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Question – 91
Some people claim
that these events represent twin eclipses. How do you prove them wrong?
Answer:
The Thirteen-day
eclipse, single or twin or triple is proposed by almost all the Mahabharata
researchers without realizing that Vyasa doesn’t talk about day but only about
tithi. There is no reference to Rahu or Ketu either whose conjunction with the
sun and the moon is an essential condition for a solar eclipse (on Amavasya).
There is only a reference to ‘aparvaṇi grahāv etau’ – of two grahas joining in,
out of season. Vyasa says this after expressing the impossible-to-happen Trayodasi
Amavasya.
candrasūryāv
ubhau grastāv ekamāse trayodaśīm
aparvaṇi
grahāv etau prajāḥ saṃkṣapayiṣyataḥ (MB: 6.3.29)
Meaning:
Candrasūryāv =
Moon and sun (dual, nominative, vocative, accusative)
Ubhau = both of
them, against each other, i.e., opposite to each other (SB 10.63.23) (dual,
nominative, vocative, accusative)
Grastāv = covered
(SB 6.8.34: sva-tejasā grasta-samasta-tejāḥ sva-tejasā = by His personal
effulgence covered all other influences = one upon another) (dual) stem:
grasta. (Nominative, accusative, dual past passive participle)
ekamāse = in a
month (locative)
trayodaśīm =
trayodaśīm = trayodaśī (ī-stem, singular, accusative)
aparvaṇi =
(locative case of a-parvan-) at the wrong time, out of season
grahāv = two
grahas (moon and sun), (dual, nominative, vocative, accusative)
etau = these two
(SB 10.41.31), these (SB 10.43.23, SB 10.46.31, SB 10.82.38, SB 11.11.6, SB
3.16.2)
prajāḥ = people
saṃkṣapayiṣyataḥ =
will be destroyed
Overall
meaning:
“These two grahas,
the moon and the sun covered each other (Full-moon) at a wrong time in
Trayodaśī in a month, (by which) the people are to be destroyed.”
In the first line
of this verse, ‘candrasūryāv, ubhau and grastāv’ are in dual case indicating
the catching of only two planets, the moon and the sun. Since this followed Amavasya
in Trayodasi in the previous verse, the meaning “against each other” referring
to “opposite to each other” (Full-moon) is taken for ‘ubhau’. The event being
that of Full-moon, the meaning ‘covered’ is taken for ‘grastāv’ (dual
declension). They covered each other at wrong time (aparvaṇi), a reference to
Trayodasi –i.e., before the normal season on Pañcadasi or even Caturdasi. This
happened in ekamāse – in a month or in one month – which could be a reference
to a solar month or two pakshas (phases of the moon) together, but can
never be in a single lunar month, because by Amavasya, a lunar month ends, and
the next month starts from the next day. In that month the Full Moon happened
at Trayodasi.
Thus, there is
absolutely no reference to an eclipse in this verse too. The word ‘grasta’ is
mis-interpreted by some researchers to mean, Rahu!!! Grasta can happen with or by anyone. To have
meant an eclipse, the verse should have made a mention about Rahu or Ketu by
their alternative names if not their own names.
It is repeatedly written in dual declension about the sun and the moon
and what they did with each other.
The simulated
version from the astrology software for the Vedic Surya Siddhānta ayanāmśa
shows Vishakha starting in the evening of Krishna Trayodasi of Kartika month.
The Amavasya in Trayodasi occurred in the lunar month of Kartika (Kaumudī) in the star Vishakha and not in Jyeshtha. Note the location of Rahu more than 90 degrees away from the sun. In the absence of a conjunction with Rahu or Ketu, an eclipse did not occur.
