The plausible origin of Gita Jayanti and Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi
- In History & Culture
- 10:36 AM, Dec 07, 2019
- Nilesh Nilkanth Oak
Bhagavad Gita is a very small granth of Hindu Dharma, only 700 shlokas and yet one of the most important, the most widely read. Bhagavad Gita is part of the gigantic (125,000 Shloka) Mahabharata text. The Mahabharata text informs us that Krishna Dwaipayana, Vyasa composed the text about 18 years after the War and it took him about three years to complete the task.
Every year Hindus celebrate Gita-Jayanti (the birth of Gita) on Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi, i.e. 11th day during the waxing phase of the lunar month of Margashirsha. Hindu Dharma has many such celebration days that are associated with the specific events of its ancient past. For example, the day of Ashwin Shukla Dashami is celebrated as Vijaya-dashami (Dasara/Dashahara) and is associated with Rama killing Ravana. The day of Ashwin Amavasya is celebrated as Diwali and is associated with the returning of Rama, from Lanka, to Ayodhya. Such dharmic celebrations have their place and it matters not if the ancient events indeed took place on those designated lunar tithis, as far as celebrations are concerned.
Unfortunately, many lazy Indic researchers have employed such evidence, in an uncritical and dogmatic fashion, in dating the ancient events. Such efforts lead to enormous contradictions and create confusion and delusion among the masses.
Recently someone wrote to me explaining why the day of Vijaya-dashami for Rama killing Ravana and day of Diwali for Rama returning to Ayodhya makes sense to him. And in support of his conviction he sent me a google map that showed time of 473 hours (473/24 ~ 20 days) to walk from Dhanushyakodi (TN) to Ayodhya (UP). He was excited to find that this duration of 20 days perfectly (!) matched with the duration between Vijaya-dashami and Diwali days! Of course, our friend forgot that this meant Rama and Sita and the rest of his party would have to walk nonstop, 24x 7 for 20 days to reach Ayodhya. In addition, he forgot, the visit to Krishkindha (Hampi, Karnataka) on the way, as demanded by the descriptions of Valmiki Ramayana.
I narrate this story to demonstrate the extent to which folks would go in order to adhere to the dogmatic notion of what is celebrated as traditions or to stick to traditional notions in a literal sense. Fortunately, in this case, Valmiki Ramayana evidence is very crisp and assert that Rama killed Ravana on Chaitra Amavasya (6 January 12208 BCE) and Rama returned to Ayodhya on Vaishakha Shukla Shashthi (13 January 12208 BCE).
Similar contradiction and complication exist in designation of Gita-Jayanti with Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi. The Mahabharata text is rich in astronomy and chronology evidence. This evidence comes to us in the form of nimitta (signs) and upamana (analogies). This is also true for astronomy evidence of the Valmiki Ramayana. The scientific testing of this evidence leads us to the year 5561 BCE as the year of the Mahabharata War. In addition, the war narrations of the 18 days of the war are rich in descriptions of the phases and positions of the moon. For example, no descriptions of the moon are found during the first 7 days of the War. Moon descriptions begin with the 8th day of the war and there are numerous full moon descriptions 12th through 18th day of the war. This evidence is consistent with the war beginning on Amavasya and then continuing for next 18 days. In three instances, the positions of the moon are described for the specific days of the war and this evidence allow us to assert that much of the war took place during the Shukla paksha of the lunar month of Margashirsha.
The internal evidence of Mahabharata text points to Kartika Amavasya as the first day of the Mahabharata war and is the day when Krishna counseled Arjuna and the narration of which comes to us as Bhagavad Gita.
Thus, while the evidence of Mahabharata text assert Kartika Amavasya as the day of Gita-Jayanti, traditional celebration is done on Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi, i.e. there is a gap of 10 days between these two claims. This conflict of two tithis for the same event of Gita-Jayanti bothered me since 2011, when I published my book on the dating of the Mahabharata War. I wondered if there existed a logical explanation for this gap. I satisfied my curiosity with the assumption that since Vaishnava tradition considers ‘Ekadashi’ as auspicious, the tradition might have assigned Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi as the day of Gita-Jayanti. I could not think of any evidence that would allow me to bridge this gap.
