Mahabharat - 5561 B.C .. (Part 1/10)

[Prasad Gokhale]

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THE SCIENTIFIC DATING OF THE MAHABHARAT WAR

by Dr. P.V. VARTAK

(16th OCTOBER 5561 B.C.)
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INTRODUCTION
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The Mahabharat has excercised a continuous and pervasive influence on
the Indian mind for milleniums. The Mahabharat, orginally written by
Sage Ved Vyas in Sanskrut, has been translated and adapted into
numerous languages and has been set to a variety of interpretations.
Dating back to "remote antiquity", it is still a living force in the
life of the Indian masses.

Incidently, the dating of the Mahabharat War has been a matter of
challenge and controversy for a century or two. European scholars have
maintained that the events described in the ancient Sanskrut texts are
imaginary and subsequently, the Mahabharat derived to be a fictitiou
tale of a war fought between two rivalries. Starting from the so-
called Aryan invasion into Bharat, the current Bharatiya chronology
starts from the compilation of the Rigved in 1200 B.C., then come
other Ved's, Mahaveer Jain is born, then Gautam Buddha lives around
585 B.C. and the rest follows. In the meantime, the Brahmanas, Samhi-
tas, Puranas, etc. are written and the thought contained therein is
well-absorbed among the Hindu minds. Where does the Ramayan and
Mahabharat fit in ? Some say that the Ramayan follows Mahabharat and
some opine otherwise. In all this anarchy of Indian histography, the
date of the Mahabharat (the mythical story!) ranges between 1000
B.C.to 300 B.C. Saunskrut epics were academically attacked occasion-
ally - an attempt to disprove the authencity of the annals noted
therein. For example, the European Indologiest Maxmuller, tried the
interpret the astronomical evidences to prove that the observations
recorded in the Hindu scriptures are imaginary, probably because it
did not match the prevelant views of European historians!

On the contrary, many Bharatiya scholars have vehemently maintained
the actual occurance of the Mahabharat War. Astronomical and literary
evidences or clues from the Pauranic and Vaidik texts have been deci-
phered to provide a conclusive date for the Mahabharat War. The fifth
century mathematician, Aryabhatta, calculated the date of the
Mahabharat War to be approximately 3100 B.C. from the planetary posi-
tions recorded in the Mahabharat. Prof. C.V. Vaidya and Prof. Apte had
derived the date to be 3101 B.C. and Shri. Kota Venkatachalam reckoned
it to be 3139 B.C. However, the astronomical data used by the above,
and many other, scholars contained some errors as examined by a scho-
lar from Pune, Dr. P.V. Vartak. Using astronomical references and
variety of other sources, Dr. Vartak has derived the date of the ini-
tiation of the Mahabharat War to be 16th October 5561 B.C. This pro-
posed date has been examined by a few scholars and has been verfied.
This may prove to be a break-through in deciding the chronology of the
events in the history of Bharat (and probably the World).

In the following few posts, I have made an attempt to provide a glance
at the proofs provided by Dr. Vartak in propounding the date of the
very important landmark in the history of Bharat (World?), i.e.,
Mahabharat War. Only major points have been extracted from two sources:
Dr.P.V. Vartak's Marathi book "Swayambhu" and "Scientific Dating of the
Mahabharat War" in English.

..... to be continued.
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Prasad Gokhale
University of New Brunswick, f0...@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca
Fredericton, N.B. CANADA. f0g1@unbmvs1, f0...@unb.ca

"Truth can wait, it is used to it". - Anonymous.
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