History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.756
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.756
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v4.c63.t2.756.1
Most of the important astronomical details will now be set out from the time when Lord Kṛṣṇa is said to have started as a peace-maker to the Kauravas. In Udyogaparva 83. 6-7¹⁷⁶⁸ it is said that Kṛṣṇa started in the month of Kārtika (Kaumude māsi) *at the end of the śarad season and about the advent of winter*, when the moon was in Revatī nakṣatra and on *maitra muhūrta*. Āśvina and Kārtika are at present said to form the season of *śarad*, and Mārgaśīrṣa and Pauṣa form *hemanta*. This verse itself presents a difficulty. On the Full Moon day of Kārtika, the moon is in Kṛttikā nakṣatra and the moon would be in Revatī three days before i. e. on or about the 12th of the bright half of Kārtika. If we take this along with the words 'at the end of śarad' it follows that the month was *pūrṇimānta*; otherwise (i. e. if the month were *amānta*) it would be highly improper to say that the 12th of the bright half of Kārtika was at the end of Śarad. After Kṛṣṇa failed in his mission he returned to the Pāṇḍavas (for all of which we must allow a few days after the 12th of Kārtika *śukla*) and reported what Duryodhana and he himself said. Two of the statements reported by him are very material. Duryodhana said to his allies: 'March towards Kurukṣetra (for battle);
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to-day the moon is (in) Puṣya nakṣatra'.¹⁷⁶⁹ If Kṛṣṇa started on his mission when the moon was in Revatī (on the 12th of the bright half of Kārtika), then these above words must have been uttered in his presence on or about the 5th of the dark half of Kārtika (or of Mārgaśīrṣa if the month was pūrṇimānta). Another important statement is that Kṛṣṇa in his conversation with Karṇa (whom he had tried to win over) stated to him: 'this is a mild month in which fodder and fuel can be easily had, which is neither too hot nor too cold; on the 7th day (from today) there will be amāvāsyā; battle may be joined on that day; they regard it as having Indra for its (guardian)¹⁷⁷⁰ deity'. Therefore this must have been said on or about the 8th of the dark half of the month. But what was the name of the month? If the reckoning was pūrṇimānta, the month must be Mārgaśīrṣa, but if the reckoning was amānta, the month must be Kārtika. The words 'this month' taken along with Udyoga 83. 6-7 would indicate that the month meant was Kārtika. Further, Indra was the deity of Jyeṣṭhā nakṣatra and the amāvāsyā (as stated in Udyoga 142. 16-18) had Jyeṣṭhā nakṣatra. In modern times this is possible on Kārtika Amāvāsya, while there cannot be Jyeṣṭhā nakṣatra in modern times on Mārgaśīrṣa amāvāsyā, but only on or about the 13th of the dark half of it. But this passage itself (Udyoga 142. 16-18) is in conflict with Śalya 35.
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10 where Kṛṣṇa says: 'the Kauravas do not act up to my words, being driven to do so by the Time Spirit; O! descendants of Pāṇḍu, go out (for battle) together with me when the moon is in Puṣya'. If the moon was in Jyeṣṭhā on amāvāsyā when Kṛṣṇa had proposed to Karṇa that the war should be begun, this passage of Śalyaparva would put the beginning of the war 16 or 17 days after Kārtika amāvāsyā, which is not warranted by any other passage and which no scholar puts forward. In Udyoga 143. 11 it is stated,¹⁷⁷¹ 'the spot on the moon has turned away (disappeared) and Rāhu approaches the Sun.' The exact meaning of the first quarter is not quite clear. Some interpret it to mean that 'an eclipse of the Moon has already taken place'. The moon looks beautiful with the spot thereon '(compare Śākuntala 1 '*malinamapi himāṁśor lakṣma lakṣmīṁ tanoti*). The disappearance of the spot might have been looked upon as an evil portent. Even supposing that the first quarter refers to an eclipse of the moon, it does not matter much. The second quarter states that an eclipse of the Sun was expected when Karṇa addressed these words to Kṛṣṇa, the envoy of the Pāṇḍavas. Later on in Bhīṣma 2. 23 it is stated¹⁷⁷² that the Moon had become devoid of brightness, was without its spot on the Full moon day of Kārtika and assumed the colour of fire while the sky retained its original hue; so that if there was an eclipse of the moon it was on *Kārtika Paurṇimā* and an eclipse of the sun was yet to take place.
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On the whole, therefore, one may assume, though not without hesitation, that the months were *amānta*, that possibly there was an eclipse of the moon on Kārtika Full Moon when Kṛṣṇa had gone as a peace-maker and that there was a solar eclipse on the amāvāsyā of Kārtika just about the time the war began. In Śalyaparva 56. 10 we again meet with the words (at the beginning of the mace duel) ‘Rāhu swallowed the Sun at an unusual season’. This passage and Āśvamedhika 77. 15 (Rāhur-agrasadādityaṁ yugapat somameva ca) rather suggest that the eclipse of the sun at an unusual time had become a stock example of an evil portent without the actual occurrence thereof. The words in Śalyaparva refer to the last day of the war before the mace duel between Duryodhana and Bhīma and the passage says that Rāhu seized the sun and there was an earth-quake also. Hardly any one (except Dr. Daftari) holds that there was another eclipse on the last day of the war, when just before the war there already had been an eclipse on Kārtika amāvāsyā.