In section 1, rules of
conduct of war are described, such as “children and old ones should not be
harmed. Unarmed adversary should not be attacked. Each soldier will have a
“watch-word” which will identify him with the side he belongs to”.
As the troops are getting
ready, Vyasa arrives. He is disturbed and tells Dhrithrashtra: “No use grieving
now. This is destiny and cannot be prevented. This is the effect of kaala (time or lord of death). As regards victory, it is there where
righteousness is”. In other words, the war was preordained, an explanation
given for almost everything that happens in Maha Bharatha.
Vyasa offers
Dhrithrashtra ability to see everything in the battle field. But, he declines
saying that he cannot bring himself to seeing all his kith and kin being
killed. Therefore, Vyasa gives a special celestial vision to Sanjaya,
Dhrithrashtra’s charioteer so that he will see every detail in every corner of
the battle-field and narrate the events to Dhrithrashtra at the end of each
day.
Vyasa’s account of
various planets at the time of the famous battle may be significant. Not
knowing Vedic astrology, I am unable to decipher them. He mentions specific
positions of each of the planets (including the moon, which we know is not a
planet) in relation to the 27 stars. In this list there is mention of a white
planet called kethu “blazing like
fire, having attacked the Jeshta, and having passed beyond the constellation,
Chitra”. He also mentions Rahu as taken
a position between constellations, Chitra and Swati. We know that there is no
planet equivalent to Rahu or Kethu existent now. May be, he was describing a
comet or a planet like Pluto which has gone out of the solar system! May be,
they were twin planets.
Vyasa mentions that the
constellation of seven-stars (sapta rishi
mandala) has dimmed. He points out that Brihaspati and Sani approaching
Vishaka have become stationary and that the duration of a fortnight has
shortened by two days. There are descriptions of lunar and solar eclipses coming
back to back and 2 eclipses within a fortnight etc. Such clear descriptions
tell us that our ancestors were keen observers of the sky and of the stars and
planets. These facts also suggest that Mahabharatha is based on some historical
event very much like the Iliad of Homer in Greek history. I hope some scholar has been able to establish
the epoch when these events could have happened based on these descriptions of
the planets and the stars. Indeed, I found one person who has tried to verify
these dates with past calendars. (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2010/09/astronomical-proof-mahabharata-war-shri-krishna/ September 1, 2010 by Ramesh Panchwagh)
In Section 4, Sanjay
starts describing the land to Dhrithrashtra. He says that there are things
mobile and immobile. Among the mobiles he includes three kinds: oviparous,
viviparous and those that come from heat and damp (similar to the idea in the
west about the origins of insects and flies from miasma). Of the mobile,
viviparous are the most important. There are 14 species in this group, with
seven living wild and seven domestic. It is interesting that man is included as
one among the seven domestic creatures. Among the immobile, plants are included
and Sanjaya lists four: trees, shrubs, creepers, creeping plants existing for
only a year, and all stemless plants of the grass species. Here we also learn
that the term valli (kodi in Tamizh)
is specifically for creepers that spread horizontally) and the word for
stemless plants such as grass in thruna.
Two other statements
found in this book are significant: 1. All creatures support their life by
living upon one another. 2. Everything springs from the earth and everything,
when destroyed, merges into the Earth.
In his description of
Bharata Varsha (the ancient India), Sanjaya recounts Bharata, Manu and Ikshvaku
as its inhabitants. Malaya and Vindhya mountains are mentioned. So are many
well-known rivers such as Ganga, Kauveri and Tamra. He says that Saraswati is
seen in some places and not in some other places along its route. Now we know
that it does not exist anymore, although evidences of an ancient river bed are
there. Among the people, dravidas, andhras and keralas are mentioned. Also
mentioned are Mlcechas, Chinas, and Huns. It appears that the word mleccha
referred to the uncivilized and a related word called meluha was used in the
ancient Akkadia kingdom.
In section 12, when Vyasa
describes planet Swabhanu, he says that the diameter is 12 yojanas and the
circumference 42 yojanas (3.5). For moon, he mentions 11 and 38 and to the sun
(?) it is 10 to 35. It is clear that these are approximations to the value of
pi.
In a later chapter,
Sanjaya says: “Victory is not won by just might, but by truth, compassion,
righteousness and energy”
According to this text by
Ganguli, Bhagavat Gita starts with Section 25 of Book 6. I will not cover these
sections which are so well-known.
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