conflicting Observations 10 Theory of P V Vartak 11 A Better Theory 12 Implications, Predictions & New Problems Notes Selected Bibliography Tables & Figures Mahabharata References Introduction If you cannot – in the long run – tell everyone what you have been doing, your doing has been worthless . – Erwin Schrodinger Fifteen years ago, I stumbled on ‘Arundhati’ 1 observation, recorded in Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata. I liked this observation for two reasons. The observation had very high improbability associated with it. The only rational I could imagine on the part of Mahabharata author, to include such an improbable observation, was due to this being a factual observation at the time of Mahabharata War. If I could somehow test it, the observation held the key to falsification of ‘astronomical’ observations within the Mahabharata text. I could comprehend this observation, unlike numerous other astronomical observations within Mahabharata. I wanted to convince myself of the authenticity (or absurdity) of astronomical observations from the Mahabharata text, and ‘Arundhati’ observation was the most suitable for my purpose and abilities. Around this time, I also stumbled on the writings of Vinoba Bhave, Joseph Campbell and Karl Popper. While Vinoba Bhave and Joseph Campbell influenced me most with their lives and their writings, this book has benefited immensely from works of Karl Popper. All three of them, through their writings, offered me the experience of ‘Tesham swaira kathalapa upadeshani bhavanti’. I had read books of Karl Popper as early as 1993 A.D. and enjoyed them thoroughly. Even then, I did not appreciate the efficacy of his methods until I began testing statements, astronomical or otherwise, from the ancient literature. It was not until 1997 A. D. when I began testing ‘Arundhati’ observation and it was not until 2009 A. D. when I succeeded in solving the mystery of Arundhati . My tests of ‘Arundhati’ observation not only resisted my falsification attempts, but also provided higher and lower bounds for plausible year of the Mahabharata War. The discovery of mine, as far as I am aware, is the first instance of such a precise prediction, albeit an interval bounded by higher and lower limits, for the plausible year of an ancient event, based on astronomical observations. Predicting the Year of Mahabharata War Once I established the Epoch of Arundhati (Chapter 6) as the plausible interval for the timing of Mahabharata War, I was eager to search this interval for the specific year of Mahabharata War. As a first step, I began searching for the works of other researchers. I collected 20+ works within a span of six months, thanks to the Internet, by those many different researchers. Nearly 125 dates, ranging from 6th millennium B.C. to 1st millennium B.C., have been suggested by researchers for the year of Mahabharata War. I could not access all of these works in the original and therefore my introduction to works of some of these researchers is based on works of others. Only 4 of these researchers had proposed years for the Mahabharata War that fell within the Epoch of Arundhati . On further inspection, I realized that 2 of these 4 works had suggested only an approximate time interval rather than a specific year for the Mahabharata War. I began my work by testing specific years proposed by remaining 2 researchers. I was determined, unlike other researchers, to employ only internal astronomical observations, i.e. internal to Mahabharata. My decision is not due to any artificial sense of ‘pure’ evidence. Rather my rationale is simple. Mahabharata had tremendous impact on later generations of Indian writers, astronomers, historians and purana writers and many of them have tried to estimate the timing of Mahabharata War. Their efforts in determining the year of Mahabharata War are valuable nonetheless they should be treated as conjectures which must undergo testing, as opposed to being treated as proven hypotheses. Many researchers in last two centuries working on Mahabharata have precisely made this mistake. Some have used commonly accepted norms of astrology (and not astronomy), e.g. ‘Astrological drishti’ in describing Mahabharata references of a specific planet afflicting specific nakshatra . The problem with this approach is that once one starts using astrological interpretations, there is no stopping and thus anything anywhere can be explained! Many others have employed theories of VarahaMihir and those of others to explain Mahabharata observations; and worst part of these efforts is that these researchers have explained away, rather than explain Mahabharata observations. It would be reasonable, although conjectural, to rather assume that many interpretations in current Indian astronomy (or for that matter astrology) as well as works of VarahaMihir, Ganesh Daivajna, Aryabhatta, Nilkanth and others are based on astronomical data of the Mahabharata text, and trying to make sense of it. I have endeavored to be rational and scientific in researching this problem. These words, of course, mean little since even the approach of science and rationality is misunderstood. I have seen both glorification and denigration of science, due to a mistaken theory of science and rationality– a theory, which speaks of science and rationality in terms of specializations, experts and authorities. Writes Karl Popper, Science and rationality have very little to do with specialization and the appeal to expert authority. It is critical to realize how little we know and how much that little is due to people who have worked in many fields at the same time. Orthodoxy produced by specialization and the appeal to authorities is the death of knowledge. Method of science is the method of critical discussion, and of critical examination of competing conjectures or hypotheses. Mahabharata Story The Mahabharata is the national epic of India, in very much the same sense that the Iliad is the national epic of Classical Greece. Mahabharata is the story of Great Indian War written in Sanskrit verses some 100,000+ couplets long and 4 times the length of India’s first epic Ramayana. The Mahabharata text with about 2 million words is roughly 8-10 times the length of Iliad and Odyssey combined. I request the reader to explore Wikipedia and other Internet