The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is subject to scholarly discussion and dispute.
The existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, and mostly belongs to the period between c. 500 BCE and 400 CE.
Within the frame story of the Mahabharata, the historical kings Parikshit and Janamejaya are featured significantly as scions of the Kuru clan, and Michael Witzel concludes that the general setting of the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE.
According to Professor Alf Hiltebeitel, the Mahabharata is essentially mythological.
Indian historian Upinder Singh has written that:
Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved.
It is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets.
Some historians and archaeologists have argued that this conflict may have occurred in about 1000 BCE.

Despite the inconclusiveness of the data, attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra War.
Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga and thus dates it to 3102 BCE.
A number of other proposals have been put forward:
P. V. Holey states a date of 13 November 3143 BCE using planetary positions and calendar systems.

Aihole inscriptions give the date of Kurukshetra war around 3102 BCE.

K. Sadananda, based on translation work, states that the Kurukshetra War started on 22 November 3067 BCE.

B. N. Achar used planetarium software to argue that the Mahabharata War took place in 3067 BCE.

S. Balakrishna concluded a date of 2559 BCE using consecutive lunar eclipses.

R. N. Iyengar concluded a date of  1478 BCE using double eclipses and Saturn+Jupiter conjunctions.

P. R. Sarkar estimates a date of 1298 BCE for the war of Kurukshetra.

V. S. Dubey claims that the war happened near 950 BCE 
Vedveer Arya gives the date of 3162 BCE, by distinguishing between Śaka & Śakanta Eras and applying correction of 60 years to the date given in Popular tradition and based on Aihole inspriction.

Though the Kurukshetra War is not mentioned in Vedic literature, its prominence in later literature led British Indologist A. L. Basham, writing in 1954, to conclude that there was a great battle at Kurukshetra which, "magnified to titanic proportions, formed the basis of the story of the greatest of India's epics, the Mahabharata."
Acknowledging that later "generations looked upon it as marking an end of an epoch," he suggested that rather than being a civil war it might have been "a muddled recollection of the conquest of the Kurus by a tribe of Mongol type from the hills."
He saw it as useless to the historian and dates the war to the 9th century BCE based on archaeological evidence and "some evidence in the Brahmana literature itself to show that it cannot have been much earlier."

According to Finnish Sindhologist Asko Parpola, the war may have taken place during the later phase of the Painted Grey Ware, circa 750-350 BCE.
Parpola also notes that the Pandava heroes are not being mentioned in the Vedic literature from before the Grhyasutras.
Parpola suggests that the Pandavas were Iranic migrants, who came to south Asia around 800 BCE.

Puranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata narrative.
The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds.
Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjun's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 BCE, which would yield an estimate of about 1400 BCE for the Bharata battle.
However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed in the genealogies.

Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda.
Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and assuming 1
The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is subject to scholarly discussion and dispute. The existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, and mostly belongs to the period between c. 500 BCE and 400 CE. Within the frame story of the Mahabharata, the historical kings Parikshit and Janamejaya are featured significantly as scions of the Kuru clan, and Michael Witzel concludes that the general setting of the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE. According to Professor Alf Hiltebeitel, the Mahabharata is essentially mythological. Indian historian Upinder Singh has written that:
Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved. It is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets. Some historians and archaeologists have argued that this conflict may have occurred in about 1000 BCE.
Despite the inconclusiveness of the data, attempts have been made to assign a historical date to the Kurukshetra War. Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga and thus dates it to 3102 BCE. A number of other proposals have been put forward:
P. V. Holey states a date of 13 November 3143 BCE using planetary positions and calendar systems.
Aihole inscriptions give the date of Kurukshetra war around 3102 BCE.
K. Sadananda, based on translation work, states that the Kurukshetra War started on 22 November 3067 BCE.
B. N. Achar used planetarium software to argue that the Mahabharata War took place in 3067 BCE.
S. Balakrishna concluded a date of 2559 BCE using consecutive lunar eclipses.
R. N. Iyengar concluded a date of  1478 BCE using double eclipses and Saturn+Jupiter conjunctions.
P. R. Sarkar estimates a date of 1298 BCE for the war of Kurukshetra.
V. S. Dubey claims that the war happened near 950 BCE 
Vedveer Arya gives the date of 3162 BCE, by distinguishing between Śaka & Śakanta Eras and applying correction of 60 years to the date given in Popular tradition and based on Aihole inspriction.
Though the Kurukshetra War is not mentioned in Vedic literature, its prominence in later literature led British Indologist A. L. Basham, writing in 1954, to conclude that there was a great battle at Kurukshetra which, "magnified to titanic proportions, formed the basis of the story of the greatest of India's epics, the Mahabharata." Acknowledging that later "generations looked upon it as marking an end of an epoch," he suggested that rather than being a civil war it might have been "a muddled recollection of the conquest of the Kurus by a tribe of Mongol type from the hills." He saw it as useless to the historian and dates the war to the 9th century BCE based on archaeological evidence and "some evidence in the Brahmana literature itself to show that it cannot have been much earlier."
According to Finnish Sindhologist Asko Parpola, the war may have taken place during the later phase of the Painted Grey Ware, circa 750-350 BCE. Parpola also notes that the Pandava heroes are not being mentioned in the Vedic literature from before the Grhyasutras. Parpola suggests that the Pandavas were Iranic migrants, who came to south Asia around 800 BCE.
Puranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata narrative. The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjun's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 BCE, which would yield an estimate of about 1400 BCE for the Bharata battle. However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed in the genealogies.
Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda. Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and assuming 1
Kurukshetra War