-3139 Mahabharata date repeats the precession of equinox error

 In a previous article I had shown why 3K dates for Mahabharata dating should not claim Magha Shukla Ashtami to be in Uttarayan. Any date claiming otherwise can easily be disproved by studying the full moons in the year. I have previously shown this for the dates 3067BCE and 3163BCE. In this article, I will demonstrate it for -3139/3140BCE date as proposed by Smt. Saroj Bala in her book Mahabharata retold with scientific evidence.

The Day of Winter Solstice 

The day of winter solstice for -3139 as put forth by Smt. Saroj Bala is Dec19 in the Gregorian calendar which would be -3138 Jan 14 in the Julian calendar. Figure 1, is a snapshot from Stellarium for the winter solstice day on -3138 highlighting the position of sun and moon. 

Figure1. Jan 14 -3138 (Julian) or Dec 19 -3139 (Gregorian). Winter solstice

The figure shows that the sun is at 270Degree in the ecliptic. Hence it is the winter solstice day. The moon is in the Krittika nakshatra. The author claims that the day after the solstice (Dec 20 -3139) is the Magha Shukla Ashtami Rohini nakshatra or the day of Bhishma Nirvana.

Is Dec 20 -3139 (Gregorian) Magha Shukla Ashtami?

Let us check if the date Dec 20 -3139 (Gregorian) or Jan 15 -3138 (Julian) is Magha Shukla Ashtami. Jan 15 -3138 precedes a full moon at Jan 23 -3138(Julian). This full moon is shown in Figure 2. It is clearly a Phalguna Purnima. Hence Jan 15 -3138 (Julian) is Phalguna Shukla Ashtami. It is not Magha Shukla Ashtami as claimed by the author.

                                            Figure2. Jan 23 -3138 (Julian). Phalguna Purnima

Chaitra, Vaisakha and Jyeshta Purnima

                                            Figure 3. Feb 21 -3138 (Julian). Chaitra Purnima

Let us look at the next 3 full moons that follow Jan 23 -3138 (Julian).  These are shown in the figure 3,4 and 5. They occur on the dates Feb 21, March 22 and April 21 -3138 (Julian). 

Figure 4. March 22 -3138 (Julian). Vaisakha Purnima

As per the author it should be Phalguna Purnima, Chaitra Purnima and Vaisakha Purnima. The figures make is clear that they are instead Chaitra Purnima, Vaisakha Purnima and Jyeshta Purnima. 

Figure 5. April 21 -3138 (Julian). Jyeshta Purnima

Conclusion

The author attempts to claim Phalguna Purnima as Magha Purnima to force fit Magha Shukla Ashtami in the Uttarayan. Like the other 3k date advocates, -3139 gets exposed when we examine the consequent Chaitra, Vaisakha and Jyeshta full moons.

Bhishma Nirvana and the upper and lower limits to assigning Mahabharata date

Today is Magha Shukla Ashtami or Bhishma Ashtami day. Traditionally this day has been assigned to Bhishma nirvana. I have explained in previous posts why this is incorrect. I have also  shown that this was the day Yudhishtra met Bhishma after Rajyabishekam. Assigning Magha Shukla Ashtami to Bhishma nirvana will conflict with one or both of the following astronomical observations

1. Bhishma way lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days

2. Balarama arrived on Shravana nakshatra to witness the Gadha yudh between Duryodhana and Bheema.

This blogpost is not to prove these assertions again but to address a different point raised by this article. The article places a lower limit of 2241BCE. This article does not conflict with the 1504BCE date. But I would like to show why it is incorrect. I will then show what the actual lower and upper limit of dates would be if we take Bhishma Shukla Ashtami or Bhishma Krishna Ashtami to be the date of Bhishma Nirvana. 

-2240 or 2241BCE lower limit proposed in the article

The author states that -2240 should be the lower limit for dating the Mahabharata. His reason is that Magha is located at 60 Degrees from current solstice axis. Hence winter solstice at Magha should have happened 60 X 71 (years per degree of precession) or 4260 years ago or (4260-2020) -2240/2241BCE. 

