Historical Basis of Ramayana:
Balmiki Ramayana is the
"aadi" (original) Ramayana. Most of the scholars agree on the matter
that Balmiki Ramayana originally consisted of five parts starting from Ajodhya kanda to Judhya kanda. Balmiki Ramayana described
Ram NOT as an avatar but just as a mighty king who was eminently skilled in
warfare. There was no supernatural phenomenon characterizing Ram that could be
related to a deity. Bal-kanda and Uttar-kanda in Ramayana were the addition of
later stage.
Rama mentioned in the last book of the
RV – X.93, 14. Since Mandala 10 of the
RV was chronologically the last and likely was composed from 2200 to 1700 BCE,
this timeframe makes sense since Rama probably lived around 2100 BCE.
More Ramayana Evidence:
By Nanditha Krishna
Yahoo Groups
July 2003
Ayodhya is in the headlines every day.
One would have to be an ostrich to avoid the subject. Was there a temple before
the mosque? Archaeologists would have to answer that. Was Rama born there? The answer
is a matter of belief. Did Rama exist? Yes, I am quite sure he did. Rama’s life
was a fact. His divinity is a matter of faith.
To doubt the existence of Rama is to
doubt all literature. There is no archaeological or epigraphic evidence for
either Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed, who are known only from the Bible and
Koran respectively. Does it mean they did not exist? If Rama performs miracles
such as liberating Ahalya, the Biblical story of Jesus walking on water or the
Koranic tale of Mohammed flying to heaven on a horse are equally miraculous.
Such stories reinforce divinity, not fact.
The Ramayana starts with Valmiki asking
Narada who was the greatest man who ever lived.
Narada narrates the story of Rama, king of Ayodhya, in a few terse,
factual lines. Valmiki
then goes on to elaborate the story in poetry, creating the Ramayana.
Creativity distinguishes the epic from Narada’s news report. Rama is not
a god in the epic. But we have contemporary examples of people deified in their
lifetime, such as the Shirdi and Sathya Sai Babas, who need a Valmiki or Vyasa
to immortalise them.
The Ramayana is geographically very
correct. Every site on Rama’s route is still identifiable and has continuing
traditions or temples to commemorate Rama’s visit. Around 1000 BC, no writer
had the means to travel around the country inventing a story, fitting it into
local folklore and building temples for greater credibility.
In 1975 the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) unearthed fourteen pillar bases of kasauti stone with Hindu motifs
near the mosque at Ayodhya; reports of the excavations are available with the
ASI. Rama was born in Ayodhya and married in Mithila, now in Nepal. Not far
from Mithila is Sitamarhi, where Sita was found in a furrow, still revered as
the Janaki kund constructed by her father Janaka. Rama and Sita left Mithila
for Ayodhya via Lumbini. In
249 BC, Ashoka erected a pillar in Lumbini with an inscription referring to the
visits by both Rama and Buddha to Lumbini.
Ashoka was much nearer in time to Rama
and would be well aware of his facts.
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita left Ayodhya
and went to Sringaverapura — modern Sringverpur in Uttar Pradesh — where they
crossed the River Ganga. They lived on Chitrakoot hill where Bharata and Shatrughna
met them and the brothers performed the last rites for their father.
Thereafter, the three wandered through
Dandak-Aranya in Central India, described as a
land of
Rakshasas, obviously tribes inimical to
the brothers’ habitation of their land. Tribals are still found in these
forests. The trio reached Nasik, on the River
Godavari, which throbs with sites and events of Rama’s sojourn, such as Tapovan
where they lived, Ramkund where Rama and Sita used to bathe, Lakshmankund, Lakshmana’s
bathing area, and several caves in the area associated with their lives in the
forest.
