Scholars who has attempt to date mahabharatha using astronomical evidence must inform his audience about the irreconcilable astronomical observations. There can be no dates that can be assigned that would reconcile all the astrolonomical observations in mahabhartha.
This blog attempts to show two major pairs of astronomical observations that are irreconcilable with each other
1. The first pair of astronomical observation are on the starting date of mahabharata war and the day Bhishma expired.
2. The second pair is the night before dhrona expires and the night Duryodana is fatally wounded
2. The second pair is the night before dhrona expires and the night Duryodana is fatally wounded
Start of mahabharatha war and the day Bhishma expired
The day mahabharatha war started as per vaishampanaya janamajeya samvada is the day after solar eclipse that followed lunar eclipse on karthik purnima. This puts it at the first day of Mrigashira masa when moon is usually at Jyesta or Mula. Interestingly the Sanjaya Dhritrarashtra samvada doesnot mention any astronomical position on the first day of war.
The day Bhishma expired is mention by vaishampanaya to Janamajeya as Magha shukla ashtami under rohini star. He also mentions that this day is exactly 68 days from the start of war, 58 days since Bhishma fell down and 50 nights since yudhishtra spent in hastinapura after the war. It is also interesting to note that Sanjaya dhritharashtra samvada does not say when Bhishma passed away.
These two dates do match up with each other. If moon was present in Mula when the war started, moon must traverse 65 stars to reach rohini on magha shukla ashtami. Hence it is quite possible to have 68 days from the start of the war to the day Bhishma expired.
Drona died on 15th day and Duryodhana was fatally wounded on 19th day. This puts Drona's death close to punarvasu in shukla paksha and Duryodhana's fatal injury close to purva phalguni. But does that reconcile with the evidence?
Night before Drona's death and Duryodhana's fatal injury
Mahabharath's drona parva and Shalya parva has discussion between sanjaya and dhritharashtra. They give following evidence. The night before Dhrona died the moon rose just before sun rise. This puts Drona's death in Krishna paksha.
Shalya parva also states that the day Duryodhana was fatally injured Balarama returned from his 42 day pilgrimage on Shravana nakshtra. Now Shravana nakshatra in Mrigashira month falls within first week in shukla paksha or close to following amavasya. We must reject the first week of Mrigashira masa since war just started in Mrigashira masa after solar eclipse.
The Sravana nakshtra close to amavasya before starting of Pushya masa would most likely make sense. It falls close to 42 days after Balarama's thirta yatra started (pushya nakshatra in karthika masa). The date also tallies with Drona's expiry which was 4 days before Duryodhana's fatal injury. 4 days before would be around Jyesta or Anuradha. Jyesta or Anuradha in Mrigashira month falls in Krishna paksha day. This is reconcilable with the evidence in Drona parva.
The irreconcilable evidence
The first pair of evidence from Vaishampanaya Janamajaya samvada places death of Drona in Shukla paksha close to punarvasu star and Duryodhana's fatal injury at purva phalguni. This is atleast a week to 10 days away from the evidence in Drona parva and Shalya parva.
There can be no year when these two pair of evidence can ever be reconciled.
Which one to choose and which one to reject
Every scholar who has tried to date mahabharatha has picked one pair of evidence over another. It is very hard to decide. But following is my recommendation.
Sanjaya Dhritarashtra were contemprory to the mahabharatha war. I would choose the evidence from sanjaya Dritharashtra over Vaishampanaya Janamajeya if a contradiction arise. I would side with evidence to drona parva and shalya parva over Anushasana parva and udyoga parva.
