History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.766.1

v4.c63.t2.766.1

he remarks, 'it is 42 days since I left (on a pilgrimage); I started when the moon was in Puṣya and I have come here again on Śravaṇa'¹⁷⁷⁵. In Śalya 35. 13-14 it is stated that Balarāma went to the river Sarasvatī on pilgrimage on 'maitra-nakṣatra-yoga' (i. e. when the moon was in Anurādhā). This conflict may be resolved by holding, as Nīlakaṇṭha does, that Balarāma left the Pāṇḍavas on Puṣya, reached the Sarasvatī on Anurādhā and returned on Śravaṇa. If we follow Śalya 34.6 the war commenced when the moon was in or near Mṛgaśīrṣa (18 nakṣatras before Śravaṇa). This would be in direct conflict with a passage in Bhīṣmaparva 17.2 that¹⁷⁷⁶ 'on the day of battle the moon was in the province of Maghā' and also other passages that will be indicated later on. This last passage should ordinarily mean that the moon was near Maghā. Mr. Karandikar looks upon Śalya 34.6 as an interpolation and takes Bhīṣma 17.2 to mean that the moon was in an inauspicious nakṣatra of the category of Maghā. This would suit Bharaṇī but not Rohiṇī or Mṛgaśīrṣa. His meaning is farfetched and he does not explain why Bharaṇī was not directly mentioned in the Epic, when in several other places the epic does mention directly the nakṣatra concerned. His explanation gives the go-by to the 13th *tithi*. Dr. Daftari boldly asserts that we must transpose the nakṣatras (in Śalya 34. 6) and read 'śravaṇe samprayātosmi puṣyeṇa punarāgataḥ'.