Revisiting the Date of Mahabharata war:

astronomical methods using

planetarium software

B. N. Narahari Achar
University of Memphis
Delhi 2014
Outline of the talk
The date of the Mahabharata war
Initial attempts using Planetarium software
determined as a unique date, 3067 BCE
based on the astronomical data within the epic
independent of any other source
Consistency of 3067 BCE with traditional reckoning
of Kaliyuga
The Bharata War is the central landmark in Indian
traditional history and fixing the date of that event
will give us a starting point in settling dates of events
occurring before and after that.
_A.D.Pusalker
Antare caiva samprapte kali dvaparayo rabhut |
Samanta pancake yuddham kuru pandava
senayoh ||

The war between the kuru and pandava armies

took place at the samanta pancaka region at the
junction of kali and dvapara yugas
-Adi parvan.

However, scholars did not believe this.

So, they put forth their own ideas about the date.
 Methodologies used in Dating
Linguistics
Textual evidence from Vedic texts
Genealogical lists found in Puranas
Astronomical references
Archeological evidence
Nearly 200 publications have appeared on the
problem of Date of the Mahabharata war
Nearly half of all these publications are based on
the astronomical references
 Date of the Mahabharata War
Number of Authors promoting it

60
50
40
Number of
Authors
30
20
10
0
<5000 3000 2000 1000
Date of the War BC Years (+/-250 years)
Date of the Mahabharata War based on Astronomy
Number of Authors promoting it

20
18
16
14
12
Number of
10
Authors
8
6
4
2
0
<5000 3000 2000 1000
Date of the War BC Years(+/-250 years)
 Astronomical Events referred to in the Epic

Eclipses, Lunar and solar;

Eclipse pair occurring within 13 days
graha-Planetary positions
example: Saturn (Shani), Mars (Angaraka)
Specific days: tithi and nakshatra
Equinoxes and Solstices
Planetarium Software
Can project the view of the sky at any time
And any place of the world.
All one needs is the date, and latitude and longitude
of the place
View of Delhi sky at midnight Apr 10, 2013
View of the sky Apr 10 at Sun rise
 Using the Planetarium Software

Could be used for investigating the dates of the Mahabharata war

proposed by various authors.
This is how:
Select a benchmark set of astronomical events in the epic
Select the date given by some scholar
Check to see if on that date the pre-selected events occur using the
planetarium software.
If positive, the date is a possible date for further study.
If not, reject the date.
Go to the next author, and his date
Distribution of astronomical references among the Parvans
 Astronomical references most pertinent to the war
are in Udyoga and Bhishma parvans.
Scholars such as Dikshit, Kane, Vaidya all have
criticized the astronomical references in Bhishma
Parvan practically unanimously
Senguptas words:
All this is hopelessly inconsistent astrological
effusions of evil omens fit for Mother Gooses
Tales only
We can not put any faith in any statement of this
chapter of Mahabharata.
 Initial attempts
Decided to consider only references in udyogaparvan
Consider four research works, all astrophysicists,
astronomers, and mathematicians and two of them,
sanskrit pandits
Dates given by them span the range
Easy to check whether the benchmark data are
reproduced on the date
Reject or accept as possible date
SenGupta Ancient Indian Chronology(1947) 2449BCE
Raghavan The Date of the Mahabharata War(1969) 3067BCE
Kochhar The Vedic People (1997) 955 BCE
Siddharth The Celestial Key to the Vedas (1999) 1311BCE
 Benchmark Set of Astronomical References in
udyogaparvan
Krishna leaves on a diplomatic mission for peace: in Kartika, revati
Reaches Hastinapura on :bharani
Lunar eclipse on: Kartika pornima
Talks for peace go on until the day of pushya
Krishna leaves Hastinapura on day of uttara phalguni
Karna and Krishna ride together on that day. Krishna advises
Seven days from now the new moon occurs at jyeshtha. War
rituals be started on that day.
Amavasya at Jyeshtha nakshatra
Karna notes that it will be solar eclipse on that day.
Saturn is at rohini
Mars had become retrograde near Jyeshtha
 Kochhar
Acknowledges more than 150 references to
astronomical phenomena in the epic
Holds the view that most of them are nothing more
than just poetic imagery
Considers only significant event to be a solar eclipse
4th October 955 BCE
 Results for Kochhars Date

