--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Juha Savolainen <juhavs@...> wrote:
> Given these methodological preferences, I responded to
Kalyanaraman´s claims by pointing out the glaring discrepancy
between his claims and the (now robust-looking) archaeological data.
I accept that Kalyanaraman is in his rights when defending the
credibility of Achar´s case, but it was not my intention to invite a
prolonged discussion on Achar´s case for dating "the Great Battle"
at 3067 B.C.
I disagree that the evidence about PGW is robust-looking. PGW sites
have been found dated to 3rd millennia on the banks of R. Sarasvati
in Ganganagar and Bahawalpur provinces.See also HP Francfort, 2001,
The archaeology of protohistoric central asia and the problems of
identifying indo-european and uralic-speaking populations, in:
Memoires de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne, 242, Helsinki, 2001.
I don't intend to prolong the discussion either on this list. The
debate will continue on other fora.
I want to just put the record straight with the following update on
the state of planetaria software simulations.
Kalyan
Here is the revised note of Prof. Narahari Achar. The revision
relates to the expansion of the simulation period from 1000 BCE to
3500 BCE. There are only 11 years during these 2500 years which
match with the observed event of s'ani in rohin.i. This is called
rohin.i s'akat.a bheda in Bharatiya jyotis.a.
These 11 years get reduced to 8 years if the additional observed
events of a lunar eclipse at Pleiades immediately before the solar
eclipse at Antares are taken into account.
Out of these eight years, the year 3067 BCE is consistent with
almost ALL celestial epigraphs observed and recorded by Veda Vya_sa
from the banks of River Sarasvati. These dates are replicable using
any validated planetarium software which can depict sky maps for
upto over 5500 years Before Present.
We should be grateful to Prof. Srinivasa Raghavan and Prof. Narahari
Achar for these scintillating investigations which help us unravel
the Mahabharata as the most accurate document in bha_ratiya
itihaasa, -- an unparalleled accuracy, among historical documents of
all times, of all civilizations. Unique, indeed.
Kalyanaraman
Establishing a unique year for the MahAbhArata war
B. N. Narahari Achar
Abstract
A methodology using the planetarium software and the most reliable
astronomical references from the epic is presented and it projects a
unique year, 3067 BCE for the events.
Introduction
A war literally as big as the MahAbhArata war has been
fought on the internet to establish the date of the epic war. Here
is my latest contribution to this effort.
Astronomical references
It is regarded that planetary positions are most reliable and
eclipses and comets are not so reliable. The most important
planetary position for purposes of this exercise is considered to be
shani at rohiNi. (Saturn at Aldeberan) This configuration has been
stressed both by KarNa in udyogaparva and by VyAsa in BhIShmaparva.
A solar eclipse at JyeShTha (Antares)is considered to be the next
important event. For, the new moon at Antares, has been mentioned by
KRShNa, and the solar eclipse has been mentioned by both KarNa and
VyAsa. The preceding full moon at kArtika (Pleiades) was a lunar
eclipse day, again mentioned by both KarNa and VyAsa. Retrograde
motion of Mars before reaching Antares and the occurrence of the
winter solstice in mAgha shukla pakSa complete the list of required
astronomical events, the references to the original in Sanskrit can
be found in the work of Sathe et al.
Methodology
A search was made using the planetarium software SkyMap
Pro6, from 3500 BCE to 1000 BCE, for the years in which Saturn was
in conjunction with Aldeberan. There are a total of 85 conjunctions
in this interval. Then a search was made from among these 85
conjunction years to find the years in which there was also a solar
eclipse at Antares. The planetarium software RedShift 3 was used for
this purpose. It turned out that there are 11 years in which Saturn
was at Aldeberan, and a solar eclipse at Antares
occurred. A further search was made from among these 11 years to
find those in which there was a lunar eclipse at Pleiades
immediately before the solar eclipse at Antares. This reduced the
set from 11 to 8. These years are: 3244 BCE, 3067 BCE, 2890 BCE,
2360 BCE, 2183 BCE, 1682 BCE, 1300 BCE and 1123 BCE. This set
included a year in which the solar eclipse was closer to anUrAdha
than jyeShTha, and a year in which the lunar eclipse occurred closer
to bharaNi than kRttikA, and a year in which the lunar eclipse was
judged to be between kRttika and rohiNi. The events were considered
as being within the limits of uncertainty. A keen reader would
notice that the interval between two successive dates is 177 or 531.
Then a search was made for those years in which Mars executed a
retrograde motion before reaching Antares and became prograde again
by the time the solar eclipse occurred. Out of these eight, there
were four years in which Mars did not execute retrograde motion and
two years in which Mars became retrograde much later or in some
position other than near Antares. There were only two years, 3067
BCE and 2183 BCE, in which Saturn was at Aldeberan, there was a
solar eclipse at Antares, preceded by a lunar eclipse at Pleiades,
or at Pleiades/Aldeberan, and Mars had executed retrograde motion
before reaching Antares. These two years could be the possible years
for the MahAbhArata war. The final choice could be made by appealing
to the occurrence of the winter solstice. The winter solstice
occurred on January 7, 2182 BCE in the month of mAgha, but it was
kRSNa caturthi and the NakSatra was citrA. But, the winter solstice
in 3066 BCE occurred on shuklapancami, and the aSTami occurred at
rohiNi just as required for the date of expiry of BhISma Thus, we
get a unique year for the occurrence of all the events described in
the epic. I have already given proofs of the adhimAsa earlier. The
simulations and star maps have also shown graphically that every
event described in the epic can be simulated. Now we have the proof
of a unique year as well.
Conclusion
The year of the astronomical events in MahAbhArata is
conclusively shown to be 3067 BCE.
See also Prof. Narahari Achar's detailed paper presented at the
Colloquium:
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/colloquium/narahari01.htm