Dating Mahabharata - Two Eclipses in Thirteen Days by Dr. by Dr. S. Balakrishna bstract 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 in Kurukshethra.. Article suggests some candidate dates for Mahabharata for Mahabharata war. Introduction
Mahabharata is a great epic, and is one of the pillars of present day Hinduism. The Mahabharata The Mahabharatastory story and its moral ethos have had profound influence on millions over many generations. Mahabharata Mahabharata war is said to have occurred before the transition of Dwapara Yuga to to Kali Kali Yuga. Dating the Mahabharata war and start of Kaliyuga Kaliyuga has been elusive and going on for many centuries. ryabhata, is a famous early astronomer with contributions to science, whose estimate of p, and ryabhata, the time of moon revolution around the earth are so accurate, that his works are being extensively researched. Aryabhata researched. Aryabhata(476-550 (476-550 AD) stated that Kaliyuga that Kaliyuga started 3600 years before, when he was 23 years years old, making the start as 3102 BC [Aryabhate [Aryabhateeya eya ref-1]). It would date Mahabharata 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 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 Saka count (either Shalivahana saka starting in 79 AD orVikrama orVikrama Saka starting in 57 BC) [ Brihat Samhita Samhita Ref-3]. When Saptarishis (ursa major) was near Magha When Saptarishis near Magha Yudhistira was king 2526 years before Saka before Sakatime time Presently, traditional Sanatana traditional Sanatana Dharma Dharma followers consider that Kaliyuga that Kaliyuga started at 3102 BCJ, when Sri Krishna Krishna passed away, and and that Mahabharata that Mahabharata war occurred in 3138 BCJ. Millennium year 2000 AD is is Kali Kali 5102. 5102. Like Homer's Iliad, another epic poetry from Greece, different scholars have expressed opinions varying between between the story of Mahabharata 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. relevance. Bharata has been continuously and relatively densely lived in for thousands of years and in Northern Bharata Northern Bharata the archeological evidence is difficult to come by because of many 100's of generations of people living in same area. Hence, Hence, it is usual to look for Puranic for Puranic and Vedic Vedic(written (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 (or Krishna Krishna Dwaipaayana Dwaipaayana)) after the Mahabharata war. Vyaasa is also credited with codifying the existing branches of Vedas of Vedas.. It is perhaps the longest poem of its kind of such antiquity. The presently known oldest version of Mahabharata Mahabharata,, based on its style, grammar and other features was probably written down before the Gupta period. This This Mahabharata Mahabharata text does not refer to any Zodiac's or Raashis or Raashis (a western concept probably accommodated accommodated in to Jyotishya to Jyotishya some time during 300BC to 200AD). The linguistic style of the oldest version of Mahabharata Mahabharata clearly cannot be the basis for determining if and when the events of Mahabharata Mahabharata occurred. It probably may have been rewritten/re-rendered rewritten/rerendered many times as the mode of transference was by oral traditions as in the case of Vedic of Vedic chandasprosody. chandasprosody. The known oldest version has nearly 90,000 to 100,000 poems dominantly with 32 syllables Anushtup syllables Anushtup chandas, chandas, in 18 chapters called Parva's called Parva's [ref-4 and 5].
