SHRI RAM – A MYTH OR A REALITY

 

            We, Indians, are the products of one of the oldest civilisations.  We need to be really proud of our ancient history and cultural heritage.  However, during the British Rule, we developed an inferiority complex, which adversely affected our quest to unearth facts relating to our glorious past.  But our young and educated men and women, being born and brought up in independent India, are capable of unearthing the true facts and are confident enough to evaluate these objectively. 

 

            Shri Ram being most basic to Indian ‘ethos’, it is necessary to know who is Shri Ram? Was he really born?  If yes, when and where?  As is believed by  crores of people did he really put his feet on the territory of India from North to South, reducing the sufferings of mankind and ensuring victory of good over evil?  Let us have a look at historical facts -

 

            The story of Shri Ram’s life was first narrated by Maharishi Valmiki in ‘The Ramayan’ which was written after Shri Ram was crowned as the king of Ayodhya.  Maharishi Valmiki was a great astronomer as he has made sequential astronomical references on important dates related to the life of Shri Ram indicating the location of planets vis-a-vis zodiac constellations and the other visible stars (nakshatras).  Needless to add that similar position of planets and nakshatras vis-a-vis zodiac constellations is not repeated in thousands of years. By entering the precise details of the planetary configuration of the important events in the life of Shri Ram as given in the Valmiki Ramayan in the software named ‘Planetarium Gold’ corresponding exact dates of these events according to English calendar can be known.

 

            Sh. Pushkar Bhatnagar of Indian Revenue Service had acquired from USA the software named 'Planetarium Gold' (of Fogware Publishing) which is used to predict the solar/lunar eclipses and distance and location of other planets from earth by the scientists and astronomers.  He entered the relevant details about the planetary positions  vis-à-vis zodiac constellations narrated by Maharishi Valmiki and obtained very interesting and convincing results, which almost determine the important dates starting from the birth of Shri Ram to the date of his coming back to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. Sh.Pushkar Bhatnagar has given very authentic and convincing details of these dates in his book titled ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’ published by Rupa & Co., some extracts from which are being summarised in the succeeding paras.

 

            Maharishi Valmiki has recorded in Bal Kaand Sarga 18 and Shloka 8 & 9 (1/18/8,9) that Shri Ram was born on 9th tithi of Chaitra month during day time when the position of different planets vis-à-vis zodiac constellations and nakshatras (visible stars) was as under:-

i)          Sun in Aries                              ii)         Saturn in Libra

iii)         Jupiter in Cancer                       iv)        Venus in Pisces

v)         Mars in Capricorn                    vi)        Lunar month of Chaitra

vii)        Ninth day after no moon           viii)  Lagna as Cancer (cancer was rising in the east)

ix)        Moon on the Punarvasu (Gemini constellation & Pollux star)

            This data, was fed into the 'Planetarium Gold' software, the results indicated that this was exactly the location of planets/stars vis-à-vis zodiac constellations on the 10th of January noon time in the year 5114 BC if viewed from latitude/ longitude of Ayodhya (250N 810E).  Thus Shri Ram was born on 10th January in 5114 BC (i.e. 7117 years back) and as per Indian calendar it was the 9th day of Shukla Paksha in ‘Chaitra’ month and the time was around 12 to 1 noontime.  This is exactly the time and date when Ram Navmi is celebrated all over India till date. The relevant sky view generated by Planetarium Software is enclosed.

 

Date of exile of Shri Ram - In Valmiki Ramayan it is mentioned in Ayodhya Kand (2/4/18) that Dashratha wanted to make Shri Ram the king because Sun, Mars and Rahu had surrounded his nakshatra and normally under such planetary configuration the king dies/or becomes a victim of conspiracies.  Zodiac sign of king Dashratha was Pisces and his nakshatra was Rewati.  This planetary configuration was prevailing on the 5th of January 5089 BC and it was on this day that Shri Ram had to leave Ayodhya for living in the forests for 14 years.  Thus he was 25 years old at that time (5114-5089) and there are several shlokas in Valmiki Ramayan which indicate that Shri Ram was 25 years old when he left Ayodhya for his 14 years of exile.

 

Solar Eclipse during war with Khardushan - Valmiki Ramayan refers to the solar eclipse at the time of war with Khardushan in later half of 13th year of Shri Ram’s living in forests.  Valmiki has also mentioned that it was Amavasya day and planet Mars was in the middle.  When this data was entered, the computer software indicated that there was a solar eclipse on 7th Oct., 5077 BC (Amavasya day) which could be seen from Panchvati (200N 730E).  On that date planetary configuration was the same as has been described by Valmiki i.e. Mars was in the middle, on one side were Venus and Mercury and on the other side were Sun and Saturn.

 

Other important dates -  Only six of the twelve constellations remain above the horizon at the same time. Valmiki Ramayan contains graphic and poetic details of eight  constellations during Hanuman’s return journey from Sri Lanka to Sunaabh Hill in the middle of the sea  which apparently took about four and a half hours from 6:30 AM to 11 AM. All these details of planets and Nakshtras with reference to eight constellations described in Sarga 57(1,2,3) of chapter 5 tally exactly with the sky view generated by the software for the morning of 14th Sept. 5076 BC. On the basis of planetary configurations described in various other chapters of Valmiki Ramayan, the date on which Ravana was killed works out to be 4th December 5076 BC and Shri Ram completed 14 years of exile on 2nd January, 5075 BC and that day was also Navami of Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month.  Thus Shri Ram had come back to Ayodhya when he was 39 years old (5114 – 5075).

