Mahabharata Quiz - 105

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Question – 105

Has it ever been recorded in any Bharatheeya text that Arundhati (Alcor) was accompanied with a red dwarf star circulating it?

Answer:

There are Bharatheeya records for Arundhati looking dim or reddish on different occasions. These appearances can happen if the dwarf companion of Arundhati comes in front of it facing the earth.

The reference to red colour for Arundhati comes from the Tamil Sangam text, Paditru Patthu (31- lines 28, 29), wherein the star Arundhati is mentioned as ‘Red star’ – because it was red in colour! (Chemeen செம்மீன்). In normal times, it does not look red. The inference is that when this poem was composed, it appeared red. This must have happened before the Common Era when this poem was composed.

Whenever the dwarf star comes in front of Arundhati, it hinders the brightness of Arundhati, making her look smoky. This was once sighted by the sages who personified Arundhati getting rebuked by her husband. Such an event is told by the sage Mandapala in the Mahabharata. Even though Arundhati was good to her husband, she once insulted him. As a result, she has become a little star, like fire mixed with smoke, sometimes visible and sometimes invisible, like an omen portending bad things, say the Mahabharata (1-224- 27 to 29)

The exact verse is reproduced below:

suvratāpi hi kalyāṇī sarvalokapariśrutā

     arundhatī paryaśaṅkad vasiṣṭham ṛṣisattamam

 viśuddhabhāvam atyantaṃ sadā priyahite ratam

     saptarṣimadhyagaṃ vīram avamene ca taṃ munim

 apadhyānena sā tena dhūmāruṇa samaprabhā

     lakṣyālakṣyā nābhirūpā nimittam iva lakṣyate

The last verse describes the appearance of the star as ‘Nābhirūpā’ – looking like the navel! The navel is characterized by the depression at the centre. The star had looked smoky, thereby dim with its disc appearing like a concave depression. At times the star was visible and not visible. The sage Mandapala to whom this verse is attributed, had said that such appearances are treated as nimitta!

This verse that she was even invisible at times must not be construed as though she disappeared into nowhere. In reality she did not. There were scientific reasons for that invisibility - which was attributable to the companion dwarf star hiding her. Once the dwarf moved away she started becoming visible in her original brightness. So her invisibility or looking red and smoky is only temporary and well within scientific reasons. Therefore the differences in her appearance are always treated as a nimitta by the sages. 

In the similar way, she being sighted in front of Vasishta is not a real occurrence but a temporary aberration which must have a scientific explanation. 

 

Mahabharata Quiz - 104

 

Question – 104

Why couldn’t Arundhati change her position temporarily?

Answer:

Arundhati cannot change her position temporarily because she (the star Alcor) is in gravitational coupling with the Vasishtha (Mizar). As seen from the earth, the two stars appear as a binary. They are found to be in gravitational coupling with each other such that they move around each other once in 7,50,000 years. This gives no scope for seeing any change in their location with respect to each other for thousands of years.

In fact, there are not two, but six stars found in this so-called binary of Arundhati and Vashishta. Initially, it was thought that Mizar (Vasishtha) is a binary and Alcor is a companion at 0.5 to 1.5 light years away from it.

But recent studies in 2009 showed that Alcor (Arundhati) is also a binary. The companion star of Alocr is a red-dwarf.

This red dwarf is going round Alcor or both Alcor and the Dwarf may be moving around each other. Anyway, whenever the red dwarf comes in front of Alcor facing earthward, it will dim the light of Alcor as seen from the earth.

The ancestral Bharatheeyas have noticed this dimming of light and reddishness on those occasions. But those times do not last long because the dwarf keeps moving away making Alcor appear bright again.

In the background of this scientific information, it is certain that change in Arundhati’s position cannot be real. That it was not real was also known to Vyasa and that is why an appearance of a change caused fear in him that he characterized it as a nimitta.

