The date of Raama -1

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SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA

Dear all,

In his prayer to Sri Rama soon after Sita entered the Agni, Brahma

deva makes this observation : “ Hey Rama, even the Vedas and Vaidiks

can not know your birth.” Who are we then to understand or codify the

birth date of Raama? Yet, some of us are drawn to do that exactly –

not because of any intellectual arrogance, but because our way of

grooming (tattwa vichara) prods us to seek, to know and imbibe

whatever is seen and also unseen in our scriptures. That is why even

though Brahman is one, He is seen in many ways and Vedas are

interpreted differently.

 

Not only this, if we take our interest a little deeper, we find

different dimensions to the very same verse of the texts. We can

relate them to micro-cosmic as well as macro cosmic forms of creation

as well as to modern science. Every revelation of our scriptures seem

to have some relevance to everything from tales of yore to talks on

astro-physics. When we read the Brihadharanyaka passage, “When this

self gets to weakness, gets to confusion, as it were, then the

breaths gather round him, He takes to himself those particles of

light and descends into the heart”, the thought of black hole crosses

our mind. This is further reinforced when we read from the same

Upanishad, “ He who dwells in the darkness, yet is within the

darkness, who the darkness does not know, whose body the darkness is,

who controls the darkness from within, he is your Self, the inner

controller, the immortal.”

 

Again an inter-related reading of a passage from Narada purana that

‘black’ is the colour chosen by Vishnu when He reincarnates in Kali

yuga, it makes us wonder whether the lord reincarnates with

different colours, in his various avatars, in consonant with the

progression of colours that a star takes on its ‘downsizing’ journey

to its last state as a black hole! If so, does the colour of Rama

(bluish green) have any correlation to the period of His incarnation?

Is it past the middle of the life span of a star (The Sun)? So goes

our thinkingJ

 

This is just one dimension of pinning the date of Raama. There are

other dimensions too, namely the astronomical indicators that Prof

Varthak has relied upon. ( The article mailed by me is not written by

me but by Prof Varthak and as such he is the right person to explain

more on this subject, though his article by itself is explanatory to

the core). This has to be corroborated with other tools of analysis

such as archeological, puranic, geological factors etc. Though

astronomy is just one tool to decipher the time period, it is

nevertheless the most reliable tool. The reasons are not far to find.

In more than 100 places in the Ramayana, Valmiki has recorded signs

of astro-significance. There is no need to think that they are the

figments of his imagination, as astrology was very much a part of

everyday life – more so in those days than it is now – as the

astrology followed then was muhurtha astrology, or indicative (not

predictive) astrology when every event in life was decided or / and

recorded by the position of celestial bodies in the sky.

 

They are the most reliable sources on another account too, since

Valmiki was a contemporary of the Ramayanic period. When he gives a

graphic description of even the ‘dhukkam’ he underwent on seeing the

fall of a krouncha bird to the hunter’s arrow (while going to take

bath) thereby relating it to the ‘dhukkam’ of Rama in losing Sita in

the forest, there is a strong case to believe that every astral

description he recorded is in accordance to what and how it exactly

took place. This has been utilized by Prof Varthak to date His life

incidents.

 

The same methodology has been employed by late Dr B.V. Raman , the

famous astrologer in arriving at the date and horoscope of Sri

Krishna. (Read his book, ‘Notable Horoscopes’). B.V.Raman relied on

the information from Matsya purana (271-51 752) which says that the

year and day on which Krishna passed away marked the commencement of

Kali yuga which took place on 18-02-3102 BC, corresponding to the 1st

day of the lunar month Chaitra of the cyclic year Pramadhi. (this

tallies with what Sri Venakta raman says in his mail)

 

This is further corroborated by Bhagavatham (11-7-2) which says that

Kali entered immediately after Krishna shuffled off his mortal coils.

Subtracting the life span of Krishna from this date, B.V. Raman

arrived at the birth date of Krishna.From Bhagavatham, (11 –6) we

come to know that Krishna lived for 125 years. Vishnu purana also

suggests (Amsa 5, chapter 37) that He lived for 125 years. From

Vishnu purana, Srimad Bhagavatham and Harivamsa, it is inferred that

Krishna was born at midnight, on the 8th lunar day of the cyclic year

Srimukha, in the 126th year counted backwards from the date of

commencement of Kali yuga. This corresponds to the midnight of 19th

(20th) July 3228 BC. According to B.V. Raman, the horoscope computed

at this time shows the position of planets in accurate degrees. This

date has been accepted by many. But not so with the date of Raama.

 

A similar methodology has been employed by Prof Varthak, but by

directly relying on inputs from the Ramayana itself, which makes his

work more authentic. There are other scholars who have arrived at a

more or less similar date, by using this method. Prof Varthak’s date

of birth of Rama is 4th December, 7323 B.C. which is a solid 4000

years ahead of Krishna’s birth and not less as another writer has

mentioned.

 

Much recently, Andal’s time period too has been determined using the

astro position she has mentioned in Thiruppavai – “veLLi ezhundhu

vyAzhan urangittru” by Mu. Raghavaiyengar. This has been accepted

without much debate or doubts whereas the same is not the case with

other azhwars, wherein a spate of cross references have to be

employed to arrive at the probable date. Astro-position is akin to

carbon dating in accuracy and there is also scope for cross checking

vis-à-vis other incidents bearing the stamp of astro- significance.

 

(To be continued)

 

jayasree saranathan