A colleague Dr. Ram Avtar who had researched on places visited by Shri Ram during 14 years of exile, and sequentially moved to the places stated as visited by Shri Ram in the Valmiki Ramayan, starting from Ayodhya, he went right upto Rameshwaram.  He found 195 places which still have the memorials connected to the events narrated in the Ramayana relating to the life of Shri Ram & Sita.  These include - Tamsa Tal (Mandah), Shringverpur (Singraur), Bhardwaj Ashram (situated near Allahabad), Atri Ashram, Markandaya Ashram (Markundi), Chitrakoot, Parnakuti (on banks of Godavari), Panchvati, Sita Sarovar, Ram Kund in Triambakeshwar near Nasik, Shabari Ashram, Kishkindha (village Annagorai), Dhanushkoti and Rameshwaram temple.

 

            In Valmiki Ramayana, it is mentioned that Shri Ram’s army constructed a bridge over the sea between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka. After crossing this bridge Shri Ram’s army had defeated Ravana, the Demon King. Recently NASA had put pictures on internet of a man-made bridge, the ruins of which are lying submerged in Palk Strait between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka(pictures enclosed).  In fact, Valmiki Ramayan only refers to “Neel” as an expert(shilpkaar) in construction of bridges like Vishvakarma and he got the stones, rocks, trees brought by Vanar Sena adjusted on the route where sea had the least depth and the other Vanras were holding long ropes for holding the material together. (6/ 22/ 46 & 60 to 73)

            Recently Sri Lankan Govt. had expressed desire to develop ‘Sita Vatika’ as a tourist spot.  Sri Lankans believe that this was Ashok Vatika where Ravana had kept Sita as a prisoner (that was year 5076 BC).

 

Ancestors of Shri Ram

 

            Indian history has recorded that Shri Ram belonged to Surya Vansh and he was the 64th ruler of this dynasty.  The names and other relevant particulars of previous 63 kings are listed in ‘Ayodhya Ka Itihas’ written about eighty years back by Rai Bahadur Sita Ram. Professor Subhash Kak of Lousiana University(USA), in his book “The Astronomical Code of the Rgveda” has also listed 63 ancestors of Shri Ram who ruled over Ayodhya. The ancestors of Shri Ram have been traced out as under: –

 

            Shri Ram, S/o King Dashratha, S/o King Aja, S/o King Raghu, S/o. Dirghabahu, S/o King Dilipa-II, S/o. King Visvasaha  and so on ------ (all listed) ----- King Sagar (40th Ruler) --------- Satyavadi Harish Chandra (32nd King)--------------

 

            Professor Subhash Kak has also traced out 29 descendants of Shri Ram starting with his son Kusa f/o Atithi, f/o Nisadha, f/o Nala................ (all listed)........ 95th Ruler of Ayodhya being Brhatksaya.

 

            From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Bengal to Gujarat, everywhere people believe in the reality of Shri Ram’s existence, particularly in the tribal areas of Himachal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the North East.  Most of the festivals celebrated in these tribal areas revolve around the events in the life of Shri Ram and Shri Krishna.

 

            The events and places related to the life of Shri Ram and Sita are true cultural and social heritage of every Indian irrespective of caste and creed and therefore it is common heritage.  After all, Shri Ram belonged to the period when Prophet Mohammed or Jesus Christ were not born and Muslim or Christian faiths were unknown to the world. India was also known as Bharat (means-land of knowledge) and Aryavrata (where Arians live).

 

            During Ram Rajya, the evils of caste system based on birth were non-existent.  In fact Maharishi Valmiki is stated to be of Shudra class (Scheduled Caste) still Sita lived with him as his adopted daughter after she was banished from Ayodhya and Shri Ram’s children Luv & Kush grew in his ashram as his disciples. We need to feel proud of the fact that Maharishi Valmiki was perhaps the first great astronomer and that his study of planetary configurations has stood the test of times.  Even the latest computer softwares have corroborated his astronomical calculations, which proves that he did not commit any error.  Shabari is stated to be belonging to Bheel tribe and the army of Shri Ram, which succeeded in defeating Ravana was also formed by various tribals from Central and South India.  The facts, events and all other details relating to the life of Shri Ram are the common heritage of all the Indians including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Muslims and Christians etc.

 

            Prophet Mohammad was born 1400 years ago?, Jesus Christ was born 2000 years back, Gautam Budhha was born 2600 years back whereas Ram was born 7000 years back.  Hence, discovering the details relating to Shri Ram’s life would be lot more difficult as destruction caused by floods, earthquakes and invasions etc. would be far greater.  But should that stop our quest for learning more and more about our cultural heritage? 

 

            As Indians, let us all take pride in the fact that Indian civilisation is the most ancient civilisation surviving on planet earth and it is certainly more than 10,000 years old.  Therefore, let us reject the story of Aryan invasion in India in 1500 B.C. as motivated implantation.  In fact Max Mueller, who was the creator of this theory had himself rejected this theory.  Let us admit that during British Rule, we were educated in the schools based on Macaulay school of thinking which believed that everything Indian was inferior and that entire ‘Indian literature was not worth even one book rack in England’.  If there were similarities in certain features of Indian people and people from Central Europe, then automatic inference drawn was that the Aryans coming from Europe invaded India and settled here.  No one dared of thinking in any other way.  Therefore, there is urgency for the historians and all other intellectuals to stop reducing Indian history to myth.  There is need to gather, dig out, search, unearth and analyse all the evidences, which would throw more light on ancient Indian civilisation and culture.

 

            There is need for the print and the electronic media to take note of these facts and create atmosphere which would motivate our young and educated youth to carry out research and unearth true facts about ancient Indian civilisation and wisdom and would also encourage them to put across the results of their research before the people fearlessly and with a sense of pride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of Sub-merged bridge between Rameshwaram & Sri Lanka

Available on NASA WEBSITE