The month of Margashira is the most important month in the Mahabharata. The Ekadashi of the month is generally believed to be the first day of the war. In the first day Sri Krishna sang the Srimad Bhagavath Gita. In the Gita he says that he is, among the months, the Margashira. It is considered a very holy month. Hence dating correctly the first day of war is not only important from the historical point of view but also from the Hindu spiritual point of view. This blog is an attempt at showing that Margashira Chaturdashi (the day this blog is written) is the actual Gita day/first day of war.
In one of the previous post, I pointed to an apparent internal contradiction in the Mahabharata regarding Bhishma nirvana. This apparent contradiction is also the cause of confusion regarding the first day of the war.
Verse 1: Bhishma describing the day of his nirvana
दिष्ट्या प्राप्तोसि कौन्तेय सहामात्यो युधिष्ठिर।परिवृत्तो हि भगवान्सहस्रांशुर्दिवाकरः॥13-273-26
अष्टपञ्चाशतं रात्र्यः शयानस्याद्य मे गताः। शरेषु निशिताग्नेषु यथा वर्षशतं तथा॥ 13-273-27
माघोऽयं समनुप्राप्तो मासः पुण्यो युधिष्ठिर। त्रिभागशेषः पक्षोऽयं शुक्लो भवितुमर्हति॥ 13-273-28
The translation: 'By good luck, O son of Kunti, thou hast come here with all thy counselors, O Yudhishthira! The thousand-rayed maker of day, the holy Surya has begun his northward course. I have been lying on my bed here for eight and fifty nights. Stretched on these sharp-pointed arrows I have felt this period to be as long as if it was a century. O Yudhishthira, the lunar month of Magha has come. This is, again, the lighted fortnight and a fourth part of it ought by this (according to my calculations) be over.'
This verse has several astronomical observation:
1. It is the first day of Uttarayana or the winter solstice. Bhishma had resolved to die on this day.
2. It has been 58 days since the day Bhishma had fallen. We know that the Bhishma's defeat was on the tenth day of the war. Hence 68 days had passed from the first day of the war or the Geeta day.
3. It is the lunar month of Magha.
4. The last line is popularly interpreted as Shukla paksha and Ashtami thiti. Hence 68 days before Magha Shukla Ashtami puts the first day of the war at the first day of Margashira.
The last observation is not very obvious and the source of confusion on dating the first day of the war. Interpreting the last observation as Shukla Ashtami would be wrong since no where in Mahabharata any thithi or phases of the moon is ever mentioned except the full moon and the new moon. The moon is always referred by its position with respect to the background star.
Balarama's pilgrimage: A very precise evidence for dating the first day of the war
Verse 2: Day 19 of war Balarama returns to witness Bhima-Duryodhana fight Nov 15
चत्वारिंशदहान्यद्य द्वे च मे निःसृतस्य वै। पुष्येण सम्प्रयातोऽस्मि श्रवणे पुनरागतः। शिष्ययोर्वै गदायुद्धं द्रुष्टुकामोऽस्मि माधव॥ 9-34-6
Translation: Two and forty days have passed since I left home. I had set out under the constellation Pushya and have come back under Shravana. I am desirous, O Madhava, of beholding this encounter with the mace between these two disciples of mine
Once the war starts in the Bhishma parva, we have only one astronomical observations (quoted above) for the moon with respect to the background star. This verse fixes the day Balarama arrives at the Kurukshetra to see his students Duryodhana and Bheema fight. This is the 19th day since the start of the war.
Deriving the first day of war
Balarama says that it is the day when moon is at Shravana in the above verse. Though the verse does not say the month, it says 42 days have passed since he left for the pilgrimage under the star Pushya. From Udyoga parva we know that the event of Balarama leaving for pilgrimage (and both parties leaving for war) happened in the Karthika month. From Pushya in the Karthika month to Shravana in the Margashira month, moon has to pass 15 stars. From the Shravana in the Margashira to the Shravana in the Pushya month has 27 stars. So a total of 42 (15+27) stars have to be passed by the moon. With roughly a day for moon to travel a star we see that Balarama's statement of 42 days is true.
We know that Balarama is describing the 19th day of the war, Hence the first day of the war must be roughly 19 stars before Shravana in the month of Pushya. This puts the Geeta day at Margashira month when moon was at Rohini which usually will fall on Chaturdashi. Coincidentally it s also the star under which Sri Krishna was born.
Note that the Geeta day dated to Margashira month and moon at Rohini is independent of any year the war is dated to. The year, the war is dated, must satisfy the above verse.
For the year 1504BCE in the Margashira month, moon at Rohini is on Oct 28, the Chaturdashi (14th) day. The Day 19 of the war when Balarama returned and when moon was at Shravana is Nov 15. Fourty two days before Nov 15 on Oct 5th, the moon was in Pushya in the month of Karthika. Hence the year 1504BCE satisfies the astronomical observations in Balarama's statement.
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