Refutation of Nilesh Oak’s Astronomical Dating of Mahabharata to 5561 BCE
Part 4 of 18 — Astronomy Basics
In my previous article I showed that there is no supporting evidence for Arundhatī being ahead of Vasiṣṭha anywhere else in Mahābhārata other than the only verse (Mahābhārata, Gītā Press Edition, Bhīṣmaparva 2.31) describing this phenomenon, which occurs amidst a number of happenings that are clearly out of ordinary. The observation of Alcor (Arundhatī) moving ahead of Mizar (Vasiṣṭha) as described in Mahābhārata Bhīṣmaparva 2.31 is central part of the dating of Mahābhārata to 5561 BCE by Oak [1]. Oak insists that the dating of Mahābhārata must fulfil this condition. The question is how do we know that a star is ahead of another star. To understand this, we need to understand the Celestial Coordinate System.
1. Celestial Coordinate System
The specification of the position of a star is similar to the specification of a point on earth. Any point on earth can be specified by a pair of spherical coordinates called latitude and longitude. Since mathematically any point on a sphere is identical to another point on the sphere, latitude and longitude can only be specified by making two specific choices, one for latitude and another for longitude. In spherical geometry, these choices are named fundamental plane for measuring latitude and zero point for measuring longitude.
The fundamental plane is a plane of reference that divides the sphere into two hemispheres. The latitude of a point is the angle between the fundamental plane and the line joining the point to the centre of sphere. For the Global Positioning System (GPS), the fundamental plane is the equator. The latitude of any point on the equator is zero. The latitude of North Pole is 90° and the latitude of South Pole is -90°. The latitude of all points on earth falls between 90° and -90°.
The zero point is a point on the fundamental plane from which the longitude is measured along the fundamental plane. A meridian connects the points of equal longitude between the North Pole and the South Pole of the fundamental plane. For the Global Positioning System (GPS), the zero point is the intersection of equator and prime meridian, which is the meridian passing through Greenwich. The longitude is defined to be 0° at prime meridian.
Depending on the choice of the fundamental plane and the zero point, there are many celestial coordinate systems for specifying the position of a star. The most widely used celestial coordinate systems are Horizontal, Equatorial, and Ecliptic coordinate systems.
Equatorial coordinate system measures the coordinates from and along the celestial equator, which is the projection of the earth’s equator on the celestial sphere. The poles of the celestial equator are called North Celestial Pole (NCP) and South Celestial Pole (SCP), which are the projections of the North Pole and South Pole on the celestial sphere respectively as shown in Figure 4.1 [2].
In the equatorial coordinate system, the fundamental plane is the celestial equator and the zero point is first point of Aries, point ♈︎ in Figure 4.2. Equatorial coordinates are specified by providing declination and right ascension. In Figure 4.2, P is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), ♈︎ is the first point of Aries (one of the two points at which the celestial equator crosses the ecliptic other being first point of Libra), S is the location of a star, and P′ is the South Celestial Pole (SCP). Declination of the star is given by SA and the right ascension of the star is given by ♈︎A. In equatorial coordinate system, the declination is determined by measuring the angular distance from the celestial equator to the star along the great circle passing through the star and the North Celestial Pole. Right ascension is determined by measuring the angular distance along the celestial equator from the first point of Aries to the intersection of the celestial equator and the great circle passing through the star and the North Celestial Pole. Declination is measured in degrees, while right ascension is usually measured in hours, minutes, and seconds with 24 hours being a full circle (24 hours = 360°), which means that each hour is equivalent to 15 degrees [3].
2. Importance of right ascension
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. This is illustrated by the following example.
“By choosing to measure RA in hours, we have incorporated into our coordinate system a useful way to time the position of any object in the continually rotating sky. If you look up the RA of Betelgeuse, you will find it listed as 05h 55m 10.3s. Now, if Betelgeuse is on your central meridian at 20:00UT tonight (and therefore at its highest point in the sky from your location), this means that Vega with RA of 18h 36m 56.3s will be on your central meridian 12 hours 41 minutes and 46 seconds later.” [4]
Now that we know how to tell which star is ahead, in the next article we will apply this knowledge to confirm Oak’s data for positions of Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha and the time interval when Arundhatī was ahead of Vasiṣṭha.
References
1. Oak, N.N., “When did the Mahabharata War Happen?”, Bhim USA, 2011, page 221 (not numbered, counted from last numbered page).
2. “The Night Sky”; https://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/teaching/astr120f17/class03.pdf.
3. “Right ascension and declination”; American Institute of Physics; https://www.aip.org/sites/default/files/history/teaching-guides/follow-drinking-gourd/Follow%20the%20Drinking%20Gourd_RA%20Dec%20Handout.pdf.
4. “Right ascension and declination”; British Astronomical Association; https://britastro.org/2016/right-ascention-and-declination
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
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