Mahabharata Quiz -26

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Question - 26

Did Yudhishthira Shaka start from the time Yudhishthira started ruling? 

Answer:

No. Yudhishthira Shaka started only with the beginning of kali Yuga. 

Yudhishthira ruled in Dwapara Yuga. He ruled for 35 years. On the 36th year Krishna left his mortal coils. On coming to know that Krishna left the world, the Pandava-s lost interest in living. Yudhishthira stepped down from the throne and appointed Parikshit as the king. All the Pandavas along with Draupadi became ascetics and started wandering till death. 

But by then Yudhishthira established the rules of law to be the followed by all kings starting from Pariskhit. That is why the period starting from Pariskhit is known as Yudhishthira Shaka. 

In fact, the rishi-s of that time codified the entire Kali Yuga into 6 sub-periods called Shaka. They even assigned a specific term for each period and a king as the Shaka-karta for each sub period. The classification is shown in the table below: It shows that the total span of 4,32,000 years of Kali Yuga would be possible only if the 3044 years of the Yudhishthira Shaka is also added. Without knowing it many people including institutions count the Yudhishthira Shaka from the time of Yudhishthira's coronation after the war and fail to get the dates right.   

The Yudhishthira Shaka that started after Yudhishthira handed over the reign to Parikshit lasted for 3044 years. Towards the end of it, Kali Dharma Yuga started (575 BCE). Then followed Vikrama Shaka for 135 years. After that the present Shaka of Shalivahana Shaka started in 78 CE. This will go on for 18,000 years. 

The king who initiated this Shaka came to hold the name Shalivahana because the name Shalivahana was already decided by the rishi-s when they devised the Kali Yuga scheme soon after Krishna's departure. This king was Gautami Putra Shatakarni (for details refer my book 'Mahabharata 3136 BCE'). The king who subdued the Mlechchas could become the Shaka-kaaraka. An inference from this is that the country is not going to see any respite from Mlechcha-influence throughout the current Shalivahana Shaka. 

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