Friday, September 29, 2023

Mahabharata Quiz - 71

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Question - 71

What is the basis of your claim that the Trayodasi Amavasya occurred in the month of Karthika? Couldn’t the Trayodasi Amavasya have occurred in Margashira?  

Answer:

Some calamities started occurring only after Krishna started his peace mission in the month of Karthika. The result was the sudden and impossible-to-happen advancement of Amavasya in Trayodasi tithi. This must have happened in Karthika only, because while speaking to King Dhritarashtra just before the war, Vyasa refers to a rain of flesh on Krishna Caturdasi!

Vyasa says,

“māṃsavarṣaṃ punas tīvram āsīt kṛṣṇa caturdaśīm (MB: 6.3.31).

This means, “The shower of flesh occurred again severely on Krishna Caturdasi”

Krishna Caturdasi is the tithi before Amavasya (Trayodasi comes before Caturdasi). Thus, we have evidence for two Amavasya-s occurring before the war commenced – one on Krishna Trayodasi and another a regular one with Krishna Caturdasi occurring before that. Which month it could have been is a Ganesha moment!

Only if Trayodasi Amavasya occurred in Karthika month, the regular Amavasya with Caturdasi witnessing rain of flesh could be positioned in Margashira month. The reference to Krishna Caturdasi could not have occurred in Pushya month because in that case the date of the war would fall in the month of Magha (a new lunar month starts on the day after Amavasya) but we have clear reference to the date of Bhishma shedding his mortal coils in Magha which would not be possible if the war started in Magha.

Therefore, the Trayodasi Amavasya could be placed only in Karthika. Till the next Amavasya in Margashira, the war had not started because Vyasa reported about the rain of flesh on Krishna Caturdasi which would have happened only on Margashira Krishna Caturdasi, a day before Pushya month started.

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