History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.756.3

v4.c63.t2.756.3

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.