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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.
