Krishna’s historicity
The people of this country never had any doubts about the historicity of Krishna until the colonial invaders projected Krishna as a mythical figure cooked up by wonderful stories.
Colonial Hangover
The story of Krishna is deeply embedded in the cultural fabric of India and the people of this land revere Him as a Divinity. The colonial hangover has however left a doubt on the historicity of this highly adored Divinity.
Archeo-Astronomy
The science of Archeo-Astronomy has enabled us to go beyond the boundaries of conventional archaeology in tracing the historicity of some well-known personages of this land, such as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira and Shankara. Planetary configurations mentioned in the ancient scriptures pertaining to major events and personages connected, help us date events that happened around these personages, centuries and millennia ago, either manually or with more ease and accuracy, using Planetarium software.
Tracing Krishna’s Birth Date
As per the scriptures, Lord Krishna was born around midnight. That night was the eight phase of the moon known as Ashtami Tithi. The moon was near Vrshabha, the bull, i.e the Taurus constellation that houses the star Rohini. The star Rohini is known as Aldeberan in modern astronomy. The month was Shravana, one of the 12 months in the Indian calendar.
These details are clearly mentioned in the 10th Skanda, 3rd chapter of the Bhagavata Purana.
The relevant sloka is,
Shravana vada ashtami, Rohini Nakshtra, uditam Lagnam
This detail combined with details of sky configurations for events that happened around Krishna’s lifetimes, namely the Mahabharata, leads us to the exact birth date for Krishna.
Such a search leads us to 27th July, 3112 BCE as Krishna’s date of birth in the Gregorian Calendar.
Sri Jayanthi
In Indian tradition, Krishna’s birth is also called as “Sri Jayanthi”. The word “Jayanthi” has an interesting connotation in Indian Astronomy. Indian astronomers have accorded special names to lunar phases occurring at certain stars.
The lunar phase occurring at Punarvasu star in Gemini constellation is called Jaya.The lunar phase occurring at Pushya star in the Gemini constellation is called Nasini. The lunar phase seen at Shravana star in the Capricorn zodiac is called Vijaya. Similarly, the phase of the moon occurring at Rohini star is called Jayanthi.
Krishna’s birth which happened when the moon was at Rohini star is called Sri Jayanthi.
Jayanthi also means celebrations and the word has thus come to be used to indicate birthday celebrations. Thus, the word “Jayanthi, over time, has also come to be used for the birthday celebrations of other great personages and we today celebrate Buddha Jayanthi, Mahaveer Jayanthi, Shankara Jayanthi, ShivajiJayanthi, Gandhi Jayanthi, Ambedkar Jayanthi etc. “Jayanthi” became popular because of association with Krishna.
Every year, for millennia, Indians have been celebrating Krishna’s birthday in the Shravana month, on Rohini Nakshatra, Krishna Paksha Ashtami (8th phase of the waning moon) based on these details in scriptures.
It is the year of birth however, which has been the missing piece in common knowledge.
Not only from Archaeo-astronomy, but also from a wholistic analysis of data across various disciplines, today we can conclude that Lord Krishna was born in 3112 BCE.
5127th Birthday of Krishna
So, this year, 2015 CE, makes it the 5127th year since His birth, Sri Jayanthi. Let us celebrate this 5127th birthday of Lord Krishna, keeping in mind that India’s most beloved Divinity was indeed also a historical figure who had walked this planet about 5000 years ago.
While Divinity is a matter of faith, historicity is a matter of existence. With the unraveling of the dates for Krishna, what comes out for all to see is the beautiful blend of Divinity and Historicity in Krishna. One does not preclude the other.
BHARATH GYAN