Mahabharata Quiz -21

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Question - 21

Some people talk about 'Astronomical Kali Yuga' and 'Historical Kali Yuga'. What are they? Do they really exist?

Answer:

The concept of Astronomical Kali Yuga was mooted by the colonial Indologists in the 19th century when they came to know about the Indian Time scale of Kali Yuga. Since Indians were keeping track of Kali Yuga in terms of number of days elapsed, these foreigners found it easy to convert the Kali Yuga days into Julian days which formed the 'Astronomical Unit' for measuring distances in space. The result was 18th February 3102 BCE. They termed it as "Astronomical Kali Yuga". 

This is supposed to be the equivalent of Kali Yuga which started 3179 years before the beginning of Shalivahana Shaka in 78 CE, but it is not the true date. 

However, this is based on the Kali Yuga feature that it started at the entry of the Sun into Mesha rasi, but it doesn't match with the conjunction of all the planets (except Rahu) at the beginning of Mesha (sidereal Aries). 

Prof Srinivasa Raghavan proposed a 'Astronomical Kali Yuga' of his own starting on Magha Shukla Prathamai. The year was 11th January, 3104 BCE. He proposed the conjunction of five planets at Dhanishta in Kumbha Rasi which was the location of Uttarayana in the 5-year Yuga of Lagadha (not Mahabharata). He apparently got confused with the beginning of the 5-year Yuga which runs for just a 5-year period with Kali Maha Yuga. He too used the Julian days to measure the days to arrive at this year. 

There are others too who created the Astronomical Kali Yuga of their own, based on astronomy simulations. So, basically the yuga computation done by using Astronomy simulations and Julian days to pick out a date for planetary conjunction, came to be known as Astronomical Kali Yuga.

Historical Kali Yuga is the original Kali Yuga which is connected with the history of Bharat - of Krishna leaving the world, Pandavas relinquishing the throne and Pariskhit ascending the throne. That year began at a super conjunction of all planets except Rahu at the beginning of Aries. That year was 23rd January, 3101 BCE. All the Panchanga cycles (Star, tithi, solar month, yoga and Karana) started together on that day. The weekday was Friday. Kali Yuga started on a Friday as per all Panchanga calculations of Time. 

The first day of Kali Yuga

This date remained elusive to all the scholars for nearly two centuries. This is historical and as such true. This is astronomical too as it obeys the rule of super conjunction. This year is proven in my book 'Mahabharata 3136 BCE: Validation of the Traditional Date"

Unable to produce this date, each one started sticking to the year they could get through their work and promote it as the Astronomical year. For them historical year is mythical. Prof Srinivasa Raghavan went a step higher and proposed 'Ritualistic Kali Yuga' based on the old but now redundant Tamil adage "Kettai, Moottai Sevvai kizhamai". 

Based on a dialogue in the Mahabharata between Krishna and Karna in which Krishna said that Duryodhana was going to start the war activities on Jyeshta Amavasya - which however didn't happen because Amavasya occurred earlier than Jyeshta - Prof Raghavan proposed that the war did start on that day and that day Kali Yuga began. 

His justification for this is a Tamil phrase “Kettai Moottai Sevvai Kizhamai” – a reference to “Gandanta” or conjunction of the stars Jyeshta – Moola happening on a Tuesday. Astrologically it is disruptive for starting any work. But he assumed it to be referring to the birth of Kali Yuga and named it as "Ritualistic Kali Yuga". 

In reality, there is no Astronomical Kali Yuga based on Astronomical Unit and no Ritualistic Kali Yuga. There was only a Historical Kali Yuga which started on 23rd January, 3101 BCE and continues to be in use. 

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