Saturday, August 19, 2023

Mahabharat Quiz - 34

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Question - 34 

There seems to be three different calculations to determine the last day of the exile of the Pandava-s. Arjuna revealed himself on Krishna Ashtami saying that his exile period was over. The Pandava-s revealed themselves on Krishna Dasami. Bhishma declared that they spent 5 months and 12 days extra. Which of them is correct?

Answer:

In fact, there are four different days given in the Mahabharata – each of them true on some count.

1.     On the day of Krishna Saptami, when the Trigarta-s started stealing the cattle of the Matsya country. Vaisampayana says that this attack by the Trigarta-s was on the expiry of the exile (MB: 4-30-3) which means the exile period ended on Krishna Saptami of Ashadha month.

2.     The next day, Arjuna while revealing his identity to Uttara, the Matsya Prince, said that he had completed one year of the vrata – a reference to living incognito.

3.     On the third day from then, i.e., on Krishna Dasami all the Pandava-s revealed themselves. Going by the first point, mentioned by Vaisampayana, Arjuna and the Pandavas revealed themselves well after the expiry of the exile period, particularly, the last one year in the Matsya kingdom.

4.     Bhishma calculated on the basis of the lunar months to show that they spent 5 months additionally, if the Adhika Maasa-s are taken into account.

The discrepancy in the 1st and the 3rd point – between Krishna Saptami and Krishna Dasami - makes us wonder whether another calculation was also there based on solar years.

To verify this let me produce the horoscope charts for the first day of the exile and the last day of the exile when they revealed themselves on Ashadha Krishna Dasami. The first day of the exile was made for Ashadha Krishna Dasami, 13 years before Krodhi.

1st day of the exile (Khara year)

The lunar tithi and the phase being the same, the discrepancy can occur only with reference to the solar day. The sun’s position in the above chart shows that the Sun was in the 13th degree of Cancer. In other words, on the 13th day of Kataka Maasa, the Pandava-s left for exile.

By this calculation, their 13th year incognito living must have started on the 13th day of the Kataka Maasa.

Now, let us take a look at the last day of the exile in the year Krodhi, Ashadha Krishna Dasami.

 Last day of the exile (Krodhi year)

Tithi and phase being the same, we can see that only the solar day is different. 

The Sun was in the 17th degree of Cancer. That is, the Pandava-s revealed themselves on the 17th day of Kataka Maasa

This is 4 days more than the time they started the 13th year in the Matsya country.

By Krishna Shashti they completed one solar year. On Krishna Saptami, a year of incognito living was over. That is why Vaisampayana said that Trigarta-s attacked on the expiry of 13 years. Perhaps the Pandava-s planned to reveal themselves on that day itself, but the sudden attack by the Trigarta-s spoiled that decision.

However, it did not stop Arjuna from revealing himself to Uttara out of need, but he too waited till Yudhishthira made themselves known.

Yudhishthira, as one who stood by what is right and legal, chose the day of Krishna Dasami – the same tithi when they left the country for exile.

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