Refutation of Nilesh Oak’s Astronomical Dating of Mahabharata to 5561 BCE
Part 5 of 18 — Confirmation of Oak’s Data for positions of Arundhati and Vasishtha
In my previous article I described how to tell which star is ahead of another star. To know which star is ahead among two stars, all we need to know is their right ascensions. A star with lower right ascension is ahead of a star with higher right ascension. Now that we know how to tell which star is ahead, in this article we will apply this knowledge to confirm Oak’s data for positions of Arundhatī (Alcor) and Vasiṣṭha (Mizar) and the time interval when Arundhatī was ahead of Vasiṣṭha [1].
5.1: Oak’s data for positions of Arundhatī (Alcor) and Vasiṣṭha (Mizar)
Table 5.1 shows the data provided by Oak in his book “When did the Mahabharata War Happen” [1]. RA difference is equal to RA of Alcor minus RA of Mizar. When RA difference is negative, Alcor (Arundhatī) is ahead of Mizar (Vasiṣṭha). In the last column I have converted the data for RA difference from Arcsecond to Arcminute as this data is normally given in Arcminutes. The reason Oak has reported the data in Arcseconds is to make the RA difference look bigger as can be seen from last two right hand side columns.
Table 5.1: Data provided by Oak [1]
5.2: Confirmation of Oak’s data
Table 2 shows the data that I presented in my talk on Sangam Talks in 2022 on the refutation of the 5561 BCE dating of the Mahabharata War [2]. The data was obtained using Voyager 4.5, which is the same software used by Oak. Last two right hand side columns show that the data obtained by me matches the data presented by Oak for the RA difference between Alcor (Arundhatī) and Mizar (Vasiṣṭha).
Table 5.2: Confirmation of Oak’s data
[Roy (2022): source — data from Voyager 4.5 [2]; Oak (2011) [1]]
5.3: The epoch of Arundhatī
Figure 5.1 shows the RA difference data in Table 5.2 in a graphical format. The epoch of Arundhati as defined by Oak is the time interval when the RA difference is negative.
I have run the software Voyager 4.5 to find out the exact date when the RA difference was zero. Figures 5.2 and 5.3 show the positions of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) respectively on August 5, 4508 BCE according to Voyager 4.5. It can be seen that RA of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) are equal on this date and hence the difference is zero.
Figures 5.4 and 5.5 show the positions of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) respectively on January 13, 11090 BCE according to Voyager 4.5. It can be seen that RA of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) are equal on this date and hence the difference is zero.
I have also run the software Stellarium 0.20.4 to find out the exact date when the RA difference was zero. Figures 5.6 and 5.7 show the positions of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) respectively on 15 September, 4480 BCE according to Stellarium 0.20.4. It can be seen that RA of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) are equal on this date and hence the difference is zero.
Figures 5.8 and 5.9 show the positions of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) respectively on Sep. 15, 11386 BCE according to Stellarium 0.20.4. It can be seen that RA of Arundhati (Alcor) and Vasishtha (Mizar) are equal on this date and hence the difference is zero.
Thus, Arundhatī was ahead of Vasiṣṭha from 11090 BCE to 4508 BCE according to Voyager 4.5 software and Arundhatī was ahead of Vasiṣṭha from 11386 BCE to 4480 BCE according to Stellarium 0.20.4 software.
This is the data generated by astronomy software, which can seem very convincing. However, the data must be analyzed further to see whether the difference was observable. Table 5.1 shows the RA difference as high as 48.91 arcminutes, while the distance between Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha has been around 12 arcminutes over past 14,000 years. So, we need to understand the cause of this and its implications. We will delve deeper into these issues in the coming articles starting with the calculation of the distance between Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha over past 14,000 years.
References
1. Oak, N.N., “When did the Mahabharata War Happen?”, Bhim USA, 2011, page 222 (not numbered, counted from last numbered page).
2. Refutation of the 5561 BCE dating of the Mahabharata War, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2YuGQRmZ9c.
Note: The content of this series of articles is based on the three-part presentation author made on Sangam Talks on the refutation of the 5561 BCE dating of the Mahābhārata War. Here are the links to these presentations.
1. Refutation of the 5561 BCE dating of the Mahabharata War, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2YuGQRmZ9c
2. Refutation of the 5561 BCE dating of the Mahabharata War, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DiLSUFrTx8
3. Refutation of the 5561 BCE dating of the Mahabharata War, Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eop31blDa2c
Here are three other presentations refuting Mr. Nilesh Oak’s dating of Surya Siddhanta to 12000 BCE and Ramayana to 12209 BCE.
1. Dating the Surya Siddhanta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55pvrTUWi94
2. Dating the Ramayana — Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0PO3SzqBc&t=5s
3. Dating the Ramayana — Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKNkrgm1Tu0
More about the author
I am a seeker of historical truths and am deeply interested in the heritage of India. I have earned a B.Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, USA. I have a deep interest in ancient Indian texts. My research besides Materials Science covers several different areas: Vedic cosmology, Vedic astronomy, Jain astronomy, and ancient Indian history.
Email: rajarammohanroy108@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RamMohanRoy108
Coming up:
Refutation of Nilesh Oak’s Astronomical Dating of Mahabharata to 5561 BCE: Part 6 of 18 — The Distance between Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha over past 14000 years
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