Mahabharata War Date:

Rebuttal to claim of 3067

BCE
A rejoinder to falsify claim of 3200 BCE – 1800 BCE for the Mahabharata

by Nilesh Oak
The issue at stake is the claim of Prof. Achar for the time interval (3200 BCE – 1800 BCE) for the

year of the Mahabharata war (http://www.pragyata.com/mag/thoughts-on-the-date-of-the-

mahabharata-war-453). Prof. Achar claims that the internal Mahabharata evidence leads to this

time interval and no date before or after is feasible/possible.

Is this claim true or false?

The objective of this note is to show that:

(1) The claim of Prof. Achar, based on the Mahabharata reference of Udyog 81:7 and his

translation of it, leads to the time interval (3200 BCE – 1800 BCE) for the year of

Mahabharata war is false.

(2) The claim of Prof. Achar for the timing (season) of Krishna’s visit on peace mission does

not agree with his own proposal (day and time of the season) for the day of Krishna

visiting on peace mission.

1 Udyog 81:7

This Mahabharata reference describes the timing when Krishna left from Upaplavya, for

Hastinapur, on a peace mission.

Udyoga Parva (CE 81:7)

कौमु दे मा स रे व यां शरद ते हमागमे |

फ तस यसुखे काले क यः स ववतां वरः ||७||

The first line of this reference is the critical line. And 3 sets of words are the most critical: (1)
कौमु दे मा स, (2) शरद ते and (3) हमागमे. A straightforward translation would be as follows:

(Krishna left from Upaplavya, on a peace mission) during the ‘month of lotuses’ (कौमु दे मा स),

after the passing away of Sharad season (शरद ते) and at the beginning of Hemant season

( हमागमे).

This translation would provide the timing in the language of seasons (after the passing away of

Sharad and at the beginning of Hemant). This inference then can be compared with inferences

due to additional Mahabharata evidence (more than 200 specific observations) to see if it

corroborates or does not corroborate with rest of the evidence.

Of course, in any language, and especially in Sanskrit, a word can have many meanings and thus

multiple alternate translations are possible. It is important to keep in mind that ‘multiple

meanings’ do not mean ‘any’ meaning. The ultimate test of any translation is in the inference it

leads us to and how that inference compares with evidence.

1.1 Plausible translations of Udyog 81:7

Let’s look at some of the alternate and plausible translations. We will focus on the alternate
translations of these 3 sets of words – कौमु द,े शरद ते, and हमागमे. We will employ spoken
Sanskrit dictionary (http://spokensanskrit.org/) one of the comprehensive, if not the

comprehensive dictionary that incorporates content of many other dictionaries (e.g. Monnier

Williams, Apte, etc.).

1.1.1 कौमु दे मा स

The word कौमु दे can be translated in many ways and thus कौमु दे मा स can be translated to

mean ‘ month of festival’, ‘month of moonlight’, ‘lunar month of Ashwin’, ‘lunar month of Kartika’,

‘Month of moonshine’, ‘month of water-lilies (lotuses).

1.1.2 शरद ते
The word शरद ते can be split into शरद and अ त to understand its multiple

plausible meanings.
Thus, शरद ते can be translated at ‘at the end of Sharad’, ‘in Sharad’, or ‘inside
Sharad’.

1.1.3 हमागमे
The word हमागमे can be split into हम and आगम to understand its multiple
meanings.

1.1.4 Multiple plausible translations (without losing the context)

While multiple meanings do exist, we must consider the context in which each word or set of

words are translated.

Thus, combinations such as, ‘in or inside’ Sharad and during Hemant’ would not make any sense

and should be discarded. This leads us to plausible translations such as:

(A) at the end of Sharad and at the approach of Hemant, or

(B) After the passing away of Sharad and during the Hemant

The combination ‘कौमु दे मा स’ can be translated as ‘month of lotuses’, ‘month of

moonshine’, ‘month of festive season’, ‘month of Ashwin’ or ‘month of Kartika’.

The ‘month of Ashwin’ or ‘month of Kartika’ when combined with specific

translation of ‘शरद ते हमागमे’ would lead to very specific inferences.

2 Prof Achar’s Translation

Against this background of multiple plausible translations of Udyog 81:7, let’s look at Prof. Achar’s

translation. Prof. Achar translates 81:7 as follows:

In the month of Kartika, on the day of Revati after the passing away of sharad ṛtu and in

the dewy season, and at a time when the earth had an abundance of crops on it that

foremost of men of prowess (set forth for Hastinapura).

2.1 Analysis of Prof. Achar’s translation of Udyog 81:7

Prof. Achar translated कौमु दे मा स’ as ‘the month of Kartika’, translated शरद ते as ‘after the

passing away of Sharad season’ and translated हमागमे as ‘in the dewy season’.

Since Prof. Achar has introduced a new word – ‘the dewy season’, not explored by us (via Sanskrit-

English dictionary) until now, let’s quickly look up that word in the same dictionary.
The translation of ‘dewy season’ refers to ‘Shishir ritu’. If we search the word in the dictionary,

we find multiple meanings yet most of them referring to cold season.

