[world-vedic] SEARCH FOR HISTORICAL KRSNA

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N.S. Rajaram

Search for the Historical Krishna - Part 1

 

"Krishna was a historical figure who lived towards the end of the Vedic

Age. Traditional Indian accounts are closer to truth than those of

Western Indology, which are colored by colonial and missionary biases

and plagued by weak scholarship."

 

History or myth?

As we go on to celebrate another Sri Krishna-janmashthami, here is a

question of interest to all of us: was Krishna a historical figure, or

is he just a myth created to fill a void in the Hindu soul? As the most

admired and adored figure in the Hindu pantheon, Krishna occupies a

unique place in Indian history and tradition. Known since time

immemorial as a Yadava prince of the house of Vrishni, and the son of

Vasudeva and Devaki, most Hindus have accepted Krishna an avatar or

incarnation of Lord Vishnu. But now, in keeping with the spirit of the

scientific age in which we live, many people - including Hindus - want

to know if he really existed.

 

This is not a new phenomenon: the question of his historicity has

engaged the attention of scholars for nearly two centuries, ever since

European scholars began to study India, questioning every belief that

the Hindus had held for millennia. They concluded - and their Indian

followers faithfully accepted - that Krishna was a myth. In reality, it

was a preconceived answer, which they sought to justify by giving it an

appearance of scholarship. But in these articles I will present

evidence to show that Krishna was indeed a historical figure who lived

about 5000 years ago.

 

Since the life and career of Krishna lie within the century or so

described in the great historical epic Mahabharata, if we can

demonstrate the historicity of the characters and the principal

episodes of the epic, we will essentially have established Krishna's

historicity also. And the same goes for the date: once we know the

dates of the principal events in the Mahabharata, like the War, we

automatically have an approximate date for Krishna. If, on the basis of

our search, we can ascertain the existence of Krishna, and arrive also

at an approximate date for him, we are justified in regarding him as a

historical figure. The approach that I follow is inspired by the work

Sri Krishna Charitra written more than a century ago by the great

Bengali author Bankima Chandra Chatterji, supplemented by

archaeological and other research that has come to light up to our own

time. The topics presented in these articles are discussed in greater

detail in my forthcoming book Search for the Historical Krishna.

 

Evidence for Krishna

According to Indian sources, Krishna was a Vedic figure. He was a

younger contemporary of Krishna-dvaipayana - or 'Krishna of the Island'

- better known as Veda Vyasa - who by tradition was responsible for the

organization of Vedic hymns into their four fold division, the form in

which we know them today. He is also by tradition the author of the

earliest version of the Mahabharata. It is worth noting that the names

of some of the characters of the period are found in the literature of

the period and also on some Harappan seals that Jha and I have

deciphered. For example, words like Paila (Vyasa's pupil), Akrura

(Krishna's friend), Vrishni (Krishna's clan), Yadu (Krishna's

ancestor), Sritirtha (old name for Dwaraka) are found on seals, some of

which may go back five thousand years.

 

The greatest barrier to a rational study of ancient Indian history

continues to be a nineteenth century colonial fiction known as the

Aryan invasion of India. When the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

were discovered about 70 years ago, this was followed by a new piece of

fiction known as the Aryan-Dravidian wars. Science has now fully

discredited both. We now know that the Harappan Civilization came at

the end of the Vedic Age. I will not go into their details here, but

only mention that in these articles I totally ignore both the Aryan

invasion and the idea of the Harappan Civilization as Dravidian,

unrelated to Vedic. (See my book The Politics of History, Chapter 1.

For a more detailed exposition of Vicitravirya in Kathaka Samhita;

Sikhandin Yajnasena in Kaushitaki Brahmana; Janamejaya the grandson of

Abhimanyu in Aitareya Brahmana; and Pariksita in Shatapatha Brahmana.

And the list is far from exhaustive.

 

Among Buddhist works Kunala Jataka mentions Krishnaa (i.e., Draupadi)

in addition to Bhimasena, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva and Yudhittila (Pali

for Yudhisthira). Dhananjaya of the Kuru race (Arjuna) and Draupadi

Svayamvara are referred to in Dhumakari Jataka. The same work refers

also to Yudhisthira as an ancestor of the Kurus of Indapattana (i.e.,

Indraprastha) and also to Vidurapandita. In addition to these

Mahabharata characters, Krishna himself is mentioned in Buddhist works

such as Sutrapitaka and Lalitavistara. These works are often hostile to

Krishna and his teachings, but the very fact they found it necessary to

try to discredit him (and his teachings) shows that he was accepted as

a historical figure even by them. They did not try to deny his

historical existence.

 

Returning to the late Vedic literature, one of the most interesting

references to Krishna is to be found in the ancient Chandogya

Upanishad. It goes (my translation):

 

"Ghora of the Angirasas spoke thus to Krishna, son of Devaki (Krishna

Devaki-putra) - "Hearing your words I too am now free of thirst." And

till the end of life he sought refuge in these three principles: "Thou

art indestructible (akshita). Thou art eternal (acyuta). Thou art the

flow of life (prana samhita)."

