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Question – 74
Is there any other
source – outside the Mahabharata - referring to the earlier than normal Amavasya falling
in Trayodasi in the Mahabharata?
Answer:
Yes, there is an
oral as well as a written legend suggesting an unusually earlier Amavasya. This
story related to the Bodhāyana Amavasya is traced to the Trayodasi Amavasya of
the Mahabharata.
As per this story,
one of the Pandava-s, Sahadeva was good at astrology. He was approached by
Duryodhana to fix a date favorable for the Kaurava-s to win the war. Sahadeva
suggested the upcoming Amavasya.
On coming to know
of this, Krishna decided to prevent the advantage to the Kaurava-s and started
doing Tarpana well before Amavasya started. The entire world was stunned.
Perplexed by Krishna’s action, the sun and the moon approached him saying that
the Amavasya had not yet come.
Krishna asked:
What does Amavasya mean?
The Sun and the
Moon: The coming together of the sun and the moon.
Krishna: Both of
you had come together now. So Amavasya now!
Saying so, Krishna
started doing Amavasya tarpana and others also followed suit.
Since Amavasya had
come earlier than the expected day, when the Kaurava-s were getting ready for
the rituals to grab the advantage of winning the war, they lost the war.
This story has a
flaw. Krishna could not have done the tarpana because his father lived as long
as he lived. But the main theme is the arrival of Amavasya well before the
normal time. Importantly the story is about the advanced Amavasya.
The written story
found in a Jyotisha book in Tamil refers to Yudhishṭhira doing tarpana as
directed by Krishna and the sun and the moon appearing together to ask Krishna
why he made him do tarpana when Amavasya had not yet started. This story makes people remember the unusual
Amavasya.
This story orally
transmitted for generations was depicted in the Tamil movie ‘Karna’.
The unusually earlier Amavasya was immortalized into memory forever by evolving the concept of Bodhāyana Amavasya