Based on various meanings suggested for हम, or श शर, we can all agree that it refers to the

cold season. If we combine this knowledge, we can paraphrase Prof. Achar’s translation as

follows:

(Krishna left from Upaplavya, on a peace mission) in the month of Kartika and the timing

of this event was ‘after the passing away of Sharad season and in the dewy season, i.e.

either in the Hemant or Shishir season.

2.2 Prof. Achar’s emphasis on Udyog 81:7

Prof. Achar considers Udyog 81.7 as decisive reference to claim an upper limit of 3200 BCE and

lower limit of 1800 BCE for the time interval of the Mahabharata war. According to Prof. Achar,

Udyog 81:7 clearly defines the season when Krishna left from Upaplavya on his peace mission.
In his words – “This is an absolutely clear reference to seasons when kṛṣṇa sets out for his peace

mission.”

3 Primer on Seasons
Before we jump into calculating the consequence of Prof. Achar’s translation for the time interval

of the Mahabharata war, we must understand the Julian calendar, the 6 seasons (Vasanta,

Grishma, Varsha, Sharad, Hemant & Shishir) described in the Mahabharata and their demarcation

on the Julian calendar.

3.1 The Julian Calendar

We will explain only necessary and sufficient information about Julian calendar for our purposes.

Readers may read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar.

The Julian calendar is a solar calendar and emphasis is on aligning and adjusting days in such a

way so as to match the points of solstices and equinoxes and thus maintain the congruence of

seasons with the calendar.

The Julian calendar is used, by convention, as reference calendar for events prior to 1582 CE and

thus all events of BCE (before common era). The Julian calendar assumes 45 BCE as reference

years when the days of solstices and equinoxes were assumed to have aligned with 21 June &

December, 23 March & 23 Septemeber, etc. However, the Julian calendar does experience a shift

of one day for every ~128 years and thus as we go back in antiquity (from 45 BCE) the days of

cardinal points (solstices & equinoxes) would shift by one day for every ~128 years.
3.2 Six Seasons of Mahabharata & their demarcation on the Julian calendar

Varsha (rain) season begins from the day of summer solstice (SS) and continues for two months.

This is followed by Sharad (pre-autumn) season and the day of autumnal equinox (AE) is the

midpoint of Sharad season. Two months leading to the day of winter solstice (WS) constitute

Hemant (autumn) season. Shishir (winter) season begins from the day of winter solstice and

continues for two months. This is followed by Vasant (spring) season and the day of vernal

equinox (VE) is the midpoint of Vasant season. Two months leading to the day of summer solstice

constitute Grishma (summer) season.

3.3 Six seasons & Julian calendar in our times
The seasons and corresponding positions of nakshatras of our times (last ~2000+ years) can be

illustrated as follows.

The day of summer solstice occurs during the lunar months of Jyeshtha/Ashadha and the day of

winter solstice occurs during the lunar months of Margashirsha/Pausha. The day of autumnal

equinox occurs during the lunar months of Bhadrapad/Ashwin and the day of vernal(spring)

equinox occurs during the lunar months of Phalgun/Chaitra.

3.4 The Precession of Earth’s Axis (aka Precession of Equinoxes)

The precession of the Earth’s axis (precession of equinoxes) is the phenomenon of the movement
of the earth’s axis in a circular path that takes about 26000 years to complete one cycle. As the
earth’s axis moves through a circular path, it traces a circle in the sky. At any given time, where
the earth’s axis points to, along this circular path, is called the point of ‘North celestial pole’ (NCP).
If a distinct and visible star is close to this point of NCP, it attains the status of a ‘North pole star’
for a time, i.e. until the NCP moves far away from the position of the star.

This phenomenon has many consequences. One of the key consequences and one that is

relevant for our discussion is that the season shifts by one lunar month about every ~ 2000 (2167)

years.

3.4.1 The seasons & lunar months (2500 BCE – 500 BCE)
Thus, if we go back by more than 2000 years ago, we will notice shift of season by about one

lunar month, due to the phenomenon known as precession of Earth’s axis (aka precession of

equinoxes).
Notice that seasons have shifted by about one lunar month. The day of summer solstice occurs

during the lunar months of Ashadha/Shravan and the day of winter solstice occurs during the

lunar months of Pausha/Magha. The day of autumnal equinox occurs during the lunar months

of Ashwin/Kartika and the day of vernal(spring) equinox occurs during the lunar months of

Chaitra/Vaishakha.

3.4.2 The seasons & lunar months (4500 BCE – 2500 BCE)

If we go back by additional 2000 years, i.e. back by approximately ~4000 years from our times,

we will notice shift of seasons by about 2 lunar months.

Notice that seasons have shifted by about two lunar months in comparison to our times. The day

of summer solstice occurs during the lunar months of Shravan/Bhadrapad and the day of winter

solstice occurs during the lunar months of Magha/Phalgun. The day of autumnal equinox occurs

during the lunar months of Kartika/Margashirsha and the day of vernal(spring) equinox occurs

during the lunar months of Vaishakha/Jyeshtha.