The author seems to be confusing solstice axis at Magha versus Bhishma Nirvana in the Lunar month of Magha. Bhishma nirvana in the lunar month of Magha is the evidence from Mahabharata. Lunar month of Magha requires full moon near Magha not exactly on top of it. The year -2240BCE would not be the lower limit but a median year when winter solstice occurred in the lunar month of Magha. 

The author assumes 98 degrees difference in the position from full moon day to arrive at Magha Shukla Ashtami. He states that "precessionally" this corresponds to 568 years. Hence his lower limit moves from -2240 to -2240+568=-1672. Hence he argues that Mahabharata could not have happened prior to -1672BCE.

The 98Degree difference translates to 8.04solar days if we assume a lunar month has 29.53 days (98/360*29.53=8.04). The 8.04 solar days translates to 7.93 degrees in the motion of sun (8.04*360/365). Precession of 1 Degree for sun corresponds to 71.6 years, hence 7.93 degrees will result in 71.6*7.93 or 568year. Hence we can verify the author's assertion of 568 year adjustment to place solstice axis at Magha Shukla Ashtami.

But this does not change the fact that the year -1672 would be a median year for winter solstice at Magha Shukla Ashtami. It is not the lower limit. 

Finally for some unknown reason the author gives up -1672BCE lower limit assertion and says 2240BCE lower limit is non negotiable. Clearly it is not a well constructed argument.

Deriving the lower and upper limit for Winter solstice at Magha Purnima (-2940 and -864)

Let us derive the lower and upper limits for winter solstice if it happens at Magha Purnima. We can later adjust the limits using the 568 years correction derived above for winter solstice at Magha Shukla Ashtami.

Table 1 lists all 19 possible ecliptic longitude (J2000) for Magha Purnima. This sequence repeats every 19 years. Precession of equinox can change the ecliptic longitude for that year but J2000 values remains the same. 

Table 1: List of ecliptic longitude (J2000) for moon during Magha Purnima

Magha Purnima can happen between 159 to 130 Degree ecliptic longitude (J2000). This translates to 69(159-90) to 40(130-40) Degree from solstice axis for the year 2000AD. Assuming 71.6 years for precession of 1 Degree, winter solstice at Magha Purnima would have happened 4940 (69*71.6) to 2864 (40*71.6) years ago. The lower limit is the year -2940 and the upper limit is -864. This can be verified in the figure 1 and 2. The year 2940BCE has a winter solstice on Magha Purnima.

Figure 1: Magha Purnima in the year 2940BCE

Figure 2: Winter solstice (ecliptic longitude of 270Degrees) on Magha Purnima

Deriving the lower and upper limit for Winter solstice at Magha Shukla Ashtami (-2448 and -342)

We will use the quicker approach of adjusting the number of years for Magha Shukla Ashtami thithi precession derived above. We will use a definition of 90 Degrees instead of 98. This gives us 522 years instead of 568.

Let us subtract the 522 years to winter solstice at Magha Purnima limits to obtain the limits for Magha Shukla Ashtami. This gives us -2448 (-2970+522) and -342(-864+522). This can be verified by the figure 3 and 4. It shows a winter solstice on Magha Shukla Ashtami in the year 2346BCE. Clearly this breaches the lower limit of 2240BCE proposed by the author. 

Figure 3: Magha Shukla Ashtami Rohini Nakshatra in 2346BCE

Figure 4: Winter solstice on the Magha Shukla Ashtami date in 2346BCE

Deriving the lower/upper limit for Winter solstice at Magha Krishna Ashtami (-3492 and -1386)

We can use the above method to obtain the limits for Magha Krishna Ashtami Bhishma nirvana. We can add 522 years to winter solstice at Magha Purnima limits. We obtain the limits for Magha Krishna Ashtami Bhishma nirvana as -3492 (-2970-522) and -1386(-864-522).

Conclusion: This post provides a more rigorous proof for lower and upper limits for Mahabharata dates for the assumption of Magha Shukla Ashtami and Magha Krishna Ashtami dates for Bhishma nirvana. The lower limit for Magha Shukla Ashtami -2448 is close to the limit of -2240 proposed by the  article.

The post also concurs with the conclusion in the article that dates such as 3067BCE which propose Magha Shukla Ashtami for Bhishma Nirvana is not possible.

