Table of Contents
- PrefaceThe Chronology of India
- Chapter 1The Introduction
- Chapter 2The Age of Manu Dynasty: From Svāyambhuva Manu to Vaivasvata Manu
(14500-11200 BCE) - Chapter 3The Age of the Compilation of Vedas
(11500-10500 BCE) - Chapter 4The Age of the Compilation of Saṁhitās, Brāhmaṇas,Āraṇyakas and Upaniṣads
(10500-6777 BCE) - Chapter 5Tretā Yuga (6777-5577 BCE) and the Age of Rāmāyana
(5677-5577 BCE) - Chapter 6Dvāpara Yuga (5577-3176 BCE) and the Epoch of Mahābhārata War
(3162 BCE) - Chapter 7Devakīputra Vāsudeva Krishna of the Rigvedic Era and Krishna of the Mahābhārata Era
- Chapter 8The Date of Āryabhaṭa, Lāṭadeva, Vriddhāryabhaṭa and Parāśara
- Chapter 9The Chronology of Ancient Indian Dynasties and Kingdoms
(14500-3162 BCE) - Chapter 10The Chronological History of Indic Languages and Scripts
- Chapter 11Ancient Indian Historical Tradition: A Rejoinder to Frederick Eden Pargiter
Preface
Indian historical tradition reckons the chronology from Svāyambhuva Manu to the Mahābhārata era in terms of the elapsed number of Manvantaras and Mahāyugas (Chaturyugas). It is recorded that six Manvantaras and the Dvāpara Yuga of the 28th Mahāyuga of the seventh Manvantara had elapsed during the Mahābhārata era.
Though the 5-year Yuga calendar continued to be in vogue starting from the early Vedic era to the Mahābhārata era, the duration of a Yuga and a Chaturyuga were increased from 5 years to 1200 years and from 20 years to 4800 years respectively at the end of the 28th Krita Yuga. Later, the duration of a Chaturyuga was again increased from 4800 years to 12000 years considering the differential duration of four Yugas in a ratio of 4:3:2:1.
During the pre-Mahābhārata era, ancient Indian astronomers further extended the duration of a Yuga from 1200 years to 432000 years (1200 times 360) and the duration of a Chaturyuga from 12000 years to 4320000 years (12000 times 360) with the objective of achieving accurate calandrical calculations. Unfortunately, those scholars who later updated the Purāṇas had erroneously deemed the increased calandrical duration of Chaturyugas as a given fact, and on that basis, narrated the chronological history of ancient India, resulting in, since antiquity, the loss of the true chronology from Manu to Mahabharata. The chronology of the period before the Mahabharata era remains unresolved by historians till date.
My research found that the epoch of the end of the 28th Krita Yuga of the Vaivasvata Manvantara would be the strongest basis, if it is accurately established, to retrieve that lost chronology. Lāṭadeva, a disciple of Āryabhaṭa provides verifiable astronomical details of the epoch of the Kritayugānta in his Sūrya Siddhānta. According to him, Mayāsura wrote Sūrya Siddhānta at the end of the 28th Krita Yuga when all five planets, the sun and the moon were in a perfect conjunction in Meṣa Rāśi (Aries) on Chaitra Śukla Pratipadā. I was subsequently able to determine that this rarest of conjunctions occurred on 22nd Feb 6778 BCE, leading to the conclusive and accurate fixing of the epoch of the beginning of the 28th Tretā Yuga as 6777 BCE.
Arguably, the duration of the Tretā Yuga was only 1200 years because the duration of a Yuga was extended from 5 years to 1200 years in 6777 BCE. After the end of the 28th Tretā Yuga, the differential duration of four Yugas was introduced; therefore, the duration of the 28th Dvāpara Yuga was 2400 years. As the duration of a Yuga, before 6777 BCE, was only five years, I was able to establish the epoch of the early Vedic Yuga calendar as being around 15962 BCE. In this manner, I reconstructed and reconciled the chronology, in this book, from the time of Svāyambhuva Manu to the Mahābhārata era based on the verifiable archaeo-astronomical references found in Vedic literature, Post-Vedic literature, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas. I hope Indologists and historians of the world may review and evaluate my research work on the chronology without bias or prejudice.
This book would not have been possible without the erudite inputs from numerous research papers, articles and books on this very significant subject. During the writing of this book, I have, quite often, borrowed and reproduced some of the relevant content from these sources. I acknowledge my deep indebtedness to the scholarly authors of these articles and books.
I express my profound gratitude to respected K.N. Govindacharya ji for his inspirational guidance. My sincere thanks to Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO for being a constant source of great motivation. My special thanks to Sh. Raj Vedam, Sh. Ravindranath Kaul, Sh. Sudhir Nathan, Sh. Vutukur Srinivas Rao, Sh. Sandeep Sarkar and Ms. Dipti Mohil Chawla for their valuable suggestions and sustained encouragement. I also thank Sh. Sanjay Sharma, Sh. Shamit Khemka and Sh. Paritosh Agrawal for extending all support in design of cover page and publication of this book. I thank Ms. Kalyani Prashar for her efforts in editing the manuscript. I also thank Sh. Vinod Yadav for his creative contribution in the type-setting, design and printing of this book. Finally, I thank my wife Sandhya for her support, encouragement and patience during the time of writing of this book.
New Delhi
Vedveer Arya
19th Sep 2019