Prof. Madhav Manjrekar, an electrical engineer, from the University of North Carolina had thought about this problem and had come up with a plausible solution. He was kind to discuss it with me. Rest of this article is my attempt to explain his solution. I like his explanation and find it plausible and the best explanation available to us, as of now. In science, we can only talk of more likely vs less likely scenario and this fits the bill of most likely scenario. Of course, science-speak, we should remain open for a better solution, if someone discovers it in future.
While the content of Bhagavad Gita was delivered by Krishna to Arjuna on Kartika Amavasya, i.e. on the first day of the Mahabharata war (16 October 5561 BCE) and while it was composed in a poetic form some 18 years after the Mahabharata war, the revelation of this content appears to have occurred on the day of Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi, by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra.
The Bhagavad Gita Parva, a sub-parva, begins with GP 13/CE 14 Adhyaya of Bhishma Parva, when Sanajya returns from war field to Dhritarashtra, after the 10th day of the War, with the news of Bhishma falling in the battle and with the news of Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows.
भगवद्गीतापर्व
१४
वैशम्पायन उवाच||
अथ गावल्गणिर्धीमान्समरादेत्य सञ्जयः |
प्रत्यक्षदर्शी सर्वस्य भूतभव्यभविष्यवित् ||१||
ध्यायते धृतराष्ट्राय सहसोपेत्य दुःखितः |
आचष्ट निहतं भीष्मं भरतानाममध्यमम् ||२||
सञ्जयोऽहं महाराज नमस्ते भरतर्षभ |
हतो भीष्मः शान्तनवो भरतानां पितामहः ||३||
ककुदं सर्वयोधानां धाम सर्वधनुष्मताम् |
शरतल्पगतः सोऽद्य शेते कुरुपितामहः ||४||
Sanajya narrates the events of up to 10 days prior to the war, including arrival of the armies to the battlefield when the moon was in nakshatra Magha, and narrates the details of the first day of the War leading to the point of Bhagavad Gita.
Bhishma fell in the battle on the 10th day of the war and this means it was the day of Margashirsha Shukla Navami. Sanjaya returned to Dhritarashtra either on this very day of Margashirsha Shukla Navami or on the next day. Prof Manjrekar conjectures, and I concur, that very likely by the time Sanjaya narrated to Dhritarashtra, Krishna’s advice contained in the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, it was the day of Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi.
The lesson here for all of us to remain open to new possibilities as new realizations come to light, due to sincere efforts of researchers aided by newer developments in science and technology.
I will illustrate two additional related events and how the days for their traditional celebrations, if accepted blindly and dogmatically, lead to confusion and contradiction. Traditionally, the Bhishma Nirvana, i.e. passing away of Bhishma is celebrated on Magha Shukla Ashtami and Bhisma’s recitation of Vishnu-Sahasranma is celebrated on Magha Shukla Ekadashi, i.e. three days after the passing away of Bhishma. If taken literally to be true, then this results in an impossible scenario for Bhishma to recite Vishanu-Sahasranama, three days after his passing away! Fortunately, Mahabharata text is rich in evidence that asserts that the day of Bhishma Nirvana was not on the day of Magha Shukla Ashtami, but long after the month of Magha. We have evidence of Bhishma lying on the bed of arrows for more than 92 days, beginning with the day of Margashirsha Shukla Navami.
The Mahabharata text also contains evidence that can partially support the rationale behind the celebration of Bhishma’s reciting Vishnu-Sahasranama on Magha Ekadashi. I deliberately said, ‘partially’ because while we celebrate it on Magha Shukla Ekadashi, Mahabharata text preserves the evidence for its recitation by Bhishma on Magha Krishna Ekadashi. I will resist the temptation to explain the evidence in the article because it would require the discussion of numerous other pieces of evidence. I may do it in a separate article, in future.
The lesson here is also for us not to be dogmatic and not to insist on written word as the ‘truth’ only because it is part of our ancient Indian narratives. Instead, we should value the knowledge contained in our ancient Indian narratives, celebrate the deep roots of our ancient civilization and remain open to the very spirit of the Sanatana Vedic Dharma which insist on refreshing and rejuvenating our knowledge, our celebrations and our practices, in the light of new evidence. This spirit of Sanatana Vedic Dharma is aptly summarized by great student of Vedas, Sage Yaskhacharya (यास्काचार्य) who defined it in these famous words: “सनातनो नित्यनूतन:”
My best wishes to you all on the occasion of Gita-Jayanti.
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