Shri. Oak has made some comments on his blog. I am writing this additional post to make the position clear.Some reference numbers were wrong. I have corrected them.
1. Referring to the war year, winter solstice was on 30th Jan 5560BCE. Autumnal Equinox would be 31 Oct. (one day here or there). If 16th Oct, an amavasya day, is the first day of war, it is a fortnight before Equinox.
2. Shri. Oak says there was a Solar Eclipse on 16th Oct and lunar eclipses on the previous and the following Purnimas. Following Purnima should be on 29th Oct. as it was noticed to be an unusually short fortnight, only 13 days long. (14 days, 15 days or even 16 days fortnight was not considered ‘unusual’ by Vyasa). Although references to the three eclipses by Karna or Vyasa are not specifically clear, Vyasa clearly refers to all, especially the last one, as an even which ‘has occurred’ already. I therefore say that if the first day of war is claimed as an Amavasya, it cannot be the one on 16th Oct but the next one, on say, 13th Nov. (13days of first fortnight and usual 15 days for the second). If not required to be an Amavasya, then any day after 29th Oct. could qualify.
3. It seems Shri. Oak is treating the Amavasya prior to 16th Oct., one on 17th Sept, as The Jyeshthaa Amavasya, referred by Krishna in his dialogue with Karna. (Optionally or firmly?). (This gives him the one month he feels needed for war preparations.) This will mean the dialogue date would be 10th Sept. During the talk, Karna is supposed to refer to a lunar eclipse (व्यावृत्तं लक्ष्म सोमस्य is the only mention, past tense) and also suggest a likely solar eclipse to take place shortly as Rahu was approaching Sun. But these actually occurred on 1st Oct and 16th Oct., so many days after the dialogue!
4. Also the dialogue then occurred almost 50 days prior to Autumnal Equinox of 31st Oct. And yet Krishna is stated to have started his journey from Upaplavya ‘शरदान्ते हिमागमे’and also mentions to Karna that the ground at Kurukshetra is dry, there is no mud. Karna also does not contradict the statement.
Contradictions are numerous and glaring!
5. I have been checking and commenting on moon positions on various war days by ‘back of envelope’ calculations assuming war start date as the Amavasya after the second lunar eclipse when Sun and Moon were in Purvashadha or slightly beyond. They don’t strictly match what the references say. I repeat that in my view it is immaterial as all these are just Upamas and match or mismatch has no significance.
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