The solar eclipse takes place at vishakha and not

jyeshtha
Saturn is at shravana and not Rohini
Winter solstice occurs in the waning Phase and not
in the waxing phase.
None of the events match those in the epic
 Sidharth
Only astronomical event considered is a solar eclipse
occurs on June 14th , 1311 BCE
The eclipse occurs at Punarvasu and not Jyeshtha
It occurs before the summer solstice, too far away from
winter solstice to be considered a candidate for the war.
Does not agree with any bench mark event
 Sengupta
Considers following facts to be relevant:
New Moon at Jyeshtha before the war broke out
Sun turned northward 80 days after this event
On the eve of the war, moon was 13 days old and was in conjunction
with krittika
On the last day of the war, Moon was 31 days old and was in conjunction
with Shravana
Does not use any other references to astronomy listed
Harshest criticism of the references quoted
All this is hopelessly inconsistent astrological effusions of evil omens
fit for Mother Gooses Tales only
We can not put any faith in any statement of this chapter of
Mahabharata.
 Results for Senguptas Date
New Moon at Jyeshtha on October 21, 2449 BCE, but
no eclipse.
He suggests that the eclipse in the epic may have
occurred two years before the war and were
chronicled as being contemporaneous with the war
Saturn at krittika and not rohini
Mars retrograde near purvabhadra
No match with bench mark events
 Raghavans Chronology 3067 BCE
Krishnas departure for Hastinapura Sept. 26
(revati nakshatra)
Krishnaa reaches Hastinapura(Bharani) Sept. 28
Lunar eclipse on Kartika Pornima Sept. 29
Krishnaa rides with Karna (u. phalguni) Oct. 8
Solar eclipse at jyeshtha Oct. 14
War starts Nov. 22
Winter solstice Jan 13, 3066 BCE
Bhishma expires (rohini ) Jan 17, 3066 BCE
(magha shukla ashtami)
Lunar Eclipse on Sept 29, 3067 BCE
 What about references in Bhishma Parvan?
Sage Vyasa meets Dhritarashtra on the eve of war.
Describes all the omens he has seen.
Oh King, a great destruction will occur in this war just
as indicated by these omens which are harbingers of
great calamity.
Scholars say:
The astronomical references in Bhishma Parvan are confusing.
Planetary positions are ambiguous and even contradictory.
Each planet is listed as being found at the same time at two or
more positions differing by as much as 30 degrees.
Astronomical references occur in four separate segments
Indicates interpolation
May belong to observations made on several different dates, but
brought together at one parvan.
 Table 1.Supposedly planetary positions derived by Sharma by a superficial analysis
___________________________________________________________________
Body Location
Sun a)In opposition to the moon, in between -Scorpi (Anuradha) and
-Librae (vishakha)
b) Aldebaran or Antares (Rohini)
Moon a) Pleiades, (krittika) Lunar eclipse
b) Aldebaran or Antares (Rohini), near the sun; Solar eclipse.

Mercury (Dark Planet) a) Antares (Jyeshtha) b)Spica(Chitra)