 

Krishna Devaki-putra is of course Krishna of the Mahabharata. It is

worth noting that Krishna studied the Vedas under Ghora of the Angirasa

clan, who seems to have inspired Krishna to develop ideas that later

went into the Bhagavadgita. The Gita is essentially a summary of the

Upanishads combined with the rationalism of the Sankhya philosophy. No

less remarkable is the fact that there is a reference to this episode -

of Ghora providing the seed of the Gita - on one of the Harappan seals.

The message is 'ghorah datah dvayuh varcah' - meaning 'Two essences

given by Ghora', the two essences being the Upanishads (Vedanta) and

Sankhya. So in the third millennium BC, Ghora was recognized as the

inspirer of this synthesis of Vedanta and Sankhya effected by Krishna

in the Bhagavadgita.

 

The important thing to note is that unlike the Harivamsha or the

Bhagavata, these works - the Upanishads, the Jatakas, the Sutras or the

Brahmanas - are not part of the historical tradition and had therefore

no reason to use these names except familiarity. With such profuse

references to Krishna and other Mahabharata characters in so many

unrelated works of diverse kinds, written in different periods, there

cannot be the slightest doubt that they refer to historical characters

in a historical era. What remains now is to fix an approximate date for

Krishna or the Mahabharata War.

 

Krishna's date

Traditional scholars have always held that Kaliyuga - the Age of Kali -

began in 3102 BC. Whether this refers to the date of the eighteen-day

Mahabharata War or to the date of Lord Krishna's departure from this

world, is unclear and also I feel unimportant at this time. This

results in a discrepancy of about 35 years between the two, which is

small in comparison with the very great age of the events we are

speaking about. Several astronomers and astrologers of great eminence

have attempted to arrive at the date based on astronomical references

found in the epics. Professor K. Srinivasaraghavan, perhaps the

foremost authority on the topic, has even determined November 22, 3067

BC as the day on which the Mahabharata War was fought.

 

As noted the Aryan invasion theory has been discredited by science.

Also, our decipherment of Harappan and pre-Harappan scripts has taken

the Vedas to long before 3500 BC. So these objections can be dismissed.

The one arguable issue is the discovery of an ancient submerged city at

the island of Bet Dwaraka by the renowned archaeologist S.R. Rao. Rao,

who identifies it with Krishna's Dwaraka dates it to about 1500 BC. But

his identification rests on insufficient grounds based on ambiguous

literary interpretations. In any event, the historical references in

the deciphered Harappan seals, some of which are over a thousand years

older than 1500 BC make it impossible that the site found by Rao is

Krishna's Dwaraka. We can next look at Krishna's date, from two

different directions.

 

Since Ashvalayana mentions the Mahabharata and its authors Jaimini and

Vaisampayana as ancient, at least a century must have elapsed between

the War and his time. He records that in his time plants sprouted after

the beginning of monsoon rains in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada. This

now takes place in Jyestha or Ashadha. This goes to show that the

monsoon in his time used to start in the month of Sravana instead of

Jyestha as it does today - a difference of about seventy days. This is

due to a well-known astronomical phenomenon called the 'precession of

the equinoxes'. Seasons fall back relative to the fixed stars (and the

Hindu calendar which is based on the fixed stars) by about one day

every 72 years. What this means is that the beginning of monsoon noted

by Ashvalayana must have been taking place close to 5000 years ago or

about 3000 BC.

 

Further, Ashvalayana pays homage to his teacher Kahola Kaushitaki who

was the sage of the Kaushitaki Brahmana. It mentions several

Mahabharata characters. It also mentions that the winter solstice - as

the first day of winter is called - took place on the day on which we

now celebrate the Maha-Shivaratri festival. The winter solstice now

falls on December 21, and the Maha-Shivaratri comes around March 1.

This is due to the precession of the equinoxes. This again means that

from the time of Kahola Kausitaki, the seasons have moved by about 70

days. So, 70 times 72 or about 5000 years must have passed. This also

supports a date of about 3100 BC for the Mahabharata War.

 

Amazingly, we even have Greek records pointing to the same approximate

date. Greek travelers who came to India following Alexander's invasion

have left us some tantalizing references to Krishna and also to Indian

historical records as they existed in their time. Authors like Pliny

referred to Krishna as Heracles, derived from Hari-Krishna. They record

that the Indian Heracles - our Krishna - was held in special honor by

the Sourseni tribe one of whose major cities was Methora. We can

recognize them as Shuraseni and Mathura. (Shura was the father of

Vasudeva and the grandfather of Krishna.)

 

Indian Heracles (Krishna) is recorded by the Greeks as having lived 138

generations before the time of Alexander and Sandracottos which we may

take to be c. 330 BC. Taking 20 years per generation, which is known to

be a good average when ancient Indian dynasties are involved, we are

led to the computation 2760 + 330 = 3090 BC which is remarkably close

to the Kali date of 3102 BC. So a reckoning based on ancient Greek

records takes us again to the traditional date of c. 3100 BC.

 

In summary, we may safely conclude that technical and literary evidence

from several independent sources point to the traditional Kali date of

3102 BC as being close to the actual date of the Mahabharata War. We

have therefore overwhelming evidence showing that Krishna was a

historical figure who must have lived within a century on either side

of that date, i.e., in the 3200-3000 BC period. In my next article,

I'll present a summary of his life and achievements.