Kurukshetra War

The Kurukshetra War was, according to the Indian epic Mahbhrata, a conflict that arose from a
dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru,
the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne ofHastinapura. It involved a number of ancient kingdoms
participating as allies of the rival groups.
The location of the battle was Kurukshetra in the modern state of Haryana in India. The conflict is
believed to form an essential component of an ancient work called Jaya and hence
the epic Mahbhrata.
Mahbhrat states that the war started on Kartheeka Bahula Amavasya (end of the Kartheeka and the
start of the Margasira lunar month), moon on Jyesta star, on Tuesday early morning. Solar eclipse also
happened on that day and this Muhurth was kept by SriKrishna himself. Bhagavatgeeta was told on that
early morning before the war began. War lasted only eighteen days during which vast armies from all
over the Indian (Bharatha) Subcontinent fought alongside the two rivals. Despite only referring to these
eighteen days, the war narrative forms more than a quarter of the book, suggesting its relative
importance within the epic, which overall spans decades of the warring families. Incidentally the parvas
in Mahabharata are eighteen and the total number of army participated in the war are
eighteen Akshauhinis.
The narrative describes individual battles of various heroes of both sides, battle-field deaths of some of
the prominent heroes, military formations employed on each day by both armies, war diplomacy,
meetings and discussions among the heroes and commanders before commencement of war on each
day and the weapons used. The chapters (parvas) dealing with the war (from chapter six to ten) are
considered amongst the oldest in the entire Mahbhrat.
The Kurukshetra War is believed to date variously from 6000 BCE to 500 BCE,
[1]
based on the
astronomical and literary information from Mahbhrata. The history of the Kurukshetra War is also
traced to the Battle of the Ten Kings mentioned inRigveda.
[2]

Historical
The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is unclear. Some historians like A. L. Basham estimate the
date of the Kurukshetra war to Iron Age India of the 10th century BCE. In discussing the dating
question, historian A. L. Basham says: "According to the most popular later tradition the
Mahabharata War took place in 3102 BCE, which in the light of all evidence, is quite impossible.
More reasonable is another tradition, placing it in the 15th century BCE, but this is also several
centuries too early in the light of our archaeological knowledge. Probably the war took place around
the beginning of the 9th century BCE; such a date seems to fit well with the scanty archaeological
remains of the period, and there is some evidence in the Brahmana literature itself to show that it
cannot have been much earlier."
Other historians like Michael Witzel have corroborated that the general setting of the epic has a
historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political
power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE.
[3]
A dynastic conflict of the period could have been the
inspiration for the Jaya, the foundation on which the Mahabharata corpus was built, with a climactic
battle eventually coming to be viewed as an epochal event.
Puranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata narrative. The
evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were
1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjun's grandson) and the accession of
Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 BCE, which would yield an estimate of about 1400
BCE for the Bharata battle.
[4]
However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the
kings listed in the genealogies.
[5]
Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the
Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma
Nanda. Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and,
assuming 18 years for the average duration of a reign, arrived at an estimate of 850 BCE for
Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950 BCE for the Bharata battle
[5]

B. B. Lal used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign to
estimate a date of 836 BCE, and correlated this with archaeological evidence from Painted Grey
Ware sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts and places mentioned in the epic.
[6]

There have been a number of theories put forward:
[7]

Most widely accepted date is 10th century BCE or 950 BCE, according to archeological
evidences.
S. Balakrishna concluded a date of 2559 BCE using consecutive lunar eclipses.
R. N. Iyengar concluded a date of 1478 BCE using double eclipses and
Saturn+Jupiter conjunctions.
B. N. Achar states a date of 3067 BCE using planetary positions listed in the Mahbhrata.
P. V. Holey states a date of November 13, 3143 BCE using planetary positions and calendar
systems.
P. V. Vartak calculates a date of October 16, 5561 BCE using planetary positions.
[8]

Based on translation work by K. Sadananda, on November 22 3067 BCE, Kurukshetra War
started.
[9]

Archaeological evidence at the dwarka site seems to suggest a date for 1500 BCE
[10][11]

