Another white planet (possibly Jupiter) had moved from Purva-bhadra to Uttar-bhadra. Reference to the third solar eclipse comes in the Mausala Parva (2.19 to 2.20) occurring in the 36th year of the Mahabharata War. This was visible from the city of Dwarka, which is stated to have been subsequently submerged under the sea. For these observations to be internally consistent, there should have been three solar eclipses within 50 years. The first one and the second one after a gap of 14-15 years should have been visible from Kurukshetra whereas the third solar eclipse should have been visible from Dwarka after 35 years of the second one.
Marine Archaeological explorations around Dwarka: The on-shore and off-shore explorations carried out in and around Dwarka during last 50 years have revealed that Dwarka was a prosperous city in ancient times, which was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The work of great excavators like ZD Ansari and MS Mate and chance discovery of temples of 9th century AD and 1st century AD buried near the present Dwarkadhish Temple, prompted setting up of a Marine Archaeology Centre jointly by the National Institute of Oceanography and the Archaeological Survey of India. A project for marine archaeological explorations in Dwarka was initiated under the dynamic leadership of great marine archaeologist Dr Rao, who has the distinction of being awarded "The World Ship Trust Award" for outstanding research in this field.
Dr Rao's team consisted of expert under-water explorers, trained diver-photographers and archaeologists. The technique of geophysical survey was combined with the use of echo-sounders, mud-penetrators, sub-bottom profilers and under-water metal detectors. This team carried out 12 marine archaeological expeditions between the year 1983 to 1992 AD and articles/antiquities recovered were sent to Physical Research Laboratory for dating. By using thermo- luminescence, carbon dating and other modern scientific techniques, artifacts were found to be belonging to the period 15th to 18th century BC. In his great work, The Lost City of Dwarka, Dr Rao has given scientific details of these discoveries and artifacts. Conclusions arrived at after carrying out these under-water archaeological explorations support and validate the dates arrived at through astronomical calculations. These also prove that the reconstructed city of Dwarka was a prosperous port town, and that it was in existence for about 60-70 years in the 15th century BC before being submerged under the sea in the year 1443 BC.
Attempts have also been made to determine the year of Mahabharata from the details available in scriptures which include Puranas. When events are unrecorded for quite some time and are passed on to the succeeding generations through Shruti and Smriti, the inaccuracies and myths get mixed with reality on account of differences in the perceptions of different individuals. However, it is for the objective rational individual mind to find out and differentiate fact from fiction. Important information, including the genealogy charts of rulers after Yudhishthira, are available in Srimad Bhagvatam, Matsya Puran and Vayu Purana. On the basis of such evidence, famous historian Lord Cunningham assigned the year 1424 BC to the War of Mahabharata.
Evidences referred to earlier point more to the probability that nobody had come to India from Central Asia or from any other place. In fact, Indo-Aryan kings and warriors had come to Kurukshetra in their war chariots from all over India to participate in the Mahabharata War and that a whole lot of people got killed in that war. The killers as well as the killed, the victors as well as the vanquished, the charioteers as well as the foot soldiers, all were Indians who had already experienced thousands of years of prosperous and advanced civilization. Archaeology also records a continuous indigenous evolution of Vedic civilization going back to 5000 BC at sites like Mehrgarh and Koldi.
It is sad that so far we have not known even a fraction about our ancient civilization and cultural achievements. Detailed factual data in our ancient texts and Sanskrit manuscripts is beckoning us to carry out further research. By making use of modern scientific instruments and techniques we must