'Mahabharata' epic was between 1493 BC and 1443 BC: Scientist
By siliconindia staff writer   |   Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: A scientist at the Indian Institute of Science here has claimed to have found the period of the Mahabharata to be between 1493 BC and 1443 BC based on eclipses and planetary observations made in six printed versions of the epic. The "archaeo-astronomy" claims have disputed the earlier known dates of the event in Dwapara Yuga based on historical and archaeological evidence as between 3100 BC to 3000 BC. "The eclipses and planetary observations of the Mahabharata should belong to 1493 BC to 1443 BC of Indian history," IISc Department of Civil Engineering Professor R Narayana Iyengar told PTI here on Sunday. "The 23 day Kurukshetra war between Kauravas and Pandavas should have taken place in 1478 BC. This result may have an error band of one year, since the intervals between the three constraining eclipses are uncertain to the extent of one year," Iyengar, an authority on earthquake engineering, said. His research was based on interpreting six different versions of the epic including in Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada and English, besides calculating planet and star positions and eclipses described in the epic using modern IT tools and astronomy software. The software has been used to validate eclipse observations made by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). "These dates match with those mentioned in the Bhagavatha and Vishnu Purana," Iyengar, a Sanskrit scholar, said.

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