Critique of 3163BCE for Mahabharata war date

Critique of 3163BC date: 

Following are the list of major flaws in the year 3163BCE

1. Bhishma nirvana in Phalguna wrongly claimed as Magha: In the table 1, all the dates for full moon in the year 3163BCE and 3162BCE are listed. The month assigned by the author is listed along with the actual position of the full moon. It clearly matches till the month of Pushya Dec 8 3163BCE. The author then wrongly introduces an Adhika masa to claim full moon at Magha as Pushya to fit his date of Bhishma nirvana Jan 29 3163BCE in the Magha month. This error propagates to the rest of the months. Chaitra month is wrongly declared as Phalguna, Vaishaka is wrongly declared as Chaitra and so on. Figures 1 to 3 are the sky maps of the full moon days in 3163BCE highlighting the error.

Table 1: Mislabeling Magha month as Adhika Pushya

Figure 4 and 5 show that the year 3163BCE had adhika masa in Bhadrapada with a full moon at Purva Bhadra and Uttara Bhadra on July 14 and Aug 12 respectively. It seems the author is introducing two adhika masa in the year 3163 (one in Bhadrapada and one in Pushya) to fit his date of Bhishma nirvana at Magha. This would not be permissible. If either Bhadrapada adhika masa is picked or Pushya adhika masa is picked Bhishma nirvana will fall in the month of Phalguna and not in Magha.

     Figure 1: Full moon Jan 7 3162BCE in Magha is wrongly declared as Pushya Figure 2: Full moon Feb6 3162BCE in U Phalguni is wrongly declared as Magha

Figure 3: Full moon Mar 7 3162BCE in Chitra is wrongly declared as Phaluguna month

Figure 4 and 5: Full moon Aug 12 and July 14 at U Bhadra and P Bhadra.

2. Sri Balarama’s pilgrimage: The date 3163BCE does not accommodate the evidence from Sri Balarama’s pilgrimage. The author inverts the evidence and suggests Sri Balarama left in Shravana and arrived to witness Gadha yudha in Pushya. This puts the date of Sri Balarama’s pilgrimage at October 1 3163BCE. This contradicts the author’s date of October 8 as the date when Sri Krishna left for a peace mission to Hastinapura. Sri Balarama could not have left for pilgrimage even before the peace mission started,

3. Krishna Paksha on Day 13 of war: In 3163BCE the day 13 of war falls in Shukla paksha this contradicts the evidence in verse 7-187-1/2. It clearly states that sun rose when moon was still in the sky implying Krishna Paksha

त्रिभागमात्रेषायां रात्र्यां युद्धमवर्तत।कुरूणां पाण्डवानां च संहृष्टानां विशाम्पते॥ 7-187-1

अथ चन्द्रप्रभां मुष्णन्नादित्यस्य पुरःसरः। अरुणोऽभ्युदयाञ्चक्रे ताम्रीकृर्वन्निवाम्बरम्॥ 7-187-2

Critique of 3067BCE for Mahabharata war date

Critique of 3067BCE date:

Following are the list of major flaws in the year 3067BC
1. Bhishma nirvana in Phalguna wrongly claimed as Magha: In the table 1, all the dates for full moon in the year 3067BCE and 3066BCE are listed. The month assigned by the author of 3067BCE is listed along with the actual position of the full moon. It clearly matches till the month of Magha Dec 27 3067BCE. The author then wrongly introduces an Adhika masa to claim full moon in Purva Phalguni as Magha instead of Phalguna to fit his date of Bhishma nirvana Jan 17 3066BCE. This error then propagates down to the future months. Chaitra month is wrongly declared as Phalguna, Vaishaka is wrongly declared as Chaitra and so on. Figures 1 to 4 are the sky map of the full moon days in 3066BCE highlighting the error.





Table 3: Mislabeling of Phalguna month as Adhika Magha

Figure 1: Full moon Jan 26 3066BCE in Purva Phalguni is wrongly declared as Magha

Figure 2: Full moon Feb 25 3066BCE in Chitra wrongly declared as Phalguna




Figure 3: Full moon March 26 3066BCE in Vishaka is wrongly declared as Chaitra

Figure 4: Full moon April 24 3066BCE in Jyestha is wrongly declared as Vaishaka

2. Retrograde from Vishaka to Swati is wrongly claimed as retrograde from Jyestha to Anuradha: The verse 5-143-9 from Udyoga parva clearly states that Mars retrogrades from Jyeshta to Anuradha. Sky map of the year 3066BCE in fact shows Mars retrograding from Vishaka to Swati (Figure 5 and 6). Clearly the author of 3066BCE is in error.