The Bhishma Parva The Bhishma Parva and Udyoga Parva(specific Parva(specific chapters of Mahabharata) Mahabharata) provide considerable astronomical/astrological astronomical/astrological descriptions and omens as the the Mahabharata 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 the Amavasya(New (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 t o war and provides their location with reference to 27/28 Vedic star locations. Mahabharata locations. Mahabharata Drona Parva also refers to Jayadhratha' Jayadhratha'ss 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 at Kurukshethra(Location (Location where Mahabharata 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-Maha about Buddha-Mahaviravira Parshvanaathatime 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 issue of how did did observers of the period period define and determine determine period 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 in Kurukshethra [ref-6]. Solar Eclipse occurs when Moon's shadow falls on o n 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 have been greatly greatly improved since since past 30 years, particularly with considerable amount of trajectory work conducted in Moon and other scientific projects. High accuracy computer models and software s oftware have been developed. These are validated against databases from US Naval Observatory's Interactive 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 provided excellent match with ref-8. Eclipses at Kurukshethra 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 in Kurukshethra,, which occurred in 'Thirteen' days. A very detailed detailed scan of all the visible visible lunar and solar eclipses for every every year from 3300BC to to 700 BC was made on the Lodestar software for Kurukshethra 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. Kurukshethra. Amongst these, nearly 32 pairs would wo uld 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. Definition of Day and and issue of timing determination It is easy for us, in present time, to precisely analyze the eclipse times based on a 24 hour per day time clock. However many thousand years ago, such a time evaluation would clearly be irrelevant. Hence the count of the day and time had to be based on clear, natural and unambiguous events such as sunset to sunset or sunrise to sun rise. Hence in all the analyses, presented below, the time of relevant sun rise or sun set is indicated such that the eclipse beginning and end end can be evaluated evaluated with reference reference to the sun sun rise or sun set. In modern day definition, the period from sunrise to next sunrise is never 24 hours except on equinox day. On all other days, the time will be either less than 24 hours (when day light time is shrinking) and more than 24 hours (when day light time is increasing). For people of ancient times, sunset-tosunset or sunrise-to-sunrise would be the logical definition of a day. Using this definition, it is possible to determine whether an eclipse pair occurred in 'Thirteen days'.
Kurukshethra eclipses eclipses and some planetary planetary retrograde retrograde motions The table below shows six pairs of eclipses, which can be analyzed further to determine whether whether Mahabharata war and events could occur then. Six eclipse pairs visible at Kurukshethra at Kurukshethra occurring in less than or near 14 days Events in red not visible due to sun rise (Lunar) or sun set (Solar) Year BC Eclipse Eclipse Julian day Initial con Max End Sunrise Sunrise Sunset end/start end/start date Julian Initial Year BC Eclipse Max End Sunrise Sunset End/Strt Dt Day Con 3129 3129 2529
Solar Lunar Solar
Aug 11 18:53:48 19:48:04 20:38:54 Aug 25 16:58:50 18:21:36 19:44:21 Jul 11 03:50:53 04:36:27 05:24:36 05:12
2529 2056 2056
Lunar Solar Lunar
Jun 27 03:29:54 05:13:45 Nov 25 16:50:19 17:52:24 Dec 09 16:27:47 18:12:55
1853 1853
Solar Lunar
Dec 30 15:47:28 Jan 13 16:17:56
17:00:02 18:03:38 17:24:16 18:30:37
1708
Solar
Mar 27 04:55:14
05:47:28 06:44:15
1708
Lunar
Apr 10
06:57:36 18:48:02 19:58:05
19:22 19:17
13d20h20m 13d20h8m
05:07
06:37
17:38 17:32
13d21h40m 13d21h40m
17:29 17:36
13d22h14m 13d20h18m
03:02:36 04:46:36 06:30:55 06:19
1397 Solar Jul 04 19:00:34 19:36:54 20:11:34 19:21 13d21h30m 1397 Lunar Jul 18 17:41:38 19:34:00 21:26:30 19:23 Location of Kurukshethra Kurukshethra 76 deg 49 min East, 29 deg 59 min North After serious analysis analysis of all the eclipses, eclipses, six eclipse pairs pairs from 3129 BCJ, BCJ, 2599 BCJ, BCJ, 2056 BCJ, 1853 BCJ, 1708 BCJ and 1397 1 397 BCJ clearly are the best candidates for Mahabharata for Mahabharata war war year from 'thirteen day' eclipse pairs view point. There are others that have low obscurity for solar eclipse, or have dominant penumbral lunar eclipse content and hence do not constitute strong candidates for the Mahabharata the Mahabharata war. One typical eclipse pair of the six is illustrated using Lodestar Pro views of the relevant sunset/sunrise periods. The light/day transition is clearly shown in all the eclipse, which would form the only method of determining that the eclipses occurred in less than fourteen days, which has to be called thirteen-day thirteen-day eclipses. Planets Planets Sani Sani (Saturn) (Saturn) and Brihaspati and Brihaspati (Jupiter), (Jupiter), Shukra Shukra (Venus) in retrograde motion are illustrated for period around the eclipse pairs. Solar-Lunar eclipse pair from Julian year 3129 BC
Fourteen days later at same time
Let us now look at how any observer can study these eclipses and conclude that the pair occurred in 'Thirteen days'. The figures above show the pictures of day/night sky for a pair of Solar-Lunar eclipses, end of lunar eclipse being only 13 days and 20 hours before start of a solar eclipse. On Julian August 11 afternoon, a solar eclipse begins 20 minuets before sunset and it is still on going at sunset. Fourteen days later (On Julian August 25) in the evening at sunset a lunar eclipse is already occurring. It clearly suggests that eclipse started on the 13th day after the previous eclipse! Obviously the end of lunar and start of solar eclipses were less than 14 days period, or occurred in 13 days. This could be concluded without the benefit of modern clocks. The dates of this eclipse pair are Julian 3129 and Julian month of August. In ancient Bharata ancient Bharata,, since the full moon occurred on Proshtapada on Proshtapada,, the month would be considered as Bhadrapada as Bhadrapada.. Normally, this is the monsoon rainy season in North India. However, there are many occasions when monsoon fails. The The epic states that that draught like conditions existed. Even Even during normal normal monsoon the sky is occasionally clear for the eclipses to have been witnessed. The two planets Jupiter, and Saturn are in motion (vakri (vakri ) and these do occur during 3129 JBC as illustrated below. Motion of Angaraka Angaraka or Mars is normal.
