History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.766.4

v4.c63.t2.766.4

After the war was over, Yudhiṣṭhira went to the capital and stayed there for 50 nights and when he found that the Sun had started on its apparent northward path (*uttarāyaṇa*) he came to Bhīṣma (Anuśāsana 167. 5). In Śāntiparva 51. 14 Kṛṣṇa says to Bhīṣma: ‘You have yet to live 56 days.’ Nīlakaṇṭha, who takes Śalya 34. 6 as the dominant passage, puts a most far-fetched construction on the word 'aṣṭapañcāśatam', which he takes to mean 'one hundred minus 58' i. e. 42 nights and explains 'pañcāśataṁ ṣaṭ ca' as equal to 30. This shows to what straits commentators are reduced when conflicting passages have got to be explained away. One more indication about the *tithi* on which the war commenced is afforded by Droṇaparva chap. 184, where it is stated that a grim fight went on till midnight when Ghaṭotkaca was killed, that the fatigued armies then snatched some sleep, that then the moon rose at about 2 A. M. (verse 46) and that the fight was then resumed¹⁷⁷⁸ (chap. 186. 1 'tribhāgamātraśeṣāyāṁ rātryāṁ yuddham-avartata). This description of moonrise shows that Ghaṭotkaca was killed on or about the 11th of the dark half. We know from the Mahābhārata itself that Ghaṭotkaca was killed on the night of the 4th day of Droṇa's command or on the 14th day after the war began. This would establish that the war began on the 12th or 13th of the bright half and ended on the 14th of the dark half or on amāvāsyā of Mārgaśīrṣa. Dr. Daftari holds that this description is an interpolation.