History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.777

v4.c63.t2.777

Then there are several passages which state the positions of several planets just before the battle or on the day the battle began. Here again at least two different positions are assigned to each planet except Mercury. It is first to be noted that at the beginning of the war all the seven planets excluding Rāhu and Ketu are declared to have been near each other (Bhīṣma 17. 2, q. in note 1776 above). We know from the Mahābhārata itself that the Sun and the Moon on Kārtika amāvāsyā were in Jyeṣṭhā. If the war began on amāvāsyā or a day later, the planets must be near Jyeṣṭhā. If the Bhāratasāvitrī be followed then the war began on Mārgaśīrṣa bright 13 and on Bharaṇī. If that were so, the sun and the moon cannot be together. Mr. Karandikar takes 11th of the bright half of Mārgaśīrṣa to be the tithi of the beginning of the war and holds that the Sun was in nakṣatra Jyeṣṭhā and that the moon was in Bharaṇī (following the Bhāratasāvitrī as to this last). I should hold that we are not at liberty to take one datum from one group of statements and another from another group and then say that it is proved that the war was fought at a particular time. It is further noted in Karṇaparva 37. 4 that on Karṇa's death (i. e. 17 days after the war began), the seven planets were seen going away from the Sun.¹⁷⁸² The positions of the planets at the beginning of the war were as follows:—