based resources, which provide additional details of Mahabharata and the Mahabharata War. My objective is to state bare minimum details of Mahabharata, sufficient to enable the reader to understand the context of Mahabharata War. Mahabharata recounts the story of paternal first cousins, between the five sons of King Pandu and the one hundred sons of King Dhritarashtra. They became bitter rivals and fought the war at Kurukshetra in northern India, known as Mahabharata War (The Great Indian War) or Kurukshetra War, for the possession of their ancestral kingdom. Dhritarashtra and his sons behaved viciously towards the Pandavas. They humiliated the Pandavas in a game of dice, and forced the Pandavas into wilderness for twelve years. The preset condition also required the Pandavas to live somewhere in disguise, without being discovered for a year following this twelve year period. The Pandavas fulfilled their part of the bargain but Duryodhana, the eldest son of Dhritarashtra, was unwilling to restore the Pandavas to their kingdom even after the thirteen years had expired. Krishna, friend, relative and advisor to the Pandava camp attempted a peaceful resolution without success, and both sides called upon their allies. Two armies arrayed themselves at Kurukshetra in northern India. The War lasted for 18 days, resulted in horrendous bloodshed and victory to the Pandavas. Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya, Duryodhana, Kripa, Ashwatthama, Jayadratha were some of the key warriors on the side of Dhritarashtra (The Kauravas). Krishna, Dhristadyumna, Satyaki, Abhimanyu, Virata, Drupada were some of the key warriors on the side of the Pandavas. The Mahabharata text is divided in 18 Parvas . Adi and Sabha Parvas discuss incidents leading to the twelve years exile of the Pandavas. Vana Parva describes incidents of their time in exile while Virata Parva narrates incidents of the year in incognito, spent at the court of King Virata. Udyoga Parva describes Krishna’s peace efforts and preparation for the war by both parties. Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Shalya Parvas describe incidents of the 18-day War. Sauptic, Stri, Shanti and Anushasan Parvas describe post-war activities, instructions of Bhishma and Bhishma Nirvana . Ashwamedhic, Ashramvasic, Mausal, Mahaprastanik and Swargarohan Parvas describe post-war instances after Bhishma Nirvana and those leading to the death of the Pandavas. I employed two versions of Mahabharata editions, edition published by Gita Press, Gorakhpur (GP) and Critical edition (CE) published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. I extracted Mahabharata observations from both editions, with astronomical flavors, and have listed them at the end of the book. I have also stated alternate readings from CE, when appropriate. I also referred to two additional translations of Mahabharata in English. Organization of the book I have three specific aims in writing this book, 1. The Primary aim is to make a case for my work, presented in this book, as a better theory for the prediction of the timing of Mahabharata War. The theory proposed is tested using astronomical observations from the Mahabharata text. The book is primarily a scientific study of how astronomy observations within Mahabharata assist us in not only determining the timing of Mahabharata War but also shading light on ancient tradition of astronomy observations in India. 2. The second aim is to make such knowledge easily accessible and enjoyable to a layperson. I meet many individuals who find the subject of Mahabharata or astronomy exciting and fascinating, however feel, incorrectly I think, incapable of comprehending the details. Only prerequisite I think the reader need is intense interest in the subject of Mahabharata, willingness to learn visual astronomy by going few levels deeper, and perseverance. Visual astronomy is one of the few areas within the Mahabharata text that is not quite trivial and deserves to be known and understood by every lover of Mahabharata. It can be easily explained to those who do not dislike numbers and visualization, but even those who dislike numbers and visualization should understand the matter easily if they are not too impatient and prepared to re-read relevant portions (from Chapter 3 & 4) when required. 3. My third aim is to illustrate a method to test an observation and subsequent falsification and/or corroboration of a theory. A further aim is to establish baseline for comparison of numerous theories, those already proposed and those that will be proposed in the future, for the prediction of the year of Mahabharata War and similar ancient events. Chapter 1 states the problem and lists specific objectives. I provide brief review of Mahabharata research, specifically focused on the dating of Mahabharata War. I describe my method, details of the Mahabharata texts and other tools employed in my research. Chapter 2 lists background assumptions behind my theory, and emphasizes the importance of stating background assumptions as well as tentative nature of background assumptions. My theory is stated next and then the procedure to test my theory. Chapter 3 provides basics of astronomy required to understand astronomy observations and their explanations. This chapter describes motions of the Earth, phenomenon of the precession of equinoxes, movement of North Pole due to the precession of equinoxes, solar and lunar eclipses, Gregorian and Julian calendars, and coordinate system for positions of stars and planets. Chapter 4 explains uniquely Indian and/or Mahabharata concepts of astronomy and calendar. These concepts include luni-solar nature of Mahabharata/Indian calendar, which in turn necessitates understanding of five year Yuga , lunar months, Paksha, Tithi and nakshatra . Astronomical concept of nodes of planets and nodes of the moon as well as retrograde and oblique motions of planets are also explained. Chapter 5 deals with one of the many Mahabharata astronomy observations and makes a case for an ancient tradition of astronomy observations in India. This Mahabharata observation, although not directly relevant for dating of the Mahabharata War, was instrumental in my designing of new experiments to test the key observation of Arundhati . Chapter 6 discusses the problem of Arundhati