Is Ceylon the Lanka mentioned in Ramayana?

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In an article "The Antiquity of Rama's Era", in the journal Prachya Pratibha

(published by Prachya Niketan, a Birla sponsored institution in Bhopal),

Vol. 11-1, 1982[?], the author, R.L. Gupta, a retired engineer and

government secretary, says, that for India's geography to match that

described in the Ramayana, particularly the existence of the 'hundred yojana

sea', the Ramayana era must have been at that time in the geological past

when a lake, large enough to be described by that phrase and abutting the

Vindhyan mountain range where it is described in the Ramayana and is

accepted by geologists as having existed... in the Narmada valley. He

identifies Lanka as an Island in that Narmada lake, now Bagra hill. He also

re-identifies several other places in the the Ramayana by correlating

geographical features and present place names; Chitrakuta, Panchvati (where

Sita was abducted), the Pampawati river, Kishkindha, Mahendra Parvata,

Trikuta Parvata, Rameshwaram, Pampa lake, Kishyamuka, Pravarsan, Mynaka and

Suvela Parvatas, Dhawalgiri and the Setu (bridge) built by Rama... all in

locations in present Madhya Pradesh.

 

According to the author of the article, Reva Khanda of Skandha Purana speaks

of a big lake or sea in the Narmada valley and that modern fossil finds in

the area substantiate this. He refers to the Madhya Pradesh Chronicle of May

23, 1982 and to an article in the Times of India, June 20, 1982. Geologists

believe in the existence of an ancient lake existing till the middle or late

Pleistocene extending from about the town of Harda, District Hoshangabad in

the west to about the town of Jabalpur M.P. in the east, a distance of over

320 km. At places it was over 300 meters deep and 65 km wide -- enough to

appear as a 'sagar'.

 

He refers to a book 'Lanka ki khoj' which lists many past attempts by

various authors to identifiy the 'true' location of Lanka (including,

outside India: Sumatra, the Maldives, Lakshadwip, Liggadwip, 800 miles into

the Indian ocean, Lanka (the present Sri Lanka) and Australia (!), and

within the boundaries of India: Assam, Rekanpalli, between the Godavari and

Krishna rivers, near Maheshwar, near Jabalpur, Amarkantak and near Pendra in

Bilaspur district, M.P. The book's author (Hiralal Shukla), himself suggests

the Godavari delta as the location of Lanka.

 

According to Ramayana, Lanka was located on Trikuti Parvata close to

Dhawlagiri surrounded by the hundred yojana sea and in a area where Sal

trees grew (the trees used both by both Hanuman and his followers and Ravana

and company in the Ramaa-Ravana battle). The article describes Bagra hill as

close to and a little west of Pachmarhi Hill, district Hoshangabad, Madhya

Pradesh. Pachmarhi hill is identified in the respected reference book

'Castes and Tribes of the Central Provinces' as Dhawlagiri. The article's

author refers to Survey of India (SOI) topographical map 55 F/14 showing

three hill tops on Bagra Hill at longitude 78° E. It marks the beginning of

a region extending east to Chota Nagpur and south almost to Bhadrachalam on

the Godavari. It also is in a Sal area.

 

The author says (plausibly), that the phrase "hundred yojana sea" has more

than one interpretation: that it was only a general expression to create the

impression of 'large size'. In at least one Bhagavatam verse (5.16.23)

'hundred yojanas' appears to be used in this way.

 

It is long ago that I read the complete Ramayan (and would not have

remembered such details in any case) but according to the article, the

Ramayan indicates the sagar as lying along the Vindhya mountain range,

citing that Swanyaprabha, while escorting Hanuman and other Vanaras out of

the tunnel in those mountains, pointed out that they were on Mahendragiri

and that the expanse of water below was the Sagara. Jatayu's brother Sampati

also indicated the Sagara as the location of the island of Trikuta parvata

with Lanka on it.

 

The article claims that the geography described in the Ramayana establishes

the antiquity of Rama's era. The Mynaka Parvata which Hanuman used in his

leap -- in geological terms the 'Vindhyan geosyncline' ('uplifted trough'),

came up from the sea. In Rama's ancestor Bhagtratha's time, Bhagiratha had

to work hard to bring the Ganga river to the plains. In his father Dilip's

time, it was confined to the mountains. The Ramayana, also shows that in

Bhagiratha's ancestor Sagar's time the river Saryu, which at present flows

southwards, flowed northwards. These changes and events had their causes in

the rise of land masses and the last such land rise of any magnitude in

India is reported by the geologists to have been associated with the

uplifting of the Himalayas in late pleistocene to early recent times. The

drying up of the Saraswati River is another instance... attributed to the

rising up of the Sivalik Himalaya foothills.

 

Regarding the Setu, causeway, the "bridge", the topography map of the once

Narmada lake bed shows a formation compatible with its having once been a

setu from near the present town of Hosangabad to about the town of Itarsi

and to the Bagra hill, just where the lake is narrowest. The level of this

formation is fifty metres higher than those of the neighbouring areas.

Furthermore, based on bore hole drillings, the rock in this formation is

different from surrounding rock: It is black basalt, as compared to anything

but black basalt for many kilometres on either side. The floating stone,

presumably pumice, used by Hanuman and the monkeys has the same origin as

black basalt, namely lava flows and is formed by the solidifying froth on

the surface of glassy lava. There is the significant description in Ramayan

that the sea started boiling as soon as Rama but an arrow to his bow. This

could be due to submarine volcanic activity. Furthermore, there is a place

presently known as Bandrabhan which the author points out sounds very much

like "Vänara Bandh", or the "Bandh (Setu) built by the Vanaras". The author

says that there is no basalt south of Bombay (Panaji region) except an

isolated flow at Rajamundry, A.P.

 

According to the Ramayana Hanuman crossed the Sagara by jumping from

Mahendra Parvata north of Lanka. Lord Caitanya visited a Mahendra Parvata

after visiting Madurai and before visiting Setubandha, Dhanus-tirtha,

Ramesvara, the Tamraparni River, Sri Vaikuntham and Kanya-kumari -- all in

South India. But Lord Balaram, "after finishing His bathing and ritualistic

ceremonies at Gangasagara, proceeded toward the mountain known as Mahendra

Parvata. After this He turned toward southern India and visited the banks of

the river Godavari" indicating this Mahendra Parvat to be in North India.

The author of the article refers to a hill Mahendra shown on governemt maps

today in the Vindhyan range in the Ken river basin at latitude 23° N, 79° E

and suggests, based on the time Lord Rama took to travel between the places

He visited, that it is the Mahendra parvat of the Ramayana -- north of the

Bