discover the true facts about our ancient past. If we do, we may be able to gather supportive evidences to reassert that ours was the oldest civilization in the world and that our ancestors, the Vedic Aryans, had travelled from India to various parts of Asia and Europe to spread our knowledge, civilization and culture. When this is recorded we would be able to hold our heads higher and be able to take on the future with greater confidence.
courtesy of http://www.HinduismToday.com/
Dr. Iyengar's work is restricted to only a few of the 150 astronomical observations recorded by Veda Vyasa and uses a variant Telugu text.
SR Rao conceded in the colloquium held in January 2003 that further marine archaeological explorations are needed in Dwaraka since his initial work did not go beyond the shallow seas.
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/colloquium/mahabharata01.htm
The following key dates are found to be consistent with almost all of the sky inscriptions observed by Veda Vyasa and using the critical edition of the Mahabharata of Bhandarkar Oriental Institute:
Krishna's departure on Revati Sept. 26, 3067 BCE
Krishna's arrival in Hastinapura on Bharani Sept. 28, 3067 BCE
Solar eclipse on Jyeshtha amavasya Oct. 14, 3067 BCE
Krittika full moon (lunar eclipse) September 29, 3067 BCE
War starts on November 22, 3067 BCE (Saturn in Rohini, Jupiter in Revati)
Winter solstice, January 13, 3066 BCE
Bhishma's expiry, January 17, 3066 BCE Magha shukla ashtami
A fierce comet at Pushya October 3067 BCE
Balarama sets off on pilgrimage on Sarasvati on Pushya day Nov. 1, 3067 BCE
Balarama returns from pilgrimage on Sravana day Dec. 12, 3067 BCE
On the day Ghatotkaca was killed moon rose at 2 a.m., Dec. 8, 3067 BCE
Thus, the research of Dr. Narahari Achar and Prof. Srinivasa Raghavan are more comprehensive. Dr. Achar also makes a brilliant contribution by recognizing the references to comets as planet families in texts which have been dismissed earlier by some scholars as 'astrological' in nature.
Traditionally, the Mahabharat has occured about 5000 years ago.
But this is a difficult question, since the dates are based on interpretations of what has been said in mahabharat, rather than external texts.
In his dating of Mahabharat,a PhD winning thesis, Dr Veda Vyasa has concluded that the traditional dates are correct.
How ever, I am giving a gist of a URL i found on web, which gives six possible dates for mahabharat. The best possible dates are 5000 years ago and again, around 1400 bce. (The second date is in more line with Dr S R Rao and others)For his findings, you may please refer:
(http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/colloquium/srrao01.htm)
AryaBhatta has opined that Mahabharat has occured about 5000 years .But then, It is possible that he must have followed the same procedure and concluded the best possible date is 3102 BCE and it is now taken as the traditional date.
May the Truth win... Satyam eva jayate
http://www.indianest.com/astro/00325.htm (gist given here)
The epic states that a singularly ominous pair of eclipses occurred in "Thirteen days" some time before the war. Using modern astronomical software, our article shows that a number of "Thirteen day"