Venus (White Planet) a) Between -Pegasi and -Andromedae, retrograde
(purva bhadraa and uttarabhadra)
b) Spica (chitra)
Mars a) Regulus, (Makha) retrograde
b) Altair,(shravana) retrograde
Saturn a) Aldebaran(Rohini)
b) Near -Librae (vishakha) for one year together with Jupiter
c) -Leonis (purva Phalguni)
Jupiter a) Altair (shravana)
b) Near -Librae for one year together with Saturn
(Vishakha)
Rahu or a) Approaching the Sun
Ketu b) Between Spica and Arcturus(chitra and swati)
(Cruel Planet) c) Pleiades(krittika)
 Aldeberan (Rohini) and Antares(Jyeshtha) are referred to
by the same word Rohini and Scholars infer ambiguity
Each asterism has a presiding deity prajapati for
Aldeberan and indra for Antares and the text is explicit
and it is clear which asterism is meant.
There are two eclipses a lunar and a solar, two different
events, the positions of Sun and Moon have to be
different.
No ambiguity here at all.
Scholars have assumed graha=planet sveta=white;
svetagraha=white planet=Venus
Infer Dark planet, White planet and Cruel planet refer to
Mercury, Venus and Moons Node. This seems to be at
the root of the problem
Closer study
Planetary Positions derived from Ch 2, 3 of Bhishma Parvan
Out of 79 verses of omens, 20 verses contain astronomical
references
but occur in four separate segments
might have given the idea that Vyasa met the King on
different occasions
some scholars think that some verses may even belong to
Sabhaparvan
Some scholars base their analysis on English translations,
without paying attention to what the original says
some consider the verses to be interpolations at different
times
The story appears to be entirely different.
Segment 1. Bh$&ma P. AVP64, 61, &53.
2
Omens in 1st segment Bh.P. Omens in AVP
I observe the sun every day both at (In predicting a War)
sunrise and at sunset and have seen One should always consider the line of
him as if encircled by long arms. clouds and halos around the sun and
I see the sun surrounded by halos on all the moon and observe whether they
sides, halos which are tri-colored, appear red or not in color.
dark in the middle and white and red which are blue and red towards the
towards the edges and accompanied edges and dark in the middle and
by lightning. accompanied by lightning.
I have been watching days and nights, whenever the sun is surrounded at
the fierce sun, the moon and the sunrise or sunset by tri-colored
stars shining incessantly and have clouds, it indicates great calamity to
been unable to distinguish between the earth and royal families.
day and night. Surely this forebodes The color of the moon at the time of an
utter destruction. eclipse indicates a battle if it is red
on the full moon night of kartika , the and disaster to cities and villages if it
moon with a fiery tinge was hardly is smoky or fiery.
visible, devoid of glory and the
horizons were also of the same hue.
 Omens in 2nd segment : calamities to Kuru family; identical to
those from Udyogaparva.
The third segment
Vyasa describes omens indicating harm to both the armies
senayorashivam ghoram..
This segment has caused so much difficulty for scholars who
interpret graha to mean planets, and hence face the problem of
planets appearing in two or more places at the same time
leading to ambiguity and confusion.
graha=to grasp, could refer to any heavenly object which
can grasp a nakshatra. i.e., planet or comet.
Vyasa leaves no doubt that he means comets:
grahau tamrarunashikhau prajvalitau
The two grahas blazing with red coppery hair
Only comets have hair ! (comet is from the greek for hair)
 Comets in Bhishma P.
 Vyasa names explicitly 12 comets, the earlier translations
dark planet white planet and cruel planet do not
refer to planets, but to comets and these very names of
comets have been listed by the 5th century astronomer
Varahamihira.
Comets are sometimes referred to as grahaputras, for
example, guruputras sons of Guru
Even in modern astronomy, Comets whose aphelia lie
within Jupiters orbit are referred to as belonging to
Jupiters family
Vyasa also refers to some comets as sons of Jupiter
son of Sun, etc.
But sometimes uses Jupiter in the place of son of
Jupiter. This has been done even in RgVeda:
rudraa hiraNya vartaniijushaaNo RV( 5. 75. 3)
uta no rudraa cinmruLataa mashvinaa.. RV(10. 93. 7) where
rudraah is used in place of rudraputrau. In other places in RV
rudraah is used in place of rudraputraah for denting
marudgaNa and all this has been commented by SaayaNa.
Normal usage: Graha-> planet, Grahaputra-> comet. Thus,
Shanaishcara-> Saturn, Shaniputra-> comet.
However, Vyasa uses Graha -> comet. In this case, graha has
been used in the place of grahaputra.
When interpreting, the meaning of graha, whether it refers to
planet or comet has to be determined by context , using
lakshaNaavriti, whenever the principal meaning is bhAAdita
 We have taken Shani and angAraka to mean the
planets Saturn and Mars in segment 2 of
Bhishmaparvan (as also in Udyoga parvan). This is
the primary meaning.
In segment 3, the meaning of graha is determined
by the context, using lakshaNaavruti whenever
there is mukhyaarthabhaada i.e., the principal
meaning, planet, leads to an absurdity.
Thus shani ->shaniputra=a comet.
This analysis removes all the ambiguity and confusion
and renders the whole account of omens a systematic
one in Bhishmaparvan.
 Each of the segments deals with a separate aspect.
1st segment: indicators of an imminent war
2nd segment: Indicators of great harm to the kuru family
3rd segment: Indicators of the calamity to the entire army,
all comets.
4th segment: indicators of destruction of the entire
population. This is the reference to pair of eclipses within
13 days.
Only the second segment contains references to planets
Vyasa gives twelve specific names of comets:
Shveta, DhUmaketu, MahAgraha, Parusha, Pavaka,
DhUma, LohitAnga, ShyAma, Ghora, Dhruvaketu,
Tiivra, Pavakaprabha.
This list can also be found in Brihatsamhita, where
Varahamihira summarises the teachings of Garga, Parashara
Asita and Devala, well known characters from the epic.
 Important Planetary Positions including those
Common to Udyoga and Bhishma parvans

