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 Dating Mahabharata- Two Eclipses in Thirteen Days
by Dr S. Balakrishna
 
 Abstract 
 Mahabharata
war is considered by many to be a historical event. The epicstates that a singularly ominous pair of eclipses occurred in - Thirteen days- some time before the war. Using modern astronomical software, ourarticle shows that a number of Thirteen day eclipse pairs were visible in
Kurukshethra
. Article suggests some candidate dates for
 Mahabharata
war.
 Introduction
Mahabharata is agreat epic, and is one of the pillars of present day Hinduism. The
 Mahabharata
story and its moral ethos have had profound influence onmillions over many generations.
 Mahabharata
war is said to have occurredbefore the transition of 
 Dwapara Yuga
to
Kali Yuga.
Dating theMahabharata war and start of 
Kaliyuga
has been elusive and going on formany centuries.
 Aryabhata
, is a famous early astronomer with contributions to science,whose estimate of p, and the time of moon revolution around the earth areso accurate, that his works are being extensively researched.
 Aryabhata
 
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(476-550 AD) stated that
Kaliyuga
started 3600 years before, when he was23 years old, making the start as 3102 BC [Aryabhateeya ref-1]). It woulddate
 Mahabharata
war to around circa 3130-3140 BCJ.
Surya Siddhanta
[Ref 2], a document evolved from roughly same period,states that sun was 54 degrees away from vernal equinox when
Kaliyuga
 started on a new moon day, corresponding to February 17/18, 3102 BCJ, at
Ujjain
(75deg47minE 23deg 15min N).
Varaha Mihira
(circa 560AD), another famous astronomer, stated that 2526 years before start of 
Saka
count (either Shalivahana saka starting in 79 AD or
Vikrama Saka
 starting in 57 BC) [
 Brihat Samhita
Ref-3].When
Saptarishis
(ursa major) was near
 Magha
 
Yudhistira
was king 2526years before
Saka
timePresently, traditional
Sanatana Dharma
followers consider that
Kaliyuga
 started at 3102 BCJ, when Sri Krishna passed away, and that
 Mahabharata
 war occurred in 3138 BCJ. Millennium year 2000 AD is
Kali
5102.Like Homer's Iliad, another epic poetry from Greece, different scholarshave expressed opinions varying between the story of 
 Mahabharata
beingeither total fiction or true record of historical facts. It took efforts bySchliemann and others to show physical archeological evidence of existence of Troy in present day Turkey, and Homer's poems havinghistorical relevance.
 Bharata
has been continuously and relatively densely lived in for thousandsof years and in Northern
 Bharata
the archeological evidence is difficult tocome by because of many 100's of generations of people living in samearea. Hence, it is usual to look for
Puranic
and
Vedic
(written and oralrecitation) astronomical evidence to substantiate the time periods. As is trueof all such documents like bible stories, Scandinavian, Chinese, Japanese,Egyptian and other documented local folklore, the historical truths arelikely to be anywhere between absolute truth to vivid imagination. An
 
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objective analysis can help in determining the likelihood of folklore being ahistorical fact or not.
 Mahabharata
Mahabharata epic story was written by,
Vedavyaasa
(or
Krishna Dwaipaayana
) after the
 Mahabharata
war.
Vyaasa
is also credited withcodifying the existing branches of 
Vedas
. It is perhaps the longest poem of its kind of such antiquity. The presently known oldest version of 
 Mahabharata
, based on its style, grammar and other features was probablywritten down before the Gupta period. This
 Mahabharata
text does notrefer to any Zodiac's or
 Raashis
(a western concept probablyaccommodated in to
 Jyotishya
some time during 300BC to 200AD). Thelinguistic style of the oldest version of 
 Mahabharata
clearly cannot be thebasis for determining if and when the events of 
 Mahabharata
occurred. Itprobably may have been rewritten/re-rendered many times as the mode of transference was by oral traditions as in the case of 
Vedic chandas
prosody.The known oldest version has nearly 90,000 to 100,000 poems dominantlywith 32 syllables
 Anushtup chandas
, in 18 chapters called
Parva's
[ref-4and 5].The
 Bhishma Parva
and
Udyoga Parva
(specific chapters of 
 Mahabharata
) provide considerableastronomical/astrological descriptions and omens as the
 Mahabharata
warwas approaching. It describes a period of draught, with many planetarypositions. Then there is this clear reference to pair of eclipses occurring on13th day as shown below.Fourteenth day, Fifteenth day and in past sixteenth day, but I have neverknown the
 Amavasya
(New Moon day) to occur on the thirteenth day.Lunar eclipse followed by solar eclipse on thirteenth day is in a single lunarmonth etc...
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