Vedic Chronology of the Ramayan Era
Our Sanatan Dharma / Vedic culture is as old as the shining sun in the sky and waving vast ocean on the earth. Ramayan and Mahabharat are two great epics of our country. Lord Shri Ram had appeared in Treta Yuga and Lord Shri Krishna had appeared in Dwapar Yug.
According to the Padma Purana and Vayu Purana, the Ramayana is said to have happened in Treta Yuga of 24th Mahayuga and currently we are living in the Kali Yuga of 28th Mahayuga. Both Ramayan and Mahabharat are ‘Ithi-hasas’ which means ‘thus it happened’ meaning actual happenings (history) Both will have to be seen in much larger time frame than the current BC-AD one.
And they have to be seen as placed in the specific Yugas that they happened in. The age of Ramayana = The time gap between the end of Treta Yuga in 24th Maha Yuga & the start of Kali Yuga in 28th Maha Yuga. Age of Ramayana = (Dwapara + Kali yugas of 24th Maha yuga) + (complete 25th, 26th & 27th Maha Yugas) + (Satya, Treta & Dwapara Yugas of present Maha Yuga) + 5000 years of present kali yuga .
Did you know there are more than 300 versions of Ramayana, with many variations (which level of interpretation you are reading?) the oldest being the sanskrit one written by Sage Valmiki. There are three levels; Sabdartha (the literal meaning), Bhavartha (the figurative meaning) and Lakṣyartha (the hidden transcendental meaning).
Sabdartha ; The literal Ramayana is about a prince who have been an historical character like Shivaji. Sri Ram is a warrior prince who cheerfully gives up the greatest empire of the day so his step mother would not have the slightest reason to complain. He is a husband who lets go his wife because one man just one among his millions of subjects objected to her presence in the kingdom.
Bhavartha ; the figurative meaning. Within the story there are dozens of profound teachings and examples of how to deal with various situations we encounter in our lives. The ideal behaviour is contrasted with the harmful and all the characters can be analysed psychologically and perennial morals and lessons drawn. The Ramayana is a treasure of teachings on dharma, this is its primary value, the narrative itself being only a vehicle, so don’t
Lakṣyartha ; the esoteric meaning. There is a very profound and admirable way in which the author has woven esoteric and transcendental teachings into the narrative. The four brothers represent the four feet of Dharma. Rama = Satyam – Truth, Lakṣmaṇa = Sacrifice – Yajna, Bharat = austerity – tapas, and Satrughna= generosity – dana. The three Rakṣasa brother represent the three guṇas. Ravana = Rajas, Vibhiṣaṇa = Sattva and Kumbhakarṇa = Tamas. Dasa-ratha (ten-chariots) is correlated to Dasa-grīva (ten-heads) and Sita represents Brahma-vidya = Divine knowledge. Hanuman the power of Bhakti etc. etc.
Ramayana occurred over 7300 years ago. They recorded the ‘tithis’ (days) according to the nakshatra (star) on which the moon prevailed, the months, the seasons and even the different solstices. By noting a particular arrangement of the astronomical bodies, which occurs once in many thousand years, the dates of the events can be calculated.
Sage Valmiki has recorded the dates of events in detail, albeit by describing the positions of stars and planets. To decipher the astronomical encoding has not been a trivial task, and not many have attempted to do so. It should be noted that the ancient Indians had a perfect method of time measurement.
Valmiki records the birth of Rama as Chaitra Shuddha Navami (9th), on Punarvasu Nakshatra and five planets were exalted then; Sun in Mesha up to 10 deg; Mars in Capricorn at 28 deg; Jupiter in Cancer at 5 deg; Venus in Pisces at 27 degrees and Saturn in Libra at 20 degrees. (Bala Kanda 18, Shloka 8.9). Therefore the date of birth of Rama, when the four planets exalted.
According to Indian epistemology there are three perspectives of truth: correspondence with fact, reality and evidence, coherence – i.e. lack of logical contradictions and Utility practicality- how the item can be used in everyday life and this is the most important determinant.
Swami Rambhadracharya ji refers to shlokas 18 to 25 of Chapter 10 of Ayodhya Mahatmya of Skanda Purana described Ram janmasthan in Ayodhya. Swami Rambhadracharya quoting from the Rigveda’s Gaiminiya Samhita in which the direction and distance from the particular place of the Saryu river is given exactly to reach Shri Ram Janmabhoomi in Ramlala case in the supreme court.
This is also cross referenced with the time lines of prominent genealogies in the Puranas, which till now were considered largely historic by most western readers. There are several evidences which could prove that Ramayana was indeed true, the popular evidence being Ram-Setu , which is otherwise known as Adam’s Bridge.
The next popular evidence which is seen are, Lord Hanuman setting fire to Ravana’s Kingdom; The soil in and around Ravana’s palace where lord had set fire is still black in colour. The black colour of the soil happens to be unusual as the neighboring places have different soil colour.
Existence of Ashok Vatika and Ashok Vanam; The place where Ravana held goddess Sita captive is still present. Its presently known as Hakgala Botanical garden in Nuwara Eliya city.
Existence of Sanjivini Mountains; The Mountain in Dronagiri, is believed to have special herbs and plants which could cure many diseases is still present in Himalaya ranges.
In Ramayana Sundara Khanda 4th Sarga from slokas 26–28 says, when Hanuman ji enters into Ravana Lanka he founds ”rendered noisy by neighing of horses and tinkling of ornaments, by chariots, vehicles and aerial-cars and decorated by auspicious elephants and horses and great elephants with four tusks and by birds and animals in heat. It had beautiful entrances and was protected by thousands of rakshasas with great strength”. Elephants with 4 tusks are called as Gomphothere. Many ancient skeletons available today in Srilankan museum.