Items in red show retrogra retrograde de or Vakri Vakri motion motion Graha (Planet) 3129BCJ Mahabharata text Brihaspati (Jupiter) Brihaspati (Jupiter) U.Ashada/Shravana Shravana-Vishakha Shravana-Vishakha Sani (Saturn) Sani (Saturn) Revati Shravana-Vishakha Shravana-Vishakha Angaraka (Mars) Shukra (Venus)
U.Ashada/Shravana U.Ashada/Shravana Magha U Phalguni Poorva Phalguni
Ravi (Sun Ravi (Sun Solar) U Phalguni Rohini The location of the planets at the time of eclipse pair is shown in table above. Clearly, only Brihaspati Brihaspati , and Shukra and Shukra are the only planets near locations indicated in the Mahabharata the Mahabharata text. This date of 3129 BCJ is a serious candidate c andidate date for consideration of Mahabharata Mahabharata war. nalysis of the Eclipse tables The first and oldest eclipse pair from 3129 BC is unique. Aryabhata unique. Aryabhata estimated that Kaliyuga Kaliyuga started in 3102 BC. So does Surya does Surya Siddhanta. Siddhanta. These fit the Puranic Puranicdescription description that Sri Krishna passed away in 3102 BCJ, which is 27 years after the war. Our study confirms co nfirms that Kaliyuga that Kaliyuga could have started in 3102 BCJ. The second date 2559 BCJ is also unique in that Varaha Mihira stated that 2526 before start of Saka, Saka, Yudhishtira was the ruling king. If it Saka it Saka was Vikrama it would make Yudhistira as king in 2583 BCJ, which is before before Mahabharata Mahabharata War. War.Yudhistira Yudhistira was also king for a short time before war, before he lost it in a game of dice to Sakuni/Duryodh to Sakuni/Duryodhana ana.. This date is also an excellent candidate for Mahabharata war. There is another event that occurs in 2559 BC. While the eclipse pair occurred in lunar month Shravana month Shravana,, there is another short solar eclipse in Pushya Pushya.. On 13th day of Mahabharata Mahabharata war, it is said that Jayadhratha that Jayadhratha was killed when Sri Krishna covered the sun for a short time just before the sunset. This event could be looked upon as a solar eclipse. A study of year 2559 shows that another solar eclipse did occur in Pushya in Pushya lunar month (Julian Dec 06, 2559) some 40 days before the winter solstice (Uttara (Uttara ayana). ayana ). The third candidate is eclipse pair from 2056 BCJ. It occurs in Margashira/pushy in Margashira/pushya amonths, the lunar eclipse occurring when moon is between Punarvasu/pushya between Punarvasu/pushya nakshathra nakshathra,, and would be right in the middle of war. Hence is not a very serious candidate for Mahabharata for Mahabharata war. The fourth candidate is eclipse pair from 1853 BCJ. It occurs in month of Magha Magha very near the winter solstice or Uttara Ayana. Ayana. It is not a very good candidate for Mahabharata War The fifth candidate of eclipse pairs occurred in 1708 BCJ. This eclipse pair occurs in month of Phalguna, Phalguna, just after Uttara Ayana and is a bad candidate.
