After giving his reasons for claiming 5561 BCE as the year of the mahabharat war, Shri. Oak goes on in the next chapter to claim 16th Oct as the first day of the war. In essence he has accepted the date proposed by Dr. Vartak in Svayambhu as he claims that all astronomical references prove true for that date. I propose to examine some of the claims. Both Dr. Vartak and Shri. Oak claim the date to correspond to an Amavasya. So I will take it from there.
Shri. Oak had clarified in our e-mail exchanges that the date 16th Oct. is a date by Julian Calendar projected backwards from CE 1580 as per standard practice. He further said that Dr. Vartak also meant it to be so. In his book Svayambhu, Dr. Vartak says that he has selected ‘a date’ rather than a lunar month and tithi as the starting point of the war as the former will be easier for common man to appreciate in today’s context of dates and seasons etc. Actually, if the date is Julian, when one goes back 7000 years, relationship of dates and seasons cannot match today’s perception at all. I had my doubts whether Dr. Vartak has followed the standard practice to use Julian date or he meant Gregorian date,as that would retain the association of date and season in tact. Shri. Oak assured me that Dr. Vartak also means Julian date. I assume he had occasion to check the point with Dr. Vartak, since he asserts it. I still have my doubt because the days which Dr. Vartak counts between 16th Oct and Autumnal equinox, the day of Bhishma’s death, do not seem to agree with what Shri. Oak counts. (100 + ). However I will let it ride.
I will take 16th Oct. 5561BCE - Julian and an Amavasya as Shri. Oak’s claim for ‘first day of war’. I propose to examine Shri. Oak’s findings on various astronomical references as I did for the previous chapter.
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