Kapadapuram as a celebrated town of the second Tamil Sangam period. This town is now submerged in the sea. When Sugreeva dispatched another set of vanaras to the South and instructed them to search for Sita in the following locations: “Search the Malayagir mountains, you will find Rishi Agastya there, then cross Kaveri river, then cross Tamaraparani river, then you will see the Golden Door of Kapada puram, Capital of Pandya Kings,” – Valmiki Ramayanam – Kishkinda Khandam Ch 41: 14-18
Vijaya Dashami is the day Ravaana was defeated by Ram in an epic battle between the demons and the army of monkeys. Sita was rescued and Ram along with his trusted comrades took his wife back to his kingdom, Ayodhya. 21 days later, he returned to Ayodhya, and his return is why Diwali is celebrated with lights as it first was done by the natives of Ayodhya, to celebrate the defeat of darkness by light. Rama relinquished the kingdom.
दशा वर्षा सहस्रानी दशा वर्षा साथन क | रमो राज्यं उपसित्व ब्रह्म लोकं प्रयासयति || (ramayana 1-1-9)
After being in service of His kingdom for ten thousand years and another one thousand years, (i.e. 1100 years in total), Rama undertook His journey to the abode of Brahma. But Rama was said to have existed only 7,100 years ago in 5100 BCE. How do we reconcile the two? This answer comes from the other epic, the Mahabharata.
“अहोरात्रं महाराज तुल्यं संवत्सरेण ही” (Mahabharata verse 3:49-21)
For a Maharaja, a person who lives in accordance with dharma, a day is equivalent to a year. Taking the year to consist of 360 days and 12 months of 30 days each, 1100 years in poetic form, gives us 30 years and 6 months as the number of actual years that Rama ruled over Ayodhya.
Mandodari was Ravana’s wife. She was the daughter of the renowned Mayasura, the great architect, mathematician, astronomer and skilled engineer. Mandodari is considered to be one of India’s illustrious Panchakanyas (pancha means five; kanya means lady). In the Indian tradition, five women have been given the title of Panchakanya for their ideal lives. They are Ahalya, Sita, Mandodari, Draupadi, and Tara.
Many historians have tried to determine the date of Ramayana based on creation dates of Rama-setu. Scientist of US has also estimated the age of Ram Setu on ocean as about over 7000 Years and Ram Setu was man made first Setu of the world is also proved. This news was already published in different news channels.
Geological Survey of India (GSI) concluded through the dating of corals that Rameswaram Island evolved; Radiocarbon dating of samples in this study suggests that the domain between Rameswaram and Talaimannar may have been exposed sometime between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. Veracity of a story is often affirmed through certain evidences mainly,
Literary; i.e. if the same incident is mentioned repeatedly in many stories by various sources, there could be some truth to it.
Geographical/Geological; If the places and other landmarks really exist(ed). It again gives more credibility to the story.
Archaeological; This is the most important source of evidence, which unfortunately rarely provides any in case of myths about humans, because of the devastating effect nature has on human artifacts and creations.
Astronomical; More potent source of evidence, but with less credibility than archaeological one. The dates and position of celestial bodies in heaven as described in the texts when verified with latest planetary charts can validate the authenticity of the myths. The Mauryan kings introduced writing to India 2,300 years ago and Vedic hymns started being put down in writing less than 2,000 years ago. Until then the corpus of Vedic knowledge was transmitted orally.
When Ramayana was written they also scripted the exact positions of celestial object for most of the major incidents of Ramayana. Celestial positions were in-scripted in forms of name of nakshatra (Constellation) which was there in the sky while indecent was happening. Along with nakshtra, positions of other planets in our solar system also have been carefully written for some astrological reasons.
Of course, a thorough knowledge and understanding of both the Jyothisha shastra (science of astronomy) and the Sanatana concept of time cycles is required for this. The researcher must straddle both fields of science, ancient and contemporary, and possess the rigorous and open scientific temper to comprehend both. Apart from astronomical notations in the Ramayana and Mahabharatha texts, there has been an increasing number of deep studies into the verses of both the epics.
References in them are being explored to glean information from various other angles of fields of scientific study – geographical, geological, climatology, paleontology, anthropology etc and cross referenced with each other. The findings are very interesting. Stars shift position too vis-a-vis the earth so the star field we see in the night sky is not what the ancients saw 9000 years ago. This is called precession and has to be factored into all calculations.
The idea is to back astronomical data with other reference points such as geography (for instance, how many of those eclipses took place over Ayodhya) in order to reduce the probability of error. Added to this is the fortuitous arrival of computing and software which can be applied to astronomy. This method basically takes into account the positioning of the stars and constellations in the sky, and their movement in the sky around our Solar System vis-a-vis our Earth.
This is a fairly foolproof method which can calculate to a certain extent, the movement and repetitions of positions. So, the dating of the two epics is still a work in process. best clock for dating was the sky itself and the position of stars But whatever the case, the dates arbitrarily given by modern historians is definitely de-bunked. Both have been proved to be much more ancient than once believed by modern (and western) historians.
Fortunately, (and surprisingly) such in depth knowledge is still available with our punditry and studies are coming out even as we write this. During last 30-40 years, several new scientific tools and techniques have been developed, which are capable of determining the dates of any ancient events in scientific and precise manner if input is given in terms of positions of celestial objects.
Questioning Ramayana and Mahabharata is like questioning the very existence of India. Discerning in spiritual terms is the ability to still the mind and to activate the intellect in consciousness. A person becomes discerning only when they are in an intellectual state. When we are slaves of the mind, then the western colonial thoughts jumps here and there. It confuses us and we are not able to reach a conclusion, because thoughts create confusion. Therefore, if one wants to be discerning in the spiritual sense, they must live in consciousness…
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