The last candidate of eclipse pair occurs in 1397 in the month of Bhadrapada. Bhadrapada. It is a reasonably good candidate for Mahabharata war. Again, there was no s olar eclipse during the period prior to Uttara Ayana. Ayana. Conclusions The aim of this work was to analyze the unique statement that Mahabharata that Mahabharata war took place when an ominous pair pair of eclipses eclipses occurred in 'Thirteen 'Thirteen days'. Initially, Mahabharata Mahabharata texts, contemporarily accepted as most authentic were reviewed and relevant data about Mahabharata about Mahabharata and astronomical planetary observations have been presented. Firstly, a search of all eclipses during the period 3300 BCJ to 700 BCJ visible at Kurukshethra Kurukshethra,, where Mahabharata where Mahabharata war took place was made. Amongst nearly 672 possible eclipse pairs, the time from end of one to beginning of next eclipse was found to vary between 13.8 days to 15.8 days. Eighteen naked eye visible eclipse pairs with less than 336 hours (14days) of time gap were found. The second issue was, what was the definition of a day, and how was the determination that eclipses occurred in 'thirteen days' made, has been addressed. Day was taken to be the time between either either successive sunrise or successive sunset. This is particularly particularly important when when clocks did not exist. Using this method, it was easy to demonstrate that observers observers from 3000 to 5000 years ago could identify accurately a 'Thirteen-day' eclipse pair when they occurred. Six pairs amongst these, found to be good candidates for Mahabharata for Mahabharata war war,, have been illustrated, showing how any observer could conclude that the eclipse pairs occurred in less than 14 days or in 'thirteen days'. The locations of Jupiter, J upiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, Sun and Moon, during the eclipses were identified with reference to 27 star locations. The positions of all these planets during the eclipse pair do not totally agree with Mahabharata with Mahabharata text, but some do agree. Finally, it is found that two dates suggested by Indian astronomers Aryabhata, astronomers Aryabhata, Varaha Varaha Mihira are credible dates for Mahabharata for Mahabharata war. It would appear that 3129 BCJ is a first candidate for Mahabharata war followed by 2559 BCJ. Four o ther dates viz., 2056 BCJ, 1853 BCJ, 1708 BCJ and 1397 BCJ are other candidates which qualify as 'Thirteen day' eclipse pairs. In conclusion, this article has tried to address the basic issue, whether 'Thirteen 'Thirteen day' eclipse pairs are astronomically possible. The conclusion is t hat such eclipse pairs have occurred and observers could easily identify the duration using sunset/sunrise transitions. 3129 BCJ and 2559 BCJ dates appear to be very viable dates for Mahabharata war as are a few others. This study provides modern scientific support one critical astronomical statement made in Mahabharata in Mahabharata Bhishma Parvathat Parvathat 'Thirteen day' eclipse pair occurred in Kurukshethra in Kurukshethra before before the Mahabharata the Mahabharata war. References: 1. 2.
Aryabhateeya by Brahmagupta, Brahmagupta, S.Shukla,New Delhi, INSA 1976 Surya Siddhanta: Translation of an Ancient Indian Astronomical Text. Translation by Bapudeva, Varanasi, 1860. 3. Varahamihira'ss Brihat Samhita Varahamihira' Samhita- M Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Bhat, Motilal Motilal Banarasidas Publications, 1981 4. Ramashesha Shastry Bhagavata Mahapurana, 10th skanda, Upodghata (in Kannada script), 1930
5. John Smith web page - Mahabharata Text checked by Bhandarakar Oriental Research Institute 6. Eric Weisstien, World Of Astronomy web page 7. Wayne Annala, Lodestar Lodestar Pro Manual, 1994 1994 8. Wayne Mitchell Ancient Astronomical Observations and Near Eastern Chronology Journal of Ancient Chronology Forum, Volume3 23-Feb-2002 http://astitva.satishankar.com/2012/12/datinghttp://astitva.satishanka r.com/2012/12/dating-mahabharata-tw mahabharata-two-eclipses-in.html o-eclipses-in.html
