Indian historical tradition reckons the chronology from Svāyambhuva Manu to the Mahābhārata era in terms of the elapsed number of Manvantaras and Mahāyugas (Chaturyugas). It is recorded that six Manvantaras and the Dvāpara Yuga of the 28th Mahāyuga of the seventh Manvantara had elapsed during the Mahābhārata era. Though the 5-year Yuga calendar continued to be in vogue starting from the early Vedic era to the Mahābhārata era, the duration of a Yuga and a Chaturyuga were increased from 5 years to 1200 years and from 20 years to 4800 years respectively at the end of the 28th Krita Yuga. Later, the duration of a Chaturyuga was again increased from 4800 years to 12000 years considering the differential duration of four Yugas in a ratio of 4:3:2:1. During the pre-Mahābhārata era, ancient Indian astronomers further extended the duration of a Yuga from 1200 years to 432000 years (1200 times 360) and the duration of a Chaturyuga from 12000 years to 4320000 years (12000 times 360) with the objective of achieving accurate calandrical calculations. Unfortunately, those scholars who later updated the Purāṇas had erroneously deemed the increased calandrical duration of Chaturyugas as a given fact, and on that basis, narrated the chronological history of ancient India, resulting in, since antiquity, the loss of the true chronology from Manu to Mahabharata. The research found that the epoch of the end of the 28th Krita Yuga of the Vaivasvata Manvantara would be the strongest basis, if it is accurately established, to retrieve that lost chronology. Lāṭadeva, a disciple of Āryabhaṭa provides verifiable astronomical details of the epoch of the Kritayugānta in his Sūrya Siddhānta. According to him, Mayāsura wrote Sūrya Siddhānta at the end of the 28th Krita Yuga when all five planets, the sun and the moon were in a perfect conjunction in Meṣa Rāśi (Aries) on Chaitra Śukla Pratipadā. This research is able to determine that this rarest of conjunctions occurred on 22nd Feb, 6778 BCE, leading to the accurate fixing of the epoch of the beginning of the 28th Tretā Yuga as 6777 BCE.
The duration of the Tretā Yuga was only 1200 years because the duration of a Yuga was extended from 5 years to 1200 years in 6777 BCE. After the end of the 28th Tretā Yuga, the differential duration of four Yugas was introduced; therefore, the duration of the 28th Dvāpara Yuga was 2400 years. As the duration of a Yuga, before 6777 BCE, was only five years, This research is able to establish the epoch of the early Vedic Yuga calendar as being around 15962 BCE. In this manner, the chronology has been reconstructed in this book, from the time of Svāyambhuva Manu to the Mahābhārata era based on the verifiable archaeo-astronomical references found in Vedic literature and Post-Vedic literature - the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas.
The following chronology of ancient India from the time of Svāyambhuva Manu to the Mahābhārata era has been established in this book:
• Proto-Vedic Period (16000-14500 BCE)
• Vedic Period (14500-10500 BCE)
o Ādiyuga : The Era of Early Manu Dynasty (14500-14000 BCE)
o Devayuga: The Vedic Period (14000-11000 BCE)
o The Great Flood in Vaivasvata Manu’s Kingdom (11200 BCE)
o Vedic Sarasvati River lost in Thar Desert (10950 BCE)
o Later Rigvedic Period (11500-10500 BCE)
o Post-Vedic Sarasvati River started flowing westwards (10950-10000 BCE)
• The Post-Vedic Period (10500-6777 BCE)
o The submergence of the city of Dvāravatī (9400-9300 BCE)
o The Recompilation of Avestā, i.e., Asuraveda (7000 BCE)
o The epoch of the end of the 28th Krita Yuga (6778-6777 BCE)
• The 28th Tretā Yuga (6777-5577 BCE)
o The Rāmāyaṇa era (5677-5577 BCE)
o The Birth Date of Sri Rāma (3rd Feb 5674 BCE)
• The 28th Dvāpara Yuga (5577-3176 BCE)
o The epoch of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rājasūya and his coronation in Indraprastha (3188 BCE)
o The Epoch of the Mahābhārata War and Yudhiṣṭhira Era (3162 BCE)
• The Epoch of the 28th Kaliyuga (3176 BCE) [The Mahābhārata]
o The Epoch of the 28th Kaliyuga (3173-3172 BCE)[ Āryabhaṭa]
o The Epoch of the 28th Kaliyuga (3101 BCE) [Lāṭadeva’s Sūrya Siddhānta]
o The submergence of Dwārakā city of the Mahābhārata era in a tsunami (3126 BCE)
o The disappearance of Post-Vedic Sarasvati and Dṛṣadvati Rivers (3000 BCE)
0 Comments