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Question – 86
Why can’t the claim
of the other researchers that it was an eclipse be true?
Answer:
The claim of
Eclipse cannot be true:
1.
The
first point against the lunar eclipse is that it was seen by Vyasa ‘day and
night’. Can the lunar eclipse that was going to happen in future (bhaviṣyati)
be seen beforehand for day and night continuously?
2. The second point is how the Full moon could occur in the star Kṛittika? Only the star is mentioned here, not the month. The Karthika month was already gone at the time Krishṇa left two days prior to the Full moon in Karthika. There was no eclipse at that time. But this Full moon occurred in the month of Margashira, after the Amavasya in Trayodasi. So, there is something wrong with it appearing in Kṛttika, the star. This is asambhavam – impossible, but it seemed it was going to happen; that is why Vyāsa kept watching day by night.
3.
The
third point is against linking the term ‘Kshaya’ with eclipse (reduction in
lighted surface during the lunar eclipse). ‘Kshaya’ refers to the tithi. Day
and night Vyasa had been observing the tithi-s diminishing (kshaya) by which
the Full Moon would appear ‘out of season’- expressed in another verse (aparvaṇi).