कृत्वा चाङ्गारको वक्रं ज्योष्ठायां मधुसूदन। अनुराधां प्रार्थयते मैत्रं संगमयन्निव । 5-143-9

Figure 5: Sky map of Feb 27 3067BC shows Mars at Vishaka and May 8 shows Mars at Swathi

3. Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days: There is a clear reference from Anushasana parva (13-273-27) where Bhishma claims that he was lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days.

अष्टपञ्चाशतं रात्र्यः शयानस्याद्य मे गताः। शरेषु निशिताग्नेषु यथा वर्षशतं तथा॥ 13-273-27

As per 3066BCE chronology Bhishma spent only 44 days in the bed of arrows.

4. A month gap between Duryodhana declaring war and Pandavas deciding to go to war: As per 3067BCE chronology Duryodhana declares war on Oct 5 3067BC. Sri Krishna rides with Karna to Upaplavya on Oct 8. He tells Karna to start the war rituals on Oct 15 as per verse 5-142-18. He then has a long deliberation with Pandavas weather to go to war until Nov 1 3067BCE while the enemy is preparing for war. Is the author trying to suggest that Sri Krishna skipped the Oct 15 Amavasya date that he himself set?

सप्तमाच्चापि दिवसादमावास्या भविष्यति। सङ्ग्रामो युज्यतां तस्यां तामाहुः शक्रदेवताम् ॥ 5-142-18

The chronology only fits if we assume only 1 or 2 day passed between Duryodhana declaring war when Pushya is in ascendent, Sri Krishna riding with Karna reaches Upaplavya and convinces Pandavas to head to Kurukshetra immediately.

5. Autumnal equinox in Mrigashira month: As per 3066BCE chronology Autumnal equinox falls on Oct 17 in Mrigashira month. But the verse in Udyoga parva states that Sharad ritu was giving away to Hemant ritu when Sri Krishna left for Hastinapura from Upaplavya in Karthika. The date as per 3067BCE chronology is Sep 27. This is 20 days before the Autumnal equinox. It is not possible for Autumn to end so early.

6. No retrograde motion of Venus in 3067BCE: The verse 6-3-15 mentions Venus retrograding between Uttara Bhadra and Purva Bhandra. There is no such event happening in 3067BCE

शुक्रः प्रोष्ठपदे पूर्वे समारुह्य विरोचते । उत्तरे तु परिक्रम्य सहितः समुदीक्षते ॥ 6-3-15

Criticism of the date 1504BCE and their explanation

 1. Saturn at Rohini vs Ardra: One of the criticisms of the date 1504BCE is that Saturn was at Ardra when the war began and not at Rohini as claimed in the paper.

It is true that Saturn had transitioned to Ardra during the war for 1504BCE. It still was at Rohini and had not transitioned to Ardra when Mars began its retrograde motion earlier in the year. Mahabharata verses 5-143-8/9 mention Saturn at Rohini and Mars retrograding from Jyeshta to Anuradha as a pair. It does not indicate that this happened just before the war. In Fact it is not possible for Mars to retrograde at Jyeshta before war since a solar eclipse happens near Jyeshta before the war. The verse 6-3-18 in fact refers to Mars at Brahmarashi (after retrograding) just before the war.

प्राजापत्यं हि नक्षत्रं ग्रहस्तीक्ष्णो महाद्युतिः । शनैश्चरः पीडयति पीडयन्प्राणिनोऽधिकम् ॥ 5-143-8

कृत्वा चाङ्गारको वक्रं ज्योष्ठायां मधुसूदन। अनुराधां प्रार्थयते मैत्रं संगमयन्निव । 5-143-9

वक्रानुवक्रं कृत्वा च श्रवणं पावकप्रभः । ब्रह्मराशिं समावृत्य लोहिताङ्गो व्यवस्थितः ॥ 6-3-18

