Mahabharata Quiz - 77

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Question – 77

Did the people of the Mahabharata anticipate the arrival of Amavasya earlier than normal, in Trayodasi tithi?  Has Vyasa given any indication of it?

Answer:

Yes. Ever since the comet shattered on Pushya day, with rains of meteors falling at the time of the ritual to appoint Bhishma as the chief of the army, everyone must have got disturbed. They started observing the surroundings to see that they were safe. More than seventy odd sightings were given in the name of nimitta-s only from this period. The earliest reference to the odd nature of things is found in the conversation between Karna and Krishna on the day of Uttara Phalguni when Krishna bid farewell to Karna before leaving Hastinapura.

Karna made five odd observations about planets and Karana! A Karana is half of a tithi. In Question - 36 we wrote about Vishti Karana coming in Krishna Saptami. There are 30 tithi-s covering 2 phases of the moon and 11 Karanas. Of the 11 Karanas, the first seven are known as Chara Karanas as they keep repeating. But while nearing Amavasya 4 other Karanas will appear which are known as Fixed (Sthira) Karanas. Particularly the Karana-s by names, Chathushpada and Nagava will always coincide with Amavasya. The Tithi- Karana relationship will never change but the background star will keep changing month after month as the moon moves. The normal sequence is given in the table below.

Karna was talking to Krishna on Uttara Phalguni day. As per the above table, Gara Karana must be running on that day. But no. Gara was going to appear in Citra, said Karna. He said,

“citrāṃ pīḍayate garaḥ” (5.141.9)

In the normal course, Gara Karana must coincide with Vishakha, but the location of the moon made him think that Gara Karana would come in the star Citra. This means the Karana related to Amavasya would appear in Vishakha.

In reply to him, Krishna said that Amavasya would occur in seven days from then in Jyeshtha (not Vishakha, the second previous star). Based on that observation only, we deduced that this conversation was happening on Uttara Phalguni day. 

They had different views. Karna expected Amavasya on Vishakha, but Krishna thought it would come on normal time, that is on Jyestha. If we go by Karna’s observation of Gara Karana coming in Citra, the further sequence will be as follows:

If Gara Karana comes in Citra star, the fixed Karana-s namely, Chathushpada and Nagava would come on Trayodasi itself when Vishakha was running. If Chathushpada and Nagava were running, it means the time was Amavasya! But it was Trayodasi in normal course!

So, this conversation was not a casual one, for, it was impregnated with a serious judgement of tithi- Karana- star alignment. This was a Gaṇesha moment for Krishna and for us too. But Karna succeeded in guessing right about the early arrival of Amavasya.

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