Rama then moved to Panchavati near
Bhadrachalam (AP), where Ravana abducted Sita. The dying Jatayu told them of
the abduction, so they left in search of Sita. Kishkinda, near Hampi, where
Rama first met Sugriva and Hanuman, is a major Ramayana site, where every rock
and river is associated with Rama. Anjanadri, near Hospet, was the birthplace
of Hanuman (Anjaneya); Sugriva lived in Rishyamukha on the banks of the Pampa (Tungabhadra);
Sabari probably also lived a hermitage there. Rama and the Vanara army left
Kishkinda to reach Rameshwaram, where the Vanaras built a bridge to Lanka from Dhanushkodi
on Rameshwaram Island to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.
While parts of the bridge — known as Adam’s Bridge
— are still visible, NASA’s satellite has photographed an underwater man-made
bridge of shoals in the Palk
Straits, connecting
Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar. On his return from Sri Lanka, Rama worshiped Shiva at
Rameshwaram, where Sita prepared a Linga out of sand. It is still one of the most sacred sites of
Hinduism.
Sri Lanka also has relics of the Ramayana. There are several caves,
such as Ravana Ella Falls,
where Ravana is believed to have hidden Sita to prevent Rama from finding her.
The Sitai Amman Temple
at Numara Eliya is situated near the ashokavana where Ravana once kept her prisoner.
The presence of the Vanaras or monkeys,
including Hanuman, has made the authenticity of the epic suspect. But this is
the most plausible part of the story. The Vanaras were obviously tribes with the monkey totem:
after all, the Ramayana belongs to a period when most of India was
jungle with tribal forest-dwellers. India still contains several tribes
with animal totems. An early issue of the Bellary District (now in
Karnataka) Gazetteer gives us the interesting information that the place was
inhabited by the Vanara people. The Jaina Ramayana mentions that the banner
of the Vanaras was the vanaradhvaja (monkey flag), thereby reinforcing the
totemic theory.
Similarly, Jatayu would have been the king of the
vulture-totem tribe and Jambavan of the bear-totem tribe.
Was Lanka the modern Sri Lanka? One
school of thought places Lanka on the Godavari
in Central India, citing the limited
descriptions of the South in the latter half of the epic. Narada does not
mention Panchavati or Rameshwaram, but refers to Kishkinda and Lanka. Living in
the north, it is unlikely that Valmiki knew the south. But Valmiki would know
the difference between a sea and a river. Lanka, says the author definitively,
was across the sea.
All the places visited by Rama still
retain memories of his visit, as if it happened yesterday. Time, in India, is relative. Some places
have commemorative temples; others commemorate the visit in local folklore. But
all agree that Rama was going from or to Ayodhya. Why doubt connections when literature,
archaeology and local tradition meet? Why doubt the connection between Adam’s Bridge and Rama, when nobody else in Indian
history has claimed its construction? Why doubt that Rama traveled through Dandakaranya
or Kishkinda, where local non-Vedic tribes still narrate tales of Rama? Why doubt
that he was born in and ruled over Ayodhya?
Major settlements, including temples,
were renovated several times: restoration is a 20th century development. When
the main image was made of perishable materials, it was replaced by stone. For example,
we know that the wooden
image of Varadaraja Perumal of Kanchipuram was replaced by a stone image, for
the earlier image is still preserved in a water tank. The present architecture
belongs to the sixteenth century Vijayanagara style. Yet the temple was
known to have existed before the Pallava period (seventh century). This is the
story of many sacred sites in
India. This happened to several Rama temples too.
Rama’s memory lives on because of his
extraordinary life and his reign, which was obviously a period of great peace
and prosperity, making Ramarajya a reference point. People only remember the
very good or the very bad. Leftist historians have chosen to rubbish archaeology,
literature and local tradition. So how do we prove that Rama did exist?
Finally, although there is enough
evidence that Rama did exist, it still does not justify breaking down a mosque.
Would Rama have approved? It makes us as barbaric as Babar and his General Mir
Baqi who, says Hafizullah in his Persian document, built the mosque over the Ramjanmasthan.
The author can be contacted at
nankrishna@v...
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