History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.796

v4.c63.t2.796

The above detailed statement about the astronomical passages of the Mahābhārata will induce any unbiassed reader who has no axe to grind that they are hopelessly inconsistent and that no certain chronological conclusion can be drawn therefrom. In the above discussion I have generally not cited the various explanations indulged in by several scholars, as that would have involved me in a very lengthy discourse without any adequate benefit. To me it appears probable that the final redactor of the Mahābhārata had two or more sets of astronomical data about the war before him and without trying to examine and sift them he included them all in his work. The Bhāratasāvitrī probably represents one (and a later) tradition about the positions of the planets at the time of the war. As I hold that either the Mahābhārata passages on the positions of the planets were interpolated at a very late stage or are hopelessly inconsistent I deem it unnecessary to enter upon an examination of the mathematical calculations made by several scholars to find out the date of the Bhārata war from the shifting of the solstices and the position of the planets.