2. Magha Shukla Ashtami: Another criticism of 1504BCE is the Bhishma nirvana at Krishna Paksha of Magha. The verse provided is the following (Figure 1) from the Gorakhpur Gita press edition of Mahabharata. The verse is from chapter 47 of Shanti parva when Bhishma is lecturing Pandavas from his bed of arrows. The verse simply describes the state of mind of Bhishma (placing atman in paramatma) before his lecture and not his nirvana. At the end of chapter Pandavas simply return to Hastinapur. In fact Bhishma ends up giving several other lectures in Shanti Parva and passes away at the end of Anushasan Parva. This verse only shows that Bhishma lived several days after Magha Shukla Ashtami Rohini nakshatra.

Figure 1: Vaishampanaya describing the day when Bhishma is lecturing Pandavas[2]

3. Day 13 war: Another criticism of 1504BCE is that day 13 of the war as per 1504BCE is not Krishna paksha and is in fact Amavasya.

This criticism is incorrect. The day 16 of war in 1504BCE is the Mrigashirsha Amavasya day. Day 13 is still Krishna Paksha with moon rise few hours before sun rise as described the verse 7-187-1/2

त्रिभागमात्रेषायां रात्र्यां युद्धमवर्तत।कुरूणां पाण्डवानां च संहृष्टानां विशाम्पते॥ 7-187-1

अथ चन्द्रप्रभां मुष्णन्नादित्यस्य पुरःसरः। अरुणोऽभ्युदयाञ्चक्रे ताम्रीकृर्वन्निवाम्बरम्॥ 7-187-2

Translation: When three-fourths of that night had worn away, the battle, O king, once more commenced between the Kurus and the Pandavas. Both sides were elated with joy. Soon after, Aruna, the charioteer of Surya, weakening the splendour of the moon, appeared, causing the welkin to assume a coppery hue. 

Resolving the internal contradictions in Mahabharata astronomical data

Let us look into the the astronomical references that apparently contradict with one another. They contradict not just for the year 1504BCE but for any other year. This section uses the three assumptions listed to explain and resolve these apparent contradictions.

Assumption 1: Observation > Prediction: References that are observations of past events must be chosen when it contradicts references that are a prediction of the future events.  It is not unreasonable to assume that ancients did not have the right mathematical tools to make accurate predictions.

1. Bhishma nirvana 56 days after war has ended vs 58 days from day 10 of the war: There are two verses in Mahabharata referring to Bhishma nirvana from Mahabharata which appear contradictory. The first verse (12-50-14) is from Shanti parva. Here Sri Krishna makes a prediction to Bhishma sometime after the war has ended. He says that Bhishma has 56 days left on earth.

पञ्चाशतं षट् च कुरुप्रवीर शेषं दिनानां तव जीवितस्य। ततः शुभैः कर्मफलोदयैस्त्वं समेष्यसे भीष्म विमुच्य देहम्॥ 12-50-14 [1]

The second verse is from Anushasana Parva (13-273-27). Here Bhishma makes an observation that he was lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days.

अष्टपञ्चाशतं रात्र्यः शयानस्याद्य मे गताः। शरेषु निशिताग्नेषु यथा वर्षशतं तथा॥ 13-273-27

The two verses at the face value appear contradictory. As per 13-272-27 verse, 58 days elapsed from day 10 of the war till the day Bhishma passed away. Then it must be day 12 of the war when 56 days are left for Bhishma to die as per verse 12-50-14. But the verse 12-50-14 is from Shanti parva which occurs after war has ended.

If we assume that ancients could not predict future astronomical events such as winter solstice accurately then this contradiction is resolved. Sri Krishna is making an observation of the future event but Bhishma is recording an event that has passed. So we should accept the verse 13-273-27 and explain the verse 12-50-14 as a wrong prediction. This applies not just to 1504BCE but to any year.

2. Karthika month Amavasya seven days from Pushya vs Amavasya at Jyeshta: There are several verses in the Mahabharata which refer to the position of moon at Pushya when both parties decide to go for war. Verse 5-150-3 describes Sri Krishna paraphrasing Duryodhana who observes moon ascending into Pushya while he announces his intention to march to Kurukshetra. The verse 9-35-11 describes Sri Krishna at Upaplavya leaving with Pandavas for war to Kurukshetra. The verse 9-35-16 in addition also mentions Sri Balarama leaving for the pilgrimage on Pushya while Pandavas head to war. The inference would be that Sri Krishna left Hastinapur after a failed peace mission when Pushya was in the ascendant. He then met Pandavas at Upaplavya. He then recounts the events of Hastinapur and leaves for war while the moon is still in Pushya.