Planet Position
Saturn rohini
Mars Had become retrograde before
reaching jyeshtha
Lunar Eclipse Full moon of Kartika
Solar eclipse at jyeshtha
 Search for years when Saturn was in conjunction with
Rohini from 3500 BCE to 500 CE.
There are 137 such conjunctions in this period.
Search for Retrograde Mars just before jyeshtha from
among this set of 137 conjunction dates.
There are only 17 dates in which Saturn is near Rohini and
Mars is retrograde near jyeshtha
3271 BCE,3067 BCE, 2830 BCE,2625 BCE, 2388 BCE, 2183 BCE,
1946 BCE, 1741 BCE, 1503 BCE, 1299 BCE, 1061BCE, 857 BCE,
620 BCE, 415 BCE, 28 CE, 233 CE, 470 CE
Search for a lunar eclipse in Kartika
Only two dates: 3067 BCE and 2183 BCE
In both of these years, there is also a solar eclipse at Jyeshtha
Saturn at Rohini, Oct 21, 2183 BCE
Solar eclipse at Antares 2183 BC
 Two important events: Amavasya at Jyeshtha
Bhishmas expiry on Rohini, Magha shukla ashthami
War takes place between these two nakshtras.
Two events one at Jyeshtha and another at Rohini. Interval :
13 days.
40 days =(13+27)
67 days =(13+27+27)
94 days= (13+27+27+27)
First two ruled out
67 days corresponds to 2183 BCE
94 days corresponds to 3067 BCE
For 2183 BCE, war should begin on an amavasya
For 3067 BCE war ends on an amavasya.
War could not have taken place much before 3000 BCE
War could not have taken place much later than 2000 BCE.
 Some Recent Works and Projected Dates
Based on Astronomical Data

SenGupta Ancient Indian Chronology(1947) 2449BCE

Raghavan The Date of the Mahabharata War(1969) 3067BCE
Kochhar The Vedic People (1997) 955 BCE
Siddharth The Celestial Key to the Vedas (1999) 1311BCE

Balakrishna Simulations Planetarium software(2003) 2559BCE

Only eclipses; proposed date eclipse not on jyeshtha
Iyengar Simulations Planetarium software(2003) 1478BCE
Solar eclipse near purvashadha and not jyeshtha
lunar eclipse not on kartika pornima, but on margashira
pornima.
Sharma Simulations(2004)
3022BCE
Solar eclipse at Mula; Saturn at Mula, not rohini
Achar Simulations (2000-2004) 3067BCE
Raghavan : practically Every event agrees!!
and Achar
CONCLUSIONS
Astronomical references in the Epic are very consistent.
The word graha refers mostly to comets, this is especially
clear by the description of hairy graha some of which
extend over three nakshatras in the sky.
There is no inconsistency in planetary positions.
The references to planetary positions, which are common
to both udyoga and Bhishma parvans lead to a unique
date for the war.
Date based on data from within the Epic
Date of the Mahabharata War 3067 BCE.
This date should form the basis of chronology of Bharat
 Nak&atras No. of stars Identification of the Principal Presiding Deity
star
RCRC Present
krittika 6 h-Tau h-Tau Agni
rohini 1 a-Tau a-Tau prajapati
mrgashira 3 l-Ori b-Tau* Soma
Ardra 1 a-Ori g-Gem* Rudra
punarvasu 2 b-Gem b-Gem Aditi
pushya 1 d-Cnc d-Cnc Brhaspati
Aslesha 6 z-Hya z-Hya Sarpa
makha 6 a-Leo a-Leo Pitru
purvaphalguni 2 d-Leo d-Leo aryama
uttaraphalguni 2 b-Leo b-Leo Bhaga
hasta 5 d-Crv g-Vir* savitr
citra 1 a-Vir a-Vir Indra
 Nak&atra No of stars RCRC Present Presiding Deity
svati 1 a-Boo p-Hya* vayu
vishakha 2 a-Lib a2-Lib indrani
anuradha 4 d-Sco d-Sco Mitra
Jyeshtha 1 a-Sco a-Sco Indra
mula 7 l-Sco l-Sco Pitr
purvashadha 4 d-Sgr d-Sgr apah*
uttarashadha 4 s-Sgr s-Sgr Viisvedevah*
shravana 3 a-Aql b-Cap* Vishnu
dhanishtha 5 b-Del d-Cap* Vasu
shatabhisha 1 l-Aqr l-Aqr Indra
purvabhadra 2 b-Peg a-Peg ajaekapat
uttarabhadra 2 g-Peg g-Peg Ahirbudhnya
revati 1 z-Pis z-Pis Pushan
ashvini 2 b-Ari b-Ari Ashvin
bharani 3 41-Ari d-Ari yama