With our common understanding that a human's life can be maximum around 100 years, the durations of lives of characters in Mahaabhaaratham look unbelievable to us.
The tradition says that life in those days was not dependant of the in-take of the being. Rather it was a function of the strength of his righteousness or Dharma. Also, Indian tradition says that the life span decreases as the ages or yuga-s change ( there are four recycling ages or yuga-s, Kritha, Thretha, Dvaapara and Kali). The level of righteousness is full and comprehensive in the Kritha age, measured as four quadrants. This level gets reduced by one quadrant as each yuga takes over. Thus the life span varies depending on the current age or yuga. Also, they were not 'old' even when they numerically or chronologically attained what is today's 'old age'.
Also, it appears that the princes and princesses of those days would get married at a matured age, but not at a tender age. the Paandavas were around 30 years old at the time of their marriage.
In Mahaabhaaratham, we come across human beings that were decscendants of gods, demi-gods and deities. Thus owing to their supernatural births, their longevity was supernatural too.
some examples :
The hint available in the story to calculate these ages is the point mentioned in the Adiparva on the occasion of Dhritharaashtra sending the Paandavas to Vaaranaavatham , that the Paandavas had come to Hasthipuram when they were respectively 16, 15, 14 and 13 years old and spent 13 years there learning archery . That means that Yudhishthira was around 30 years by that time . Then the following calculation arrrives at the above figures.
Then age of Paandavas ................................................... 30 years .
A popular belief was that Abhimanyu was a ' young boy' of 16 when he fought in the war . But, since it was mentioned that he was wellversed with all warfare , taught by his father himself, by the time of occurance of the dice game itself . That should mean he was at least 16 then , making him not below 30 by the time of war . So could be the case of the five Upapaandavas too , just a few years younger than him..
An interesting story appears in the Aaranyaparva, related by sage Maarkandeya to Yudhishthira. Maarkandeya himself had seen many cycles of not just ages, but those of creation and destruction . He described how he was once involved in finding a living being older than himself. The life spans mentioned in the story are beyond our guess.
All this may look preposterous to us, but what mythology says is the same anywhere in the world.
By the way, the four yuga-s mentioned above consist of 17,28,000 years, 12,96,000 years, 8,64,000 years and 4,32,000 years in that order. It is clear that the figures are in the ratio 4:3:2:1 .
Lived at Ekachakra for ..................................................... 6 m .
At Drupada's after marriage ............................................. 1 y .
At Hasthipuram again....................................................... 1 y.
At Indeaprastham as king ................................................. 23 y .
At the forests and Viraata's .............................................. 13 y .
At Upaplaavyam ,making efforts for war .......................... 1 y .
At Hasthipuram after war upto renunciation ................... 36 y .
This makes a rough estimation of the ages os the Paandavas (around 105 to 110 years upto renunciation). After renunciation, upto the time of reachig heaven, the actual time speny was not clear from the epic. It is interpreted variously from 1 year to 25 years. The ages of others can be estimated accordingly .
It is with the multiples of the cycles of these 4 ages that our time measure runs. A little more explanation is given in the link 'Manu' . Further minute details may be seen in any book on Astrology or even in an almanac.
"After praying to Naaraayana, Nara, Sarasvathi and Vyaasa, then one should read the Jayam."
DEDICATED TO MY DEAR NIECE VYSHNAVI KRISHNA