Mahabharata date. Was: Iron Age in India

[Luis Gonzalez-Reimann]

At 07:43 AM 09/13/2000 -0700, SM wrote:

> MBh. is earlier than 1700 BC. 2000 or 2500 BC?

For the benefit of non-specialist "lurkers" on the list it must be pointed
out that these dates are untenable.  The composition of the Mbh (a text
that grew throughout a long period) is generally accepted by scholars to
have taken place from around 500/400 BCE - 400/500 CE.  Some of the
political conflicts it depicts could go back to, perhaps, ca. 1000/900 BCE.
Anyone with a serious interest in MahAbhArata (and RAmAyaNa) scholarship
can take a look at:

Brockington, John. 1998. The Sanskrit Epics. Handbuch Der Orientalistik,
ed. Johannes Bronkhorst, 12. Leiden: Brill.

Best,

Luis Gonzalez-Reimann
University of California, Berkeley