Mahabharata Chronology

[Guest guest]

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/mahabharat/mahab_patnaik.html

 

This website is done by a person who has researched all the exact star positions in the Mahabharata given by Vyasadeva and calculating them scientifically. It completely refutes absolutely ANY arbitrary date given by the British during their reign in India. (For example, according to them Kali Yuga started at about 600 A.D. However, according to the original mahabharata, the date is GIVEN as Pramadi Chaitra Bright 1st day, Friday (BC 3102-2-20) at 2-27-30 P.M.

 

Food for thought for all the skeptics.

[Avinash]

According to the web site you have mentioned, there were more than 14 billion warriors.

 

Could so many people together with chariots be accomodated in Kurukshetra!!!

[shvu]

 

 

According to the web site you have mentioned, there were more than 14 billion warriors.

 

Could so many people together with chariots be accomodated in Kurukshetra!!!

 

 

Any level of hyperbole is possible in a story. The sole factor is the capacity of the author to imagine.

 

If huge demons with magical powers (Ghatotkacha) participated in the war, if Sudarshana Chakras flew around chopping off heads, anything is possible.

 

Cheers

 

[Gauracandra]

We discussed this last week (I think) briefly, but what are the principles of Vedic astrology. When we say that certain planetary alignments etc... are confirmed from statements in the Mahabharata, I'm curious how this was accomplished in the past and if this knowledge was written down in certain "Astrology/Astronomy" sastras. Is this knowledge still available, if nothing else in book form, if not in practice?

[mahak]

Not only could Kuruksetra accommodate the warriors, the entire battle could have taken place on the head of a pin, had Krsna desired.

[Guest guest]

I am extremely impressed by your answers. They show a good, strong grasp on vedic philosophy.

 

 

If I may be so bold to add:

It's true, but to be absolutely accurate, so many people fit into the world because the world shrinks tenfold after each yuga, thus, the world was 10X as large, as stated in Mahabharata.

[theist]

Yes God can do anything.But did He?

 

For instance; some Christians say the Earth is only 6-10 thousand years old.When asked about fossil evidence some of them say God created the fossils at them same time with that fossilized look, but they are also only a few thousand years old.Why would He do that?

 

So God can do anything, but did King Ugrasena really have ten quadrillion bodyguards in Mathura?This supposedly only 5,000 years ago.What to speak of the rest of the residents of Mathura.How many more quadrillion of them are we to believe lived there?Where is the remnants of the huge infrastructure that must have existed to support them?Was Mathura large enough 5,000 years ago to accomodate more humans then now inhabite the entire solar system?How much larger still the land to grow the food.The pasturing ground for the cows.Just how big is Mathura anyway?

 

38,800,000 tutors for the children of the Yadus?

 

I am curious Karna where it says the Earth was 10 times as large in the past.I would not be surprised if it is written somewhere I'm just curious as to where.

 

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From Krsna Book, Summary Description of Lord Krsna's Pastime

 

"The members of the Yadu dynasty were so numerous that it would be very difficult to describe them all, even if one had a duration of life of many thousands of years. Srila Sukadeva Gosvämi informed Mahäräja Pariksit that he had heard from reliable sources that simply to teach the children of the Yadu dynasty there were as many as 38,800,000 tutors, or äcäryas. If so many teachers were needed to educate their children, one can simply imagine how vast was the number of family members. As for their military strength, it is said that King Ugrasena alone had ten quadrillion soldiers as personal bodyguards."

 

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I confess I can't often tell where allegory starts and literal fact begins.But the above is obviously exaggeration by the author to make a point.

 

 

Hare Krsna

[shvu]

 

 

I confess I can't often tell where allegory starts and literal fact begins.But the above is obviously exaggeration by the author to make a point.

 

 

It certainly is. Exaggeration abounds in the Puraanaas. For example, in the story of Pururavas and Urvashi (found in a number of sources), while the old Rig-vedic version states they lived together for 4 years, the Puraanic versions state that they lived together for thousands of years! There are many such instances where numbers became significantly larger by the time they were repeated in the Puraanaas.

 

The point of the Puraanic authors was to eulogize. They aimed to create the impression that times past were very grand, golorious, colorful and different (to catch the attention of the audience), as compared to our dull and drab Kali-yuga existence. Perhaps they thought this would motivate people to lose interest in material life and turn towards spirituality.

 

Cheers

 

[Avinash]

There are stories in Puranas according to which a woman gave birth to her child 100 years after being pregnant rather than 9 months.

 

In Veda, a part of a verse is "shatam jivet". Here somebody is blessed with a life of 100 years. This shows that 100 years was considered to be long life duration. But, according to Puranas, living for thousands of ears was no exception. If people could live for thousands of ears, then there was no need for a blessing of 100 years unless somebody wanted to be blessed with a short life. But the Vedic verse seems to be for blessing someone with a long life.

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

We also find it mentioned that all life forms live their hundred years by their own conceptions. The reality is the ant, mosquitoe, horse, and cow don't live 100 years.

 

The ancients could have lived for thousands of years, but still perceived it as a regular length life. Long and short are all created by our mental conceptions. Some insects live for a few hours, but still they will feel they lived a complete life.

 

Thus the "100 years" may refer to a complete life, not necessarily to 100 solar years.

 

It is described how the years of some devas equal 60 times human years. And the years of Brahma equal millions of times our years. Still they all perceive themselves as living 100 years. We are n the 51st year of Brahma, but trillions of years have passed by according to our insignificant calculations.

 

 

[Avinash]

If it is true that "100 years" means complete life duration, then everybody lives for 100 years. Then, what is the need of blessing somebody with the life of 100 years?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

The hundred years is the proper duration for a species, but not everyone within the species lives their full duration. What if Brahma died when he was 50 - he would not have attained his "hundred years of life", which is actually trillions of years. Every species has a predetermined life range. Some will live to their full potential, others will die sooner due to disease, calamity, etc. The blessing is that one should live their complete life span without any negative influences such as disease or calamity.

If Brahma's hundred years can be trillions, why can't Dhruva's hundred years be 36,000 solar years?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

I recall seeing a verse that listed different animal species, and told how many solar years made up their hundred years. I forget the exact numbers, but I seem to recall the elephants "hundred years" is 120 solar years.

[Avinash]

Humans "hundred years" is how many solar years?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

It changes based on the age (yuga), the planet, and the particular human species.