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dates of the principal events in the Mahabharata, like the War, we automatically have an approximate date for
Krishna. If, on the basis of our search, we can ascertain the existence of Krishna, and arrive also at an
approximate date for him, we are justified in regarding him as a historical figure. The approach that I follow is
inspired by the work Sri Krishna Charitra written more than a century ago by the great Bengali author Bankima
Chandra Chatterji, supplemented by archaeological and other research that has come to light up to our own
time. The topics presented in these articles are discussed in greater detail in my forthcoming book, Search for
the Historical Krishna.
Evidence for Krishna
According to Indian sources, Krishna was a Vedic figure. He was a younger contemporary of Krishnadvaipayana - or 'Krishna of the Island' - better known as Veda Vyasa - who by tradition was responsible for the
organization of Vedic hymns into their four fold division, the form in which we know them today. He is also by
tradition the author of the earliest version of the Mahabharata. It is worth noting that the names of some of the
characters of the period are found in the literature of the period and also on some Harappan seals that Jha
and I have deciphered. For example, words like Paila (Vyasa's pupil), Akrura (Krishna's friend), Vrishni
(Krishna's clan), Yadu (Krishna's ancestor), Sritirtha (old name for Dwaraka) are found on seals, some of
which may go back five thousand years.
The greatest barrier to a rational study of ancient Indian history continues to be a nineteenth century colonial
fiction known as the Aryan invasion of India. When the ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were discovered
about 70 years ago, this was followed by a new piece of fiction known as the Aryan-Dravidian wars. Science
has now fully discredited both. We now know that the Harappan Civilization came at the end of the Vedic Age.
I will not go into their details here, but only mention that in these articles I totally ignore both the Aryan invasion
and the idea of the Harappan Civilization as Dravidian, unrelated to Vedic. (See my book The Politics of
History, Chapter 1. For a more detailed exposition.) Panini, the great grammarian mentions several
Mahabharata characters including Vasudeva(Krishna), Arjuna, Nakula, Kunti and others. We find the names of
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/historical-krsna.htm[24/11/2016 00:02:18]
VEDA - Vedas and Vedic Knowledge Online - Vedic Encyclopedia, Bhakti-yoga in vedas, Library
Professor K. Srinivasaraghavan, perhaps the foremost authority on the topic, has even determined November
22, 3067 BC as the day on which the Mahabharata War took place, but this assumes that ancient astronomical
observations are exact which I chose to avoid. I am not suggesting they are wrong, only that I prefer to be
conservative. Some scholars reject such an early date as c. 3100 on the ground that the Aryans came to India
only in 1500 BC, and Krishna and the Mahabharata War must therefore be later. As noted the Aryan invasion
theory has been discredited by science. Also, our decipherment of Harappan and pre-Harappan scripts has
taken the Vedas to long before 3500 BC. So these objections can be dismissed. The one arguable issue is the
discovery of an ancient submerged city at the island of Bet Dwaraka by the renowned archaeologist S.R. Rao.
Rao, who identifies it with Krishna's Dwaraka dates it to about 1500 BC. But his identification rests on
insufficient grounds based on ambiguous literary interpretations. In any event, the historical references in the
deciphered Harappan seals, some of which are over a thousand years older than 1500 BC make it impossible
that the site found by Rao is Krishna's Dwaraka. We can next look at Krishna's date, from two different
directions.
Since Ashvalayana mentions the Mahabharata and its authors Jaimini and Vaisampayana as ancient, at least a
century must have elapsed between the War and his time. He records that in his time plants sprouted after the
beginning of monsoon rains in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada. This now takes place in Jyestha or Ashadha.
This goes to show that the monsoon in his time used to start in the month of Sravana instead of Jyestha as it
does today - a difference of about seventy days. This is due to a well-known astronomical phenomenon called
the 'precession of the equinoxes'. Seasons fall back relative to the fixed stars (and the Hindu calendar which is
based on the fixed stars) by about one day every 72 years. What this means is that the beginning of monsoon
noted by Ashvalayana must have been taking place close to 5000 years ago or about 3000 BC.
Further, Ashvalayana pays homage to his teacher Kahola Kaushitaki who was the sage of the Kaushitaki
Brahmana. It mentions several Mahabharata characters. It also mentions that the winter solstice - as the first
day of winter is called - took place on the day on which we now celebrate the Maha-Shivaratri festival. The
winter solstice now falls on December 21, and the Maha-Shivaratri comes around March 1. This is due to the
precession of the equinoxes. This again means that from the time of Kahola Kausitaki, the seasons have
moved by about 70 days. So, 70 times 72 or about 5000 years must have passed. This also supports a date of
about 3100 BC for the Mahabharata War.
Amazingly, we even have Greek records pointing to the same approximate date. Greek travelers who came to
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/historical-krsna.htm[24/11/2016 00:02:18]
VEDA - Vedas and Vedic Knowledge Online - Vedic Encyclopedia, Bhakti-yoga in vedas, Library
India following Alexander's invasion have left us some tantalizing references to Krishna and also to Indian
historical records as they existed in their time. Authors like Pliny referred to Krishna as Heracles, derived from
Hari-Krishna. They record that the Indian Heracles - our Krishna - was held in special honor by the Sourseni
tribe one of whose major cities was Methora. We can recognize them as Shuraseni and Mathura. (Shura was
the father of Vasudeva and the grandfather of Krishna.)
Indian Heracles (Krishna) is recorded by the Greeks as having lived 138 generations before the time of
Alexander and Sandracottos which we may take to be c. 330 BC. Taking 20 years per generation, which is
known to be a good average when ancient Indian dynasties are involved, we are led to the computation 2760
+ 330 = 3090 BC which is remarkably close to the Kali date of 3102 BC. So a reckoning based on ancient
2001 - 2016 VEDA - Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Krishna.com, authors. CC-BY-SA Jan Mares
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