Establishing a year for Mahabharata war: 3067 BCE

[Guest guest]

Friends,

 

Here is a brilliant note from Prof. Narahari Achar. The two key

celestial events, the motion of s'ani and the occurrence of winter

solstice match with just one date: 3067 BCE and for more arguments

see the texts from Mahabharata cited in the papers of International

Colloquium held in Jan. 2003 in Bangalore. The sky epigraphs were

observed events from the banks of River Sarasvati and recorded in

the context of terrestrial events.

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/colloquium/mahabharata01.htm

 

Here is the stellar contribution to our understanding of history.

Thanks and regards. Kalyanaraman

 

Establishing a unique year for the MahAbhArata war

B. N. Narahari Achar

 

Abstract

A methodology using the planetarium software and the most reliable

astronomical references from the epic is presented and it projects a

unique year, 3067 BCE for the events.

 

Introduction

A war literally as big as the MahAbhArata war has been

fought on the internet to establish the date of the epic war. Here

is my latest contribution to this effort.

 

Astronomical references

It is regarded that planetary positions are most reliable and

eclipses and comets are not so reliable. The most important

planetary position for purposes of this exercise is considered to be

shani at rohiNi. (Saturn at Aldeberan) This configuration has been

stressed both by KarNa in udyogaparva and by VyAsa in BhIShmaparva.

A solar eclipse at JyeShTha (Antares)is considered to be the next

important event. For, the new moon at Antares, has been mentioned by

KRShNa, and the solar eclipse has been mentioned by both KarNa and

VyAsa. The preceding full moon at kArtika (Pleiades) was a lunar

eclipse day, again mentioned by both KarNa and VyAsa. Retrograde

motion of Mars before reaching Antares and the occurrence of the

winter solstice in mAgha shukla pakSa complete the list of required

astronomical events, the references to the original in Sanskrit can

be found in the work of Sathe et al.

 

Methodology

A search was made using the planetarium software SkyMap

Pro6, from 3500 BCE to 1000 BCE, for the years in which Saturn was

in conjunction with Aldeberan. There are a hundred conjunctions in

this interval. Then a search was made from among these 100

conjunction years to find the years in which there was also a solar

eclipse at Antares. The planetarium software RedShift 3 was used for

this purpose. It turned out that there are 11 years in which Saturn

was at Aldeberan, and a solar eclipse at Antares

occurred. A further search was made from among these 11 years to

find those in which there was a lunar eclipse at Pleiades

immediately before the solar eclipse at Antares. This reduced the

set from 11 to six. These years are: 3244 BCE, 3067 BCE, 2890 BCE,

2360 BCE, 2183 BCE, and 1682 BCE. Then a search was made for those

years in which Mars executed a retrograde motion before reaching

Antares and became prograde again by the time the solar eclipse

occurred. Out of these six, there were two years in which Mars did

not execute retrograde motion and two years in which Mars became

retrograde much later or in some position other than near Antares.

There were only two years, 3067 BCE and 2183 BCE, in which Saturn

was at Aldeberan, there was a solar eclipse at Antares, preceded by

a lunar eclipse at Pleiades, and Mars had executed retrograde motion

before reaching Antares. These two years could be the possible years

for the MahAbhArata war. The final choice could be made by appealing

to the occurrence of the winter solstice. The winter solstice

occurred on January 7, 2182 BCE in the month of mAgha, but it was

kRSNa caturthi and the NakSatra was citrA. But, the winter solstice

in 3066 BCE occurred on shuklapancami, and the aSTami occurred at

rohiNi just as required for the date of expiry of BhISma Thus, we

get a unique year for the occurrence of all the events described in

the epic. I have already given proofs of the adhimAsa earlier. The

simulations and star maps have also shown graphically that every

event described in the epic can be simulated. Now we have the proof

of a unique year as well.

 

Conclusion

The year of the astronomical events in MahAbhArata is

conclusively shown to be 3067 BCE.

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, "S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97>

wrote:

>

> . . .

>

> Conclusion

> The year of the astronomical events in MahAbhArata is

> conclusively shown to be 3067 BCE.

 

However Chandra Hari concludes differently. See his

post to the Indian Civilization list below.

 

David

 

IndianCivilization, Chandra Hari

<chandrahari81> wrote:

>

> I had a double mind as to whether I should reply or

> not to this effort to project 3067 BC as related to

> epic war and astronomical references. A proper refu-

> tation of the work of Prof. N. Achar and the support

> by Sri Kalyanaraman requires a little time for which

> I am incapaciated at present due to ill health and

> other responsibilities. Also, I am presently away

> from my station and thus devoid of my references.

> My philosophy and spirit for the quest of truth inspire

> me to call the work as bogus being showing only part

> of the astronomical references - that is the chosen

> ones - and interpreting even the chosen ones to suit

> their notions and placing the astronomical data vaguely.

>

> Look for example the retrogression of Mars: When was

> Mars retrograde? When was the winter solstice and when

> was the 8th tithi? See how even the chosen references

> are diluted?

>

> Many references quoted - as I have already pointed

> out are applicable for every year in which the new

> moon falls near Jyehstha. Those who are familiar

> with astronomy behind the calendar only will be able

> to understand the gimmick involved in placing such

> data as justifying the 3067 BC year.

>

> In my past communications, I did refute his data on

> eclipses and exposed his claims on eclipses. I am

> not bragging - I have studied and worked on this

> subject and has reliable astronomical computations

> obtained uing the VSOP87 and the latest theories

> of celestial dynamics.

>

> Those who are sincerely interested in the topic

> need to have a look at the works of Prof. PC Sengupta

> and KL Daftari to understand as to how a proper

> research work on the subject is presented and in

> what way the paper of Prof. Achar is inferior to

> be treated as a research paper on the subject. It's

> a paper aimed at promoting the pet notion that

> 3067 BC is the year of epic war by quoting some

> planetarium software to give authenticity to the

> claim in the minds of general public.

>

> I am sorry to make this comment. But the repeated

> claims demand it. Let Prof. Achar get the paper

> published in a journal if his astronomical

> interpretaions and data are sound enough to gain

> the recognition of his peers - Professors who are

> editors and referees of the journal.

>

> chandra hari

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, "wtsdv" <liberty@p...> wrote:>

However Chandra Hari concludes differently. See his

> post to the Indian Civilization list below.

 

There are also other contra views by Anand Sharan -- see archives on

the same list. Members are welcome to participate in the discussions.

 

There were also differing opinions expressed at the colloquium in

Jan. 2003 -- all have been posted at the web links:

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/colloquium/mahabharata01.htm

 

In my judgment, the views of Prof. Achar are definitive and have

been convincingly related to the Mahabharata text references. Kalyan