This is in continuation of the previous article on Methodology and methods of research for dating Mahābhārata
In dating the past, inscriptions are the primary sources of
evidence. The year of the Mahabharata war can be deduced from the inscriptions
of Janamejaya in whose presence Mahabharata was recited for the first time.
Vyasa, the author also being present at that time, makes the decrees of
Janamejaya the first rate primary evidence for dating.
Four copper plate grants issued by Janamejaya found in the district of Shivamogga in Karnataka are seen with time elements such as Shaka year, year name, month, tithi, star and weekday that help us in finding out the date of the grants. Two were given on solar eclipse days. Three of them were given to Brahmins of Shivamogga on the occasion of Sarpa-yaga done by Janamejaya.
One was given to a mutt at Bhimanakatte, presently following Madhvacarya's philosophy. The donated land was occupied by the Pandavas during
their exile. The boundaries of this grant are traceable to R.Thunga in the
east, R.Varahi (Pāṣāṇa in the grant) and R.Bhima in the north now lost. Agastyasrama
in the south is no longer seen.
This grant given on a day of eclipse contains Śaka year (89th Yudhishthira Śaka), year name (Plavanga) and Pancanga details. They match with each other for the date Nov 2, 3013 BCE in Surya Siddhanta settings and not for any other setting. Janamejaya donated this by offering the water of Thungabhadra in front of Harihara shrine.
This date exactly matches with the Kali Yuga begin year at Pramathi when Parikshit ascended the throne following the abdication of the throne by the Pandavas upon the departure of Krishna from this world. Though Kali Yuga date is confirmed in many other inscriptions and continues to be followed in India, this grant of Janamejaya comes as a primary evidence for the year of Mahabharata 35 years before that.
On the same date Janamejaya had issued a grant to Usha Mutt in Kedarnath. He must have handed over that personally when he visited Kedarnath. Both Bhimanakatte and Kedarnath are connected with Bhima. Bhima was said to have built a dam at Thunga, by which the place got the name Vrikodara-Kshetra (inscription), now known as Bhimanakatte.
Bhimanakatte (Source: http://bheemanakattemutt.com/photos/)
Closer analysis reveals that the Pandavas had visited the places related to Ramayana in Karnataka and they were identified by Janamejaya who made arrangements for the upkeep of those places. Krishkindha seems to be the seat of Vaali-guhe (Balligavi). From there Bhimnanakatte is only 320 km.
Other three inscriptions found at Begur, Kuppagede and Gauj in Shivamogga dt, reveal that the sarpa yaga was done in the 88th Kali year (Parābhava). Janamejaya gave these grants to the recipients in the 89th Kali year, while on a Dik-vijaya to this region. The dates exactly match with Kali Era beginning in the year Pramathi in 3101 BCE.
Surprise element is that Begur and Kuppagede (Pushpagade in
the grant) were given in Caitra maasa – both Adhika and Nija following each
other. This can be simulated only in Surya Siddhanta settings and not in any other
settings. This confirms the 7200y cycle of equinoxes and not 26k western
astronomy.
The Bhimanakatte grant with year name (Plavanga) and Śaka year (89th in Y. Śaka) confirms that Parikshit ascended the throne in 3101 BCE following the departure of Pandavas and Krishna. 35 years before that Mahabharata war was fought, i.e. in 3136 BCE in the year Krodhi.
An outstanding example of research work. Kudos to Jayasree Saranathan ji.
ReplyDeleteI want to make two points: 1. About the claims that the Janamejaya inscriptions are fake; 2. About the use of these inscriptions to date the MBh war.
Section 1
The five Janamajaya inscriptions discussed are dated Jan. 10, 3014, Feb. 10, 3014, Nov. 12, 3014, Nov. 2, 3013 BCE.
The key question is: when were these inscription written?
They could not have been written in 3013 or 3014 BCE since one of the writing systems in vogue at that time was Indus Script and Brāhmī/ Kharoṣṭhī/Grantha scripts were developed and brought into use much later, after a lapse of ca. 2900 years.
Since Richard Salomon claims that the inscriptions are fake, it is necessary to document the counter-arguments and publish them in an article in the Indian Journal of History of Science.
“Four copper-plate grant inscriptions purportedly issued during Janamejaya's reign were discovered in the 20th century, but were proved to be fake by historians.” (Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 167; Shankar Goyal (1996). History writing of early India: new discoveries and approaches. Kusumanjali. p. 1; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janamejaya )
Janamajaya’s father Parikshit is dated to 9th cent. BCE, according to HC Raychaudhuri. “Only one Janamejaya is mentioned in Vedic literature; however, post-Vedic literature (Mahabharata and Puranas) seems to indicate the existence of two kings by this name, one who lived before the Kurukshetra War was an ancestor to the Pandavas, and one who lived later and was a descendant. Historian H. C. Raychaudhuri believes that the second Janamejaya's description better corresponds to the Vedic king, whereas the information available about the first is scant and inconsistent, but Raychaudhuri questions whether there were actually two distinct kings. He suggests that there "is an intrusion into the genealogical texts" of the late, post-Vedic tradition, which also has two of Janamejaya's father Parikshit, possibly "invented by genealogists to account for anachronisms" in the later parts of the Mahabharata, as "a bardic duplication of the same original individual regarding whose exact place in the Kuru genealogy no unanimous tradition had survived."” (Raychaudhuri, Hemchandra (2006), Political History of Ancient India, Cosmo Publications, pp.13-19).
Section 2
The claim is that the Janamejaya inscriptions point to 3101 BCE as the start date of Kaliyuga. This is fine.
But, how can there be a circular argument that the MBh war occurred 36 years earlier to this date? This argument assumes that the Kaliyuga start date is linked to the death of Krishna. It has not been conclusively demonstrated that Kaliyuga start date is the date of death of Krishna.
Note: I have posted at https://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2021/06/itihasa-critique-of-genuineness-of-five.html Itihāsa. Critique of genuineness of five Janamejaya inscriptions
Read the detailed article published in medium dot com. The link is given at the end of the above article.
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