Southern States
-
Andhra Pradesh
`Afghan region was scene of Mahabharata battle'
By Our Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD, JAN. 12. As Afghanistan continues to be in spotlight, a Hyderabad-based eminent scholar of ancient Indian astronomy has contended that there is sufficient astronomical and other evidence to suggest that the battle and many of the events of the Mahabharata took place in the regions around that beleaguered country, around 1350 BC.
Delivering a lecture on ``Dating the Vedas and later literature with the help of astronomy,'' B. G. Sidharth, Director-General of the B. M. Birla Planetarium and Science Centre, said there were a number of astronomical symbols to strengthen this proposition and added that this view of history from ``archeao-astronomy scenario'' appears very different from the textbooks. The lecture was organised by the Hyderabad Historical Society.
He said the ``Paitamaha Siddhanta,'' the astronomical principles attributed to Bhishma, a well known exponent of the calendar in Mahabharata, gives the winter solstice in the `nakshetra' or lunar asterism, Dhanishta (Delphinus). It also gives a latitude of 35 degrees, which can be calculated on the basis of the ratio of the longest day and shortest day in the year. This winter solstice at Dhanishta took place around 1350 BC. The ``Jyotish Vedaanga,'' one of the oldest surviving Indian astronomical texts, also gave the same date and latitude.
Two astronomical references of Parasara, the father of Vyasa, the composer of and participant in the Mahabharata, can also be dated to around 1350 BC. The first one, again, is reference to winter solstice and the other is his statement that the star Agastya or Canopus, when it enters the lunar asterism Hasta (Corvus) rises with the Sun and it sets with the Sun when it is in the lunar asterism, Rohini.
Interestingly, he said, the Mahabharata also independently mentions that time begins with the nakshatra Dhanishta, while Bhishma refers to the five-year cycle (yuga) which is mentioned in the Jyotish Vedaanga and the Paitamaha Siddhanta. This five year cycle can be traced to Parasara and what is even more remarkable is that in the Vishnu Purana, Parasara explicitly expounds the length of the longest day and shortest day of the year, which corresponds only to the latitude of 35 degrees. ``It shows there is perfect agreement with regard to period and latitude from diverse astronomical references.''
The astronomical symbolism goes beyond a mere reiteration of the period of Mahabharata. It also gives the date of the Mahabahrata war - it took place around June 21, when the Sun was at summer solstice, he contended.
Dr. Sidharth said several literary references supported these conclusions. The Vishnu Purana clearly mentions that 1,015 years elapsed between the birth of Parikshit, the son of Pandavas and the coronation of Nanda who lived around 300 BC. References in the Mahabharata and Vishnu Purana and other texts mentions places around latitude of 35 degrees and to people living there, for example, Gandahar (present day Kandahar) and Kamboja (in Afghanistan), Kashmir and China. The peoples referred to include the Gandharas, the Sakas (from Sakadweepa near Afghanistan), Yavanas (Westerners), Tusharas (Tohara, Tukhara, the Tukharians of Chinese; Turkistan) and Pahlavas of Iran.
The archaeological evidence include the one from the Anatolia in Turkey consisting of Boguz Koi inscriptions of around 1400 BC mentioning Vedic deities.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Southern States
|