आज्ञापयच्च राज्ञस्तान्पार्थिवान्नष्टचेतसः । प्रयात वै कुरुक्षेत्रं पुष्योऽद्येति पुनः पुनः ॥ 5-150-3

न कुर्वन्ति वचो मह्यं कुरवः कालनोदिताः। निर्गच्छध्व पाण्डवेयाः पुष्येण सहिता मया॥ 9-35-11

रौहिणेये गते शूरे पुष्येण मधुसूदनः। पाण्डवेयान्पुरस्कृत्य ययावभिमुखः कूरून्॥ 9-35-16

चत्वारिंशदहान्यद्य द्वे च मे निःसृतस्य वै। पुष्येण सम्प्रयातोऽस्मि श्रवणे पुनरागतः। शिष्ययोर्वै गदायुद्धं द्रुष्टुकामोऽस्मि माधव॥ 9-16-6

There is another verse in Udyoga parva where Karna offers a quick ride back to Upaplavya to Sri Krishna. In this verse (5-142-18) Sri Krishna predicts that in seven days Amavasya is in Jyeshta.

सप्तमाच्चापि दिवसादमावास्या भविष्यति। सङ्ग्रामो युज्यतां तस्यां तामाहुः शक्रदेवताम् ॥ 5-142-18

The set of verses (5-150-3,9-35-11,9-35-16) conflict with verse 5-142-18. In seven days the moon at Pushya can only travel to Vishaka. It is not possible for the moon to be at Jyestha. Since the events are happening in Karthika month, the new moon usually falls at Anuradha/Jyeshta. But occasionally the full moon can be at Bharani instead of Krittika and the new moon at Vishaka. Hence it is possible that 5-142-18 can be a wrong prediction as per assumption 1. The verses 5-150-3, 9-35-11 and 9-35-16 are observations of a past event. Hence we should assume them to be true.

There are some arguments which give a gap of 1 month between Duryodhana declaring war on Pushya in Karthika month and Sri Krishna leaving with Pandavas to war in Mrigashira Pushya[3]. This explanation allows the event of Sri Krishna with Karna anywhere in this period of 1 month and thus reconciles these apparent contradictory evidences. There is a flaw in this proposition. It assumes that Kauravas started preparing for war while Pandavas are still deliberating whether to go to war for a month. This would be a very bad war strategy. Sri Krishna tells Karna to start preparation for the war in 7 days in Amavasya. But this explanation contradicts Sri Krishna’s own words. It shows Sri Krishna and Pandavas did not start the war ritual in Amavasya but were still deciding whether to go to  war for another 3 weeks..

Assumption 2: Multiple planetary position refer to past event

1. Saturn at Rohini vs Saturn in UttaraPhalguni: The verse 5-143-8 and 6-2-32 refer to Saturn at Rohini during the year of the Mahabharata war.

प्राजापत्यं हि नक्षत्रं ग्रहस्तीक्ष्णो महाद्युतिः । शनैश्चरः पीडयति पीडयन्प्राणिनोऽधिकम् ॥ 5-143-8

रोहिणीं पीडयन्नेष स्थितो राजञ्शनैश्चरः । व्यावृत्तं लक्ष्म सोमस्य भविष्यति महद्भयम् ॥ 6-2-32

The set of verse 6-3-14 and 6-3-15 refer to Saturn at Uttara Phalguni. Since Saturn moves from one nakshatra to the next in one year both these verses cannot be simultaneously true.

If we assume that only one refers to the year of the Mahabharata the other must refer to an event in Past. In the year 1504BCE Saturn is at Rohini. Then Saturn at Uttara Phalguni refers to the year 1526 BCE.

The set of verses 6-3-14/15 provides not only the position of Saturn but also the position of Mars, Jupitar and Venus. In the following section we will see that it lines up well for the year 1526BCE. 

