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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.
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.
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.