The reconstruction of the history of Vedic India is based on text-internal details. Linguistically, the
Vedic texts could be classified in five chronological strata as Rigvedic, Mantra, Samhita, Brahmana,
Sutra, and Epic and Pinian. The Mantra language period includes both the mantra and prose
language of the Atharvaveda (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the Rigveda Khilani,
the Samaveda Samhita (containing some 75 mantras not in the Rigveda), and the mantras of
the Yajurveda. Many of these texts are largely derived from the Rigveda, but have undergone certain
changes, both by linguistic change and by reinterpretation. Conspicuous changes include change
of vishva "all" by sarva, and the spread of the kuru- verbal stem (for Rigvedic krno-). This is the time
of the early Iron Age in north-western India, corresponding to the Black and Red Ware (BRW)
culture, and the kingdom of the Kurus, dating from ca. the 10th century BCE. The Samhita
prose period marks the beginning of the collection and codification of a Vedic canon. An important
linguistic change is the complete loss of the injunctive. The Brahmana part ('commentary' on
mantras and ritual) of the Black Yajurveda (MS, KS, TS) belongs to this period. Archaeologically,
the Painted Grey Ware (PGW) culture from ca. 900 BCE corresponds, and the shift of the political
center from the Kurus to the Pancalas on the Ganges.
According to When Did The Mahabharata War Happen?: The Mystery of Arundhati, by Nilesh
Nilkanth Oak, the war occurred about 7,500 years ago in 7573 Year before present, as per
astronomy observations mentioned in Mahabharata.
[12]

Mahbhrata, one of the most important Hindu epics, is an account of the life and deeds of several
generations of a ruling dynasty called the Kuru clan. Central to the epic is an account of a war that
took place between two rival families belonging to this clan. Kurukshetra (literally "field of the
Kurus"), was the battleground on which this war, known as the Kurukshetra War, was fought.
Kurukshetra was also known as "Dharmakshetra" (the "field of Dharma"), or field of righteousness.
Mahbhrata tells that this site was chosen for the war because a sin committed on this land was
forgiven on account of the sanctity of this land.
Kuru territories were divided into two and were ruled by Dhritarashtra (with capital at Hastinapura)
and Yudhishthira of the Pandavas (with capital at Indraprastha). The immediate dispute between
the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra) and the Pandavas arose from a game of dice, which
Duryodhana won by deceit, forcing their Pandava cousins to transfer their entire territories to the
Kauravas (to Hastinapura) and to "go-into-exile" for thirteen years. The dispute escalated into a full
scale war when Prince Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, driven by jealousy, refused to
restore the Pandavas their territories after the exile as earlier decided, as Duryodhana objects that
they were discovered while in exile, and that no return of their kingdom was agreed.
Prior to the war, disinherited Pandavas at Matsya kingdom, advised by Krishna, tried to find a
diplomatic and peaceful solution to the conflict. Balarama, Krishna's older brother, advised the
Pandavas to send an emissary to get the support of the elders of the family
like Bhishma, Dhritarashtra, Drona, Kripa etc. with the message "Let us avoid armed conflict as
much as possible. Only that which is accrued in peace is worthwhile. Out of war, nothing but wrong
can issue".
[13]
While the emissary was in the Kaurava court, the Pandavas continued with war
preparations. They sent messages requesting assistance to a number of neighbouring kingdoms.
Their ambassador of peace was insulted and turned away by Duryodhana, who was intent on war,
defying the counsel of elders like Bhishma. After several failed attempts on peace, war seemed
inevitable. The two sides to the war were the Pandavas and the Kauravas (the official Kuru tribe now
ruling both Hastinapura and Indraprastha) and their allies.
Jaya, the core of Mahbhrata is structured in the form of a dialogue between Kuru
king Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya, his advisor and chariot driver. Sanjaya narrates each incident of the
Kurukshetra War, fought in 18 days, as and when it happened. Dhritarshtra sometimes asks
questions and doubts and sometimes laments, knowing about the destruction caused by the war, to
his sons, friends and kinsmen. He also feels guilty, due to his own role, that led to this war,
destructive to the entire Indian subcontinent. In the beginningSanjaya gives a description of the
various continents of the Earth, the other planets, and focuses on the Indian Subcontinent and gives
an elaborate list of hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns, villages, rivers, mountains,
forests etc. of the (ancient) Indian Subcontinent (Bhrata Varsha). He also explains about the
'military formations adopted by each side on each day, the death of each hero and the details of
each war-racing. Some 18 chapters of Vyasa's Jaya constitutes the Bhagavad Gita, one of the
sacred texts of the Hindus. Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya, deals with diverse subjects like
geography, history, warfare, religion and morality. According to Mahabharata itself, the Jaya was
recited to the King Janamejaya who is the great-grandson of Arjuna, by Vaisampayana, a disciple of
Vyasa (then called the Bharata). The recitation of Vaisampayana to Janamejaya is then recited
again by a professional storyteller named Ugrasrava Sauti, many years later, to an assemblage of
sages performing the 12 year long sacrifice for King Saunaka Kulapati in the Naimisha forest(then
called the Mahabharata).