मघास्वङ्गारको वक्रः श्रवणे च बृहस्पतिः । भगं नक्षत्रमाक्रम्य सूर्यपुत्रेण पीड्यते ॥ 6-3-14

शुक्रः प्रोष्ठपदे पूर्वे समारुह्य विरोचते । उत्तरे तु परिक्रम्य सहितः समुदीक्षते ॥ 6-3-15

2. Mars retrograde at Jyeshta vs Mars retrograde at Magha: The verse 5-142-9 refers to Mars retrograding from Jyestha to Anuradha. The set of verses 6-3-14/15 refers to mars retrograding at Magha. For the year 1504BCE Mars is retrograding from Jyeshta to Anuradha while in 1526BCE (Saturn at Uttara Phalguni) Mars is retrograding at Magha. The multiple positions of mars reconciles very well with the multiple positions of Saturn.

कृत्वा चाङ्गारको वक्रं ज्योष्ठायां मधुसूदन। अनुराधां प्रार्थयते मैत्रं संगमयन्निव । 5-143-9

3. Jupitar retrograde in Shravana and Venus retrograde at Purva Bhadrapada: The set of verse 6-3-14/15 not only mentions Saturn at Uttara Phalguni and Mars retrograding at Magha, but also Jupiter retrograding at Shravana and Venus retrograding at Purva Bhadrapada. It can shown to be true in the year 1526BCE.

Assumption 3: Alternate interpretation of one-off references that causes internal contradiction

1. Jupitar and Saturn at Vishaka for 1 year: The verse 6-3-27 refers to Saturn and Jupitar  at Vishaka for 1 year. This is not possible since Jupitar moves 2 nakshatras in 1 year. Hence we need to seek alternate meaning for the term Vishaka. The original meaning of Vishaka is fork/divide. We can interpret Vishaka as the horizon since it is the place where heaven and earth fork/divide. It turns out that for the year 1504BCE, Jupitar and Saturn are at the opposite ends of the horizon for 1 year.

संवत्सरस्थायिनौ च ग्रहौ प्रज्वलितावुभौ । विशाखयोः समीपस्थौ बृहस्पतिशनैश्चरौ ॥ 6-3-27

2. Bhishma nirvana 58 days from day 10 of war vs Magha Shukla paksha: The set of verses 13-273-26/27/28 refer to Bhishma describing the day of his nirvana. The set of verses starts with Bhishma’s observation that the sun has started its northwards course. It also refers to Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days (from day 10 of the war). The final verse is interpreted as Magha Shukla Ashtami while it simply states that only a third of a month is left and is on the bright side.

The observation that Bhishma has been on the bed of arrows for 58 days contradicts Magha Shukla Ashtami. During Magha Shukla Ashtami moon is near Rohini nakshatra. But in verse 9-16-6 Sri Balarama says that he has returned on the day of Sravana nakshatra to witness Gaddha yudh on Day 19. Assuming moon travels 1 nakshatra per day on average, Moon at Sravana on Day 19 and 58 days from day 10 of war points to moon at Vishaka (Magha Krishna Ashtami) during Bhishma nirvana.

Any attempt at placing Bhishma nirvana at Magha Shukla Ashtami Rohini nakshatra will have to contradict with either Balarama witnessing Gadha yudh on Sravana or Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days.

Since the verse itself mentions only a third of the month is left it points to Krishna paksha only. This reconciles the evidence that Bhishma was lying on the bed of arrows for 58 days and Balarama arriving on the day of Sravana to witness the Gadha yudh. The word bright side of the month in the verse can be reinterpreted as the portion of Magha month that falls in Uttarayan.

दिष्ट्या प्राप्तोसि कौन्तेय सहामात्यो युधिष्ठिर। परिवृत्तो हि भगवान्सहस्रांशुर्दिवाकरः॥ 13-273-26 (92305) अष्टपञ्चाशतं रात्र्यः शयानस्याद्य मे गताः। शरेषु निशिताग्नेषु यथा वर्षशतं तथा॥ 13-273-27 (92306) माघोऽयं समनुप्राप्तो मासः पुण्यो युधिष्ठिर। त्रिभागशेषः पक्षोऽयं शुक्लो भवितुमर्हति॥ 13-273-28