Documentary on Krishna to be dubbed & released in 8 Indian languages
A documentary film made by a UK-based nuclear medicine physician, “Krishna: History or Myth”, is all set to be dubbed in eight Indian languages including Spanish and German.
The documentary explores the archaeological, astronomical apart from linguistic and oral evidences to prove the existence of the Mahabharata hero and debunk the myth theory.
The 34-minute film directed by Dr Manish Pandit captures the strong beliefs of Krishna worshippers on one hand and juxtaposes it with archaeological, historical and astronomical evidences on the other hand, to drive home the point that he “existed in reality and not merely in the imagination of devotees and scripture writers.”
“The film relies on four premises – the archaeological evidence, the astronomical evidence, the living traditions and the oral traditions to prove that Krishna existed and the Mahabharat did occur,” says Pandit, originally from Pune and now working as a consultant and an honorary senior clinical lecturer in nuclear medicine in United Kingdom.
“There are 150 astronomical references in Mahabharata. One wonders if it were a mere exaggerated account of a family feud as some claim, why would there be so many astronomical references. One could have written a fictional story using a few of them”, he told a news agency during his recent India visit to promote the documentary.
A planetary software corroborates the astronomical events as referred to in the book, he claims.
The film based its premise on mapping of skies that show the exact planetary position like those described in the Mahabharata and takes a look at “tithis”, “muhurtas”, conjuction of planets with different stars and eclipses all corroborated by scientists to determine that the war was fought, says Pandit.
The film also takes a look at the finding of Greek kings paying homage to Krishna archaeologically (King Heliodorus) and coins bearing Krishna’s likeness and also Balarama’s, issued by Greek Kings.
The discovery of underwater Dwarka, the seal of Dwarka, the inscription of Badami by Pulakeshini all figure in the film that takes a scientific look at these evidences, says Pandit, who is the ‘Sutradhar’ in the film.
The film features views of eminent scholars, academicians and scientists like Dr B B Lal, past Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, Dr S R Rao, an eminent panelist of the ASI who supervised the Dwarka excavation and Dr Naraharai Achaar, Department of Physics, University of Memphsis, USA, who has done work on dating of the Mahabharata.
Pandit, an expert on comparative religions, says that he also had interviewed former Catholic priests and believers and now part of the ISKON movement on their opinion about Krishna.
“The film tries to verify Krishna’s existence. It does not attempt to make a statement on his Godhood,” said Pandit who says he was struck by the idea of making the film while meditating.
Through the film, Pandit attempts to bring together fragmented viewpoints in a semblance or order, treading the narrow path of challenging faiths, whether it is theist faith or atheist faith.(AM-28/07)
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