Mahabharata Quiz - 103

 

Question – 103

What does a nimitta mean? Why Arundhati- Vasishtha appearance was mentioned as a nimitta by Vyasa?

Answer:

The Vyakarana meaning of nimitta is that it is an unstable first cause from which a stable effect is formed.

(“yaḥ prekṣāpūrvakārī bhavati saḥ adhruveṇa nimittena dhruvaṃ nimittamupādatte vedikāṃ puṇḍarīkaṃ vā”. Maha Bhshya. on I.1.26 Vart.5.)

When the cause is ‘adhruva’ (not fixed, non-permanent) but it gives a result which is Dhruva – that is stable and fixed, such a cause is known as nimitta. So, in a nimitta, the cause is a temporary occurrence! But what is expected of it will have a lasting effect.

Since Vyasa mentioned Arundhati appearing to have kept Vasishtha at her back is a nimitta, it automatically means that it was not a permanent or long-lasting appearance. It appeared differently for flash seconds or minutes. That causes terror because it means that something is wrong cosmically.

Immediately following this observation Vyasa also talked about the mark on the moon having changed its position. That also implies that something went wrong in the celestial region.

Mahabharata Quiz - 102

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Question – 102

Did Vyasa say that the star Arundhati (Alcor) which is seen behind the star Mizar (Vasishtha) was found to have changed position with Vasishtha?

Answer:

Vyasa did say that Arundhati who always follows her husband (star) was seen to have put her husband behind her, but he said this as one of the many nimitta-s that caused fear in him. The context was just before the war began when Vyasa came to meet the king Dhritarashtra to persuade him to stop his sons from fighting the war. He began by saying that he is seeing numerous nimitta-s (omens) which indicate terror. (yathemāni nimittāni bhayāyādyopalakṣaye – MB: 6-2-16a).

Following this statement, Vyasa gives more than 75 nimitta-s of three types – terrestrial, atmospheric and celestial. In the context of celestial nimitta-s, he talks about the position of Arundhati- Vasishtha stars (Alcor and Mizar in Saptarishi Mandala), then about Saturn causing affliction to Rohini and then about the change in the marks on the lunar disc.

 

Mahabharata Quiz - 101

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Question – 101

What astronomy evidence can be cited for extra-terrestrial impact? Were they palpable from the earth?

Answer:

Apart from the change in phase of the moon, four features of the cosmos were noted and recorded by Vyasa. They are as follows:

1.     The star Arundhati (Alcor) which is seen behind the star Mizar (Vasishtha) was found to have changed position with Vasishtha. That is, Vasishtha was seen behind Arundhati.

2.     The Dhruva nakshatra made an opposite movement. Generally, while facing North we will find Dhruva nakshatra just stationary. But it is seen to move in west to east direction.

3.     Mars positioned in Scorpio along with the Sun was seen to have made retrograde movement which is impossible to happen. Mars as an outer planet cannot regress while it is seen in the same sign as the Sun.

4.     Two planets have risen with coppery red crest. This is contrary to the normal appearance of bluish tint on top of the planets in rising.

Mahabharata Quiz - 100

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Question – 100

So far no one had said that an extra terrestrial impact is reported in the Mahabharata. On what basis do you make such a claim?

Answer:

The reference to a comet falling on Pushya day was already written. The unusual advancement of Amavasya in Trayodasi tithi and the subsequent Full moon of Margashira coinciding with the star Krittika again are irrefutable proofs for something amiss in Nature caused by an extra-terrestrial impact.

Above all, the 75+ nimitta-s narrated by Vyasa are of the same nature as found in the aftermath of a comet- hit. There are about 8 major proxy features for identifying a cosmic impact. Of them the three must-be-present proxies are,

1. the loss of iron oxide from the meteor (normally shrinks by 90%) and the rest only hits the floor,

2. the loss of titanium from the meteor. Both can be best identified in time series of peat moss (because of exact dating of horizons with 14-C)

3. abundant release of NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) in the atmosphere. The reddish-brown color of this gas causes the water bodies and the rainwater to turn red. This is recognized as ‘rain of blood’ or ‘rivers flowing with blood’ by the people.

