No Dating or Chronology of Texts (कालानुक्रमणिका न)

Chronology or Dating of texts is an important area of History and depends on many techniques to collected the evidences. Dharmawiki does not attempt to discuss the timeframes of various texts starting from the Vedas. This is a vast and troubled subject, for there exists, in Sanatana Dharma various explanations which are not yet fully understood by the present day man's mind.

Many conditions have prevailed leading to destruction of important evidences required to reconstruct history and many techniques have yet to be developed to go back into space and time accurately. Authors of Bharatiya texts gave importance to the subject matter rather than to etching their names in the annals of historical texts. While this is one aspect, even the earliest civilizations believed in the concept of Sanatanata (agelessness or timelessness) of our texts or more correctly the Sanatanata of knowledge. It has existed for millenias, may not be recorded, but survived the rigors of Kala.

We believe that principles of Sanatana Dharma transcend all Kalas, measuring which is not yet comprehended by modern day scientists. Kala since Vedic times has been measured in macroscopic and microscopic levels under the Bharatiya Kalamana systems. Kalpas and Yugas are macroscopic time units used since ancient days. One common observation in our texts is that there are various versions of the same story or anecdote in different texts. Many scholars opine that this apparent discrepancy is because they may have arisen in different Kalpas. Kalpantara versions cannot be verified with existing historical evidences.

Astrological charts are one good way to arrive at the timeline of the historical events by taking into account the astronomical events such as solar eclipses, movement of comets, planetary positions. Astrological calculations of such events can traced back for proof. Archeological correlations cannot be completely relied on as many things are lost in the sands of time. Arriving at a chronological conclusion based on the ancientness of our language presented in different texts is again with gaps because of non availability or degradation of manuscripts, distortions introduced by interpreters.