Is Mahabharata an epic or history? The way modern day Television serials have portrayed the events of Mahabharata, has made us all believe such fancy wars could have never been fought by mankind. One image that conjures to my mind when I recollect watching the serial beside my grand mom is the arrows flying in the blue sky against the backdrop of the clouds, traveling unimaginable distances. Definitely one from the fairy tales! Hold on, Could it be possible that the Sanskrit scriptures have described all the instruments and weapons used with such intricate details that the man kind of today hasn’t seen? If an AK-47 was mentioned, the director of the serial would have definitely made sure it is presented well, but what if the scriptures describe flying machines beyond our current day perception?
The Kurukshetra war was fought for only 18 days but the loss was of about 3 million people and the war narrative goes to more than quarter of the book. Isn’t it weird? Does an 18 day war need so much of literary work? Why does a piece of fiction need such intricate details and recording of events? Emotions ran high in this war, as it was the war among the siblings; we have all been engrossed in the emotional aspect of the war for ages that we have failed to give importance to the technical/scientific aspects. Going beyond the television serials, we really need to get to the actual literature, may be then our perceptions would change.
A part of the verse that describes the Kurukshetra war in the Sanskrit scriptures of Mahabharata:
"Gurkha, flying a swift and powerful vimana (fast aircraft) hurled a single projectile (rocket) charged with the power of the Universe (nuclear device). An incandescent column of smoke and flame, as bright as ten thousand suns, rose with all its splendor.
It was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. Hair and nails fell out; Pottery broke without apparent cause,and the birds turned white.
After a few hours all foodstuffs were infected, to escape from this fire the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment."
- Mahabharata
An 18 day war leading to such large scale destruction could have only been a war that had used nuclear powers or the likes.Lord Krishna had to show the righteous path during this battle. If Mahabharata is history then Lord Krishna should have taken birth in our land! Isn’t it?
Dwaraka is a city and a municipality located in the Jamnagar district of Gujarat state in modern India. It was the dwelling place of Lord Krishna. Today’s remains of the city do not match up to the descriptions of the city in our ancient scriptures as the thriving and the most well planned golden city. The city is said to have had 700,000 palaces made of gold, silver and other precious stones. To our human mind it just seems implausible for such a thriving city to disappear. Well then you will have to remember the time lines which we are talking of, around 3100 B.C.
It is believed that the city disappeared after the death of Lord Krishna, and the recent archaeologically findings of Dr. S.R.Rao substantiate it. It is believed that due to damage and destruction by the sea, Dwaraka has submerged six times and modern day Dwarka is the seventh city to be built. Many structures found under the sea bed in the recent excavations off the coast of modern day Dwaraka shows findings similar to the descriptions of the city mentioned in ancient scriptures, further excavations from beneath the earth show ruins of a well planned city. Watch this video of the excavations of the lost city of Dwaraka.
Isn’t there a history in these findings? Well, what is known to mankind is little, the unknown is limitless. We are all bound by the limitations of our sensory and cognitive perceptions!