4 Prof. Achar’s translation & inferences due to his translation

We will analyze claims of Prof. Achar by keeping his identification of ‘कौमु दे मा स’ with the lunar

month of Kartika.

4.1 Lunar month of Kartika & season of early Hemant

This would mean Prof. Achar’s translation/interpretation must refer to the time interval that

began around ~500 BCE and continues in our times, as shown in 3.3 (Six seasons & Julian calendar

in our times).

4.2 Lunar month of Kartika & season of late Hemant

This would mean Prof. Achar’s translation/interpretation must refer to the time interval that has

begun in our times (2018 CE) and will continue until about ~3500 CE, in future.
4.3 Lunar month of Kartika & the dewy (Shishir?) season

Since Prof. Achar has translated हमागमे as ‘in the dewy season’ and since the Sanskrit-English

dictionary translates ‘dewy season’ as referring to ‘Shishir’ season, we will also explore this

scenario.

This would mean Prof. Achar’s translation/interpretation must refer to the time interval that will

begin around ~3500 CE (in future) and will last until about ~7500 CE (in future). During this period

of about ~4000 years, the lunar month of Kartika would indeed occur during the dewy season

(Shishir).
 AND

This shows that Prof. Achar’s identification of कौमु दे मा स’ with the lunar month of Kartika and

translation of हमागमे with ‘in the dew season’ would lead to a long-time interval that began

with ~500 BCE and would last, in future, until about ~7500 CE.

This conclusion is in direct conflict with Prof. Achar claim that Udyog 81:7 and his translation of

that reference leads to the time interval of 3200 BCE – 1800 BCE for the Mahabharata war.

5 Contradictions Galore
At this point, we would have considered our rejoinder to faulty claim of Prof. Achar as complete.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. This is because, after insisting on:
(1) the identification of कौमु दे मा स’ with the lunar month of Kartika,

(2) translation of शरद ते as ‘after the passing away of Sharad season’

(3) and translation of हमागमे as ‘in the dew season’,

Prof. Achar generates series of contradictory explanations and justifications. Let’s look at some

of them.
5.1 हमागमे ≠ Hemant (really?!)

Prof. Achar states in his rejoinder (http://www.pragyata.com/mag/mahabharata-war-date-

rebuttal-to-claim-of-5561-bce-466) that he had never claimed the season of Krishna’s visit on
peace mission to be that of Hemant ritu.
Prof. Achar writes,

“There is no claim anywhere that Krishna went on the mission of peace in Hemanta ritu”

Yes, it is true that Prof. Achar has never explicitly stated the season of Krishna peace mission to
be that of Hemant season. He does not have to. Isn’t this implied from his translation of ‘शरद ते
हमागमे’ as “after the passing away of sharad ṛtu and in the dewy season”. Prof. Achar need not
explicitly state it as Hemant ritu.”

Of course, this raises very serious concerns about his interpretation and inferential skills. If not

‘Hemant’, what season he had in mind? What is the season that follows after the passing away

of Sharad ritu?

5.2 Alleged confusion due to ‘Julian calendar & 4 seasons

Prof. Achar tries to justify his action and confusion of trying to align the timing of Autumnal

equinox with the lunar month of Kartika by stating that he did what he did because “The seasons

on the Julian Calendar are only four, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The mapping requires

that Kartika paurnima fall in the autumn season.”

This is a feeble excuse. Any researcher of Mahabharata ought to make himself/herself familiar

with seasons of the Mahabharata and how to map them on the Julian calendar as shown in

section 3 (Primer on Seasons). There is no reason to force fit 6 seasons of Mahabharata as 4

seasons of western world. Per this exercise, according to Prof. Achar, शरद ते हमागमे refers to
the ‘autumn’ season of the western world (defined as beginning with the day of autumnal

equinox and ending with the day of winter solstice).

Let’s find out if this twisted logic was sufficient as face saving exercise. It was not as we will see

in the next section.

5.3 Contradiction between two claims (translation & the actual date)

According to this force fitting of 6 seasons of Mahabharata into 4 seasons of the western world,

Prof. Achar claimed that the timing of Krishna leaving from Upaplavya on peace mission occurred

sometime after the day of Autumnal equinox (AE) and before the day of winter solstice (WS).

On the other hand, the day claimed by Prof. Achar for Krishna leaving from Upaplavya on peace

mission is 26 September 3067 BCE and guess what? The day of 26 September 3067 BCE does not

fall after the day of Autumnal equinox (AE) but rather 18 days before the day of Autumnal

equinox (AE), i.e. during the very early part of Sharad season.

If picture is worth the 1000 words, this contradiction is worth representing in the picture form.
6 Conclusion
The claim of Prof. Achar that Udyog 81:7 leads to time interval of 3200 BCE – 1800 BCE for the

Mahabharata war is falsified.

Current and future researchers (& consumers) of ancient Indian history research should spend

time to comprehend what it is that led Prof. Achar to such disastrous inference. Such an analysis

would require a longer discussion beyond the purview of this rejoinder.

The entire episode can be summarized in the immortal words of sage Patanjal, Yoga sutra –

Samadhi pad 9

(Delusion follows from words that have no correspondence with reality)