MAHABHARATA PLANETARIUM PROJECT

[Guest guest]

Dear Vrin,

 

There was a very successful colloquium in Bangalore on Jan. 5 and 6

on the Date of Mahabharata based on astronomical data. Dr. Narahari

Achar, Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Memphis made a brilliant

presentation with sky maps and celestial event calendar and has

shown that the celestial epigraphs or sky inscriptions were observed

by Veda Vya_sa and recorded in the great epic. Here is a note that I

had drawn up on the planetarium idea. Vrin, will it be possible to

take this idea further and demonstrate it in planetaria or museums

in USA? He will be returning to Memphis on 16 Jan. 2003. Please do

get in touch with him and see what you can do in organizing for this

in USA.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Kalyanaraman

 

 

 

SARASVATI NADI SHODH PRAKALP

 

AKHIL BHARATIYA ITIHAASA SANKALANA YOJANA

 

5/3 Vishali, Temple Avenue, Srinagar Colony, Saidapet, Chennai 600015

 

Tel. 2350557; Fax. 4996380 kalyan97

 

 

 

 

 

MAHABHARATA PLANETARIUM PROJECT

 

 

Objective

 

 

The objective is to demonstrate that over 70 sky inscriptions

mentioned by Veda Vya_sa in the Mahabha_rata are remarkably

scientific dates of the War. This demonstration will be presented in

Planetaria all over the world simulating the skies as seen from

Kurukshetra by Veda Vya_sa using astronomical computational

software. This will validate the Maha_bha_rata as a historical

document, a sheet-anchor of the modern history of Bharat which

commences in 3012 BCE (Before Common Era, according to the Gregorian

Calendar).

 

 

Background

 

 

>From 22nd to 24th November, 2002 a national seminar was organized on

History of India through Vedic Astronomy under the patronage of Dr.

N. Mahalingam. On 5 and 6 January 2003, a colloquium was held in

Bangalore under the auspices of the Yojana, the Mythic Society and

Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts Southern Regional Chapter on

Date of Mahabharata using only astronomical references. Dr. Narahari

Achar presented his findings to scientists and scholars.

 

 

 

Dr. Ramasubramanian, Professor of Theortetical Physics in University

of Madras made a brilliant presentation on the purpose, and

methodology of Indian Astronomy.

 

 

 

I mentioned in the seminar about the path-breaking work done by Dr.

Narahari Achar of Universit of Memphis, USA, validating, (using

Planetarium Software, Sky Pro and Red Shift Sky computer software),

Prof. Srinivasa Raghavan's computations (using Vedanga Jyotisha, in

1979) on the astronomical references mentioned in the Mahabharata.

 

 

 

Dr. Sabaratnam and Shri V. Sundaram also associated with Dr.

Mahalingam had arranged for a visit to the planetarium in Chennai.

The director of the Birla planaterium, Dr. Ayyan Perumal mentioned

during their presentation of the Haley's Comet's history that the

planetarium has software which can reconstruct the inscriptions on

the skies upto 26,000 years Before Present.

 

 

 

The proposed project

 

 

Now, the idea is this. We will organize a team of young scholars to

work with the Birla Planetarium, under the guidance of Dr.

Ramasubramanian to make a presentation in the Planetarium

demonstrating the inscriptions on the skies around circa 3000 BCE.

 

 

 

We have the textual references from the critical edition of the

Mahabharata (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute).

 

 

 

 

Reading selected inscriptions on the sky

 

 

We have the selected inscriptions on the sky as demonstrated by

Prof. Srinivasa Raghavan (using Vedanga Jyotisha computations).

 

 

 

We have your demonstration and reading of these inscriptions, using

computer simulation of the planetarium with reference to the dates

(tithi, naksatra), planetary positions, Haley's comet (dhu_ma ketu)

and lunar-solar-lunar solar eclipse sequences occurring in two

paks.a-s (one sequence occurring within 13 tithi-s). For example,

the selected inscriptions relate to: Balarama's start date of

pilgrimage on River Sarasvati and return date; the day of beginning

of the war; the date of injury to Bhishma on the 10th day of the

war; the date of Uttara_yan.a (i.e. Bhishmashtami on ma_gha s'ukla

which occurs after 58 days from the date of injury since Bhishma

waits for the winter solstice to arrive); the planetary positions

during the war as reported by Karna to Krishna; the occurrences of

lunar-solar-lunar eclipse sequences; and the passing of the Haley's

comet on the skies.

 

 

 

Simulating the sky as seen by Veda Vya_sa (from Kurukshetra, on the

banks of River Sarasvati)

 

 

 

A further demonstration of the planetarium with reference to these

selected inscriptions on the sky can be made by using the Birla

Planetarium facilities and the guidance of astronomers in the

Planetarium and Dr. Ramasubramanian.

 

 

 

The idea is to display the texts in Sanskrit with translations which

describe the events on the sky.

 

 

 

This display will be done together with the demonstration of actual

positions of the planets, Haley's comet, lunar-solar eclipses and

the corresponding dates of the Gregorian calendar and Kaliyuga_bda.

 

 

 

It will be a privilege if during your stay in Bharat between 7th

and 15th January 2003, you can plan to visit Chennai. We will

arrange a lecture-demonstration by you. We would like to discuss

further on the steps to be taken to advance this inquiry further.

 

 

 

We have a general idea of the advances made in computational

software to go beyond 5000 years Before Present and also the

limitations which have to be overcome to achieve greater reliability

in computations by providing corrections, for example, for manda-

gati ans s'i_ghra-gati of some planets and nakshatras.

 

 

 

Once the Birla Planetarium, Chennai, comes up with this programme,

it can be replicated in planetaria all over the world demonstrating

the historicity of the Mahabharata and the use of the sky

inscriptions for treating this text as the sheet-anchor of the

modern history of Bharat.

 

 

S. Kalyanaraman, 25 Nov. 2002