All these are detected in the data available for the impact of 3136 BCE. Any object entering from space produces NOx. For example, a falling satellite back onto the earth produces 7 tons of NOx. The Hastināpura event also produced NOx, expressed in many ways as rain of blood, river of blood, vomit of blood, blood in the mouth, in the body etc., explained as nimitta-s.

Examining the IntCal13 graph and the associated data from 2050 -4050 BC, sharp calibration drops are seen, caused by meteor-impacts producing 14-C for four different years, one among them being 3136 BCE. The 13th tithi Amavasya and the delayed Uttarāyaṇa offer fresh insights on orbital disturbance of the moon and the earth besides the change in the appearance of the sky. Mahabharata is the only documented evidence of a meteor-hit in a remote past. 

Mahabharata Quiz - 99

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Question – 99

Did the climate change caused by the comet-hit of 3136 BCE get reflected in any displacements in Bharat?

Answer:

A major displacement of home-bred horses from India to outside was noticed following this cosmic impact.

Several varieties of horses were indigenous to Bharat as made known from both the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Gandhara was known for indigenous horse breeds that prompted Amāvasu, the ancestor of Sumantu and Jahnu to shift to Gandhara. According to the Mahabharata, Gandhara, Kāmboja and Arāṭṭa were known for horses such as Kalmaṣa, Tittiri and Mandūka.

Vāhlika horses were preferred by the Ikṣvāku-s right from the time of Bhagīratha. Dhṛtarāṣṭra gifted the Vāhlika breeds to Krishna when he visited him for the peace mission. All these horse breeding sites, occupied right from the Ramayana times, came under the control of Jayadratha during the Mahabharata. Jayadratha wielded power up to Vāhlika by friendship and matrimonial alliances.

Looking at the events in the Mahabharata, we are led to speculate that Jayadratha was tolerated in the incidence of attempted molestation of Draupadi, mainly because he controlled the horse breeding regions. Until such a time that the Pandava-s could wrest control of his region from him, which happened only with the Great War, people were not willing to upset him completely.

After the death of Jayadratha and the change of climate turning hostile for horse-breeding following the comet-hit, the breeders must have moved further west and Northwest with their horses. This is reflected in the sudden appearance of genetic material seen in the Anatolian horses which researchers find not to be of autochthonous origin but migrated from outside.

A paleogenetic study of the horses in Anatolia and the Caucasus establishes that there was no autochthonous independent domestication of horses in these regions, but a large-scale introduction of domestic horses at the end of the 3^rd millennium BCE, whose origins were not known.   (https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.abb0030)

The origins can be traced to the Gāndhāra-Vāhlika-Sindhu axis that was controlling the horse trade until the Mahabharata war. With these regions suffering a defeat in the war, the horse breeding trade had shifted to Anatolia. The climatic changes in the aftermath of the comet-hit could also have necessitated the shift to newer regions. 

 

My talk on my Mahabharata book in Galatta dot com

 Watch my interview in Tamil on my book 'Mahabharata 3136 BCE'

I spoke about 

# the importance of establishing the date of the Mahabharata war

# how the year of war can be arrived

# the role of Krishna in the Mahabharata

# how Krishna as God plays an inevitable role in any devotee's life by citing instances from the Mahabharata

# Gandhari's curse

# the end of Vrishni clan including the physical exit of Krishna 

# the spread of the Dwaraka people to the Saraswati region to start the Early Harappan

# the spread of Harappan people to South India including regions such as Porunthal, Kodumanal, Keezhadi etc

# the arrival of the descendants of Satyaki-s to Triplicane who set up the Parthasarathy temple. 

Mahabharata Quiz - 98

 

Question – 98

You said this comet-hit was one of the causes for Piora Oscillation? What changes were noticed globally by this comet hit / Piora oscillation?

Answer:

 The following are some of the events taken from the paleoclimatic data that caused global floods around the year 3136 BCE.

1. The Belfast tree ring chronology set the onset of cold weather at 3150 BCE (suggesting cold weather in Ireland and Britain, and NW Europe in general). This is just 14 years earlier that the comet-hit date.

2.  The Greenland ice cores have an acid spike at 3150 BCE and a sulphate spike also in 3250 BCC, together with a methane trough. This could be the signature of a volcano or of a cosmic event. The temperature drop was found to coincide with 3136 BCE of a comet-hit expressed variously in the Mahābhārata.

3. In Germany, there was an increase in swamp oak (or bog oak in Irish terminology) suggesting water logging (as in Ireland and Britain) and possibly evidence of heavy flooding with the jet stream much further to the south than normal. The flooding and rains are scientifically associated with cosmic impact.

4.  Similar water logging is detected for a brief period around this date.

5. In Morocco there was a decline in oaks (as a result of declining rainfall, right across the Sahara region).

6. The Nile flooded - giving rise to the myth of the inundation (perpetuated thereafter by the annual flooding event fueled by winter rains on the Ethiopian Highlands).

7.  Glaciers advanced in the Alps suddenly for the first time in the Holocene. The advancement of the glacier in a place called Piora in Switzerland was first detected, thereby giving the name ‘Piora Oscillation’ to this phenomenon.  

8.  Sudden spike in cold climate in Andes of Peru.

9. Climate change found in Kenya, East Africa, Columbian Highlands and even Australia.

10.  There was a change in the monsoon track rendering the Sahara a desert and displacing people.

11.  Dead Sea level rose by 300 feet.

 

 

Mahabharata Quiz - 97

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Question – 97

Can it be scientifically proved that there was indeed a comet / asteroid hit in the year 3136 BCE (the year of the Mahabharata war)?

Answer:

Certainly yes. The comet or asteroid hits cause a dip in temperature globally when the impact is considerable. This leaves several imprints on tree rings, chemical composition in the air that leave an impact on the earth and in ice sheets. Radiocarbon dating is done to assess the age of these impacts. Today we have such data for nearly 50,000 years in the past and more accurately for the Holocene period of 12,000 years.

The changes in temperature are plotted into a graph called GISP2 which shows variations in temperature in the past. Interestingly, the graph shows a sharp dip in the year 3136 BCE!

 

Rapid temperature-drop in 3136 BCE

In the above figure, the blue line marks 3136 BCE from when the temperature drops sharply indicating some impact that reduced global temperature.

Incidentally, that year saw a comet vanishing in Pushya day and several of its fragments banging on the earth and the moon.

There are four sudden drops between the years 3210 BCE to 2920 BCE forming a period of temperature-drop called the “Piora Oscillation.” They are as follows:

1.     Andaman Sea 3210 BC

2.     Hastināpura 3136 BC

3.     Morasko 3040 BC

4.     Burckle 2920 BC

Except the 2nd event, which I have named as "Hastināpura event" the locations of the other three have been identified by scientists. 3136 BCE shows up in the graph but scientists were not aware of the location of the fall. Now with the exposition of the inputs given in the Mahabharata, it is proved that the event had occurred in North India from Langatang in Nepal to Persian Gulf with Mohenjo-Daro and Hastinapur feeling the impact. The Biblical Flood was the major result of this impact.

Change in tithi is a far important development as a result of this impact which only Mahabharata explains. Only Mahabharata offers the first ever eyewitness account of a comet-fall with more than 75 markers – all of them related to comet/ asteroid hit. Vyasa used the term ‘nimitta’ to mark them, but they are evidences for a comet fall. It is humanly impossible to write so many markers for the comet fall unless people have witnessed them in reality.

Mahabharata Quiz - 96

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Question – 96

Vyasa said that loud bursts were heard in Kailash and Himavat regions. Are there any evidence of asteroid / cometary fragments falling on these regions which seem to be in Nepal?

Answer:

Landslides in Langtang in Nepal situated 500 km to the east of Kailash are detected to have been caused by a cosmic impact. The paper by Masch et al comes up with imprints of a meteor crash in Langtang.  It establishes,

Ø  Impact from Southwest and debris flow also in Southwest which match well with the meteor direction given in the Mahabharata. 

Ø  Formation of SiO2-glass filled crevasses in autochthonous gneiss to a depth of 5 m are detected which is possible only in meteor crashes. The rocks (gneiss) contain 20 - 40% quartz, thus SiO2, which liquefied and flowed along the rock surfaces. A similar formation was found in the meteor crash in Atacama Desert. 

Ø  Minimum temperature on the autochthone gneiss surface of more than 1,520 C (based on Glass melt) is possible in an impact and not in regular landslides.

Ø  Similarly, the host rocks deformed in a brittle mode point to heat associated with meteor impact.

The rock melting heat does not stem from sliding, but from the immediate impact of the meteor onto the rock mountain range. The meteor scraped at a 45-degree angle along the rock face at a 5,000 m mountain altitude. It scraped 4 km along the rock, therefore the rockfall is unusually 4 km wide. As the meteor scuffled through, loosening the debris on the way, it was heard as thousands of explosions of summits tumbling down – “sahasraśo mahāśabdaṃ śikharāṇi patanti ca” – to quote Vyasa.

The period of this impact is not yet established scientifically but what makes this an event of 3136 BCE is the latitudinal match of this site with Mohenjo-Daro, where the Lower Town suffered a calamity, explainable by a meteor crash.  These two sites lie almost on the same latitude and an extended line connecting them, crosses the Persian Gulf - another probable location of the crash that could have possibly caused the Biblical flood explained in the previous question.

Three crash sites in same latitude

A group of fragments falling and landing at the same latitude is highly probable. Langtang (28.15 N) and Mohenjo-Daro (27.32 N) are latitudinally one degree away from each other. Hastinapura (29.16 N) comes within the same range. The marked location at the Persian Gulf is almost at the same latitude. Since the other three regions (Langtang, Hastinapura and Mohenjo-Daro) received the impact from South- Southwest, the effect at the Persian Gulf would have pushed the waters towards North-North East, up to Mount Ararat. This could have been more devastating to the Mesopotamian regions than the tsunami effect from the Burckle impact near Madagascar, in 2920 BCE.

The crash-range shown covers the rivers that suffered reversed flow of water on account of the gush of wind accompanying the falling fragments which was explained in Question 58

 

 

Mahabharata Quiz - 95

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Question – 95

Did the comet-hit of 3136 BCE cause the Biblical flood? What are the evidences for such a claim?

Answer:

Vyāsa specifically stated that the earth trembled, and the sea swelled, but the swelling water did not cross the shores in Bharat (MB: 6.3.36). This gives an additional insight that some meteors had fallen into the sea – the most probable location being the Arabian Sea.

In this regard, the data on Paleoclimatic Flood events furnished by Stanford.edu shows the Biblical Flood and the flood events supported by paleoclimatic data around the year 3136 BCE (Fig. below).  The well-established Mayan calendar date coming immediately after the Mahabharata war at 3114 BCE offers a benchmark to compare the flood events. I marked the Mayan date by running a blue line across it. Just before the Mayan date, the Biblical flood, suggested by Dr. Hales appears, matching with the Comet-hit of 3136 BCE.

Dates of global floods and the flood of 3136 BCE

The foremost inference from this Figure is that the flood at Dwārakā has no nearest origin, by which we are made to deduce that it was a localized flood and not a global event as the comet-hit was.

Though there is no consensus on a scientifically supported date for the Biblical Flood, with the archaeologically supported flood event coming around to 2950-2850 BCE in the Mesopotamian site of Shuruppak, the Stanford data offers overwhelming support to a global flood around 3136 BCE. Of the two dates suggested for the Biblical flood – one by Dr. Hales and the other by Wright & Morris (Fig.13), the former is supported by a range of paleoclimatic data.    When I checked the research works on the Biblical flood archaeology, there is an overwhelming consensus on a flood from the Mesopotamian region that caused the Ark of Noah to be lifted and disembarked on Mount Ararat (Biblical mount Urartu)

According to Genesis 7:11, the flood started with two major events: (1) the fountains of the deep burst and (2) the windows of the heaven were opened. Of these, the first event apparently refers to explosion noises from beneath the ocean causing eruption (fountain) of water. In the event of a major fragment of the broken comet crashing into the Persian Gulf, the burst of water from the deep becomes possible. The crash causing massive precipitation is recognized as the heavens opening up. Vyāsa-s simultaneous reference to the trembling of the earth and swelling of the oceans (MB: 6.3.36) concurs with an event of a crash in the Persian Gulf.

 

The probable location of the Biblical Flood

The Biblical month running at that time also makes an interesting correlation with the time of comet-fall. It was on “the seventh, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Urartu” (Genesis: 8.4). In the Vedic calendric months starting from Caitra / Aries (in sidereal year count starting from Aries), the crash occurred after the seventh month.

 

Mahabharata Quiz - 94

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Question – 94

Change of tithi and change of  marks on the moon were cited in support of a cosmic hit. Were there references in the Mahabharata for the fall of fragments of a broken comet or meteors on the earth apart from those quoted earlier?

Answer:

Yes, there are. Both Karna and Vyasa narrated the meteor hits and allied disturbances to the earth and atmosphere.

Karṇa said: Meteors (Ulkā) were falling from the sky with loud noise. There were whirlwinds accompanied by earthquakes (MB: 5.141.10)

Vyāsa said: dhūmaketur mahāghoraḥ puṣyam ākramya tiṣṭhati (MB: 6.3.12) This means a horrible comet occupied on the day of Pushya. Many researchers treated this as sighting a comet near Pushya, but it turned out to be an attack on the earth on Pushya day!

Vyāsa said: Even though the sky is cloudless, a terrible roar is heard there.  (MB: 6.2.33)

Vyāsa said: Meteors, effulgent like Indra's thunderbolt, fall with loud hisses (MB: 6.3.33b)

Karṇa said: The wells amid Duryodhana's encampment sent forth loud roars like those of huge bulls (MB: 5.141.20). This can happen in the event of earthquakes or tectonic movement – caused by a collision of an extra-terrestrial object with the earth.

Vyāsa said: The earth is frequently trembling (MB: 6.3.11). In the event of a heavy fall of an extra-terrestrial object, it will cause shattering impact on all things around and on the earth. The vibration of the earth can be felt at those times.

Vyāsa said: The wells, foaming up, are bellowing like bull (MB: 6.3.32). The shattering impact on the ground causes the well water to splash out with sound.

Vyāsa said: In consequence of the Earth's trembling, each of the four oceans having swelled greatly, seems ready to transgress its continents for afflicting the Earth (MB: 6.2.32). The swelling in oceans can happen if fragments have fallen on the sea. This causes tsunami effect with water rushing towards the shores, but Vyasa said that the sea water did not transgress the shores. The only possible region for this effect is the fall of a fragment in the Arabian sea. That must have caused the water to rise and move towards the Gujarat coast, but luckily water did not enter the land.

Vyasa said: From the mountains of Kailasa and Mandara and Himavat thousands of explosions are heard, and thousands of summits are tumbling down. (MB: 6.2.31) This shows that some fragments had fallen on the Himalayan range and caused loud noise.

The last two events described by Vyasa have been identified for their location and impact. This writer has analyzed the fall of fragments in the ocean and the regions affected by the sudden rise of water. It gave rise to what is now known as the Biblical Flood.

The second event of fall of the fragments in Nepal have been identified. It was already analyzed by experts but Mahabharata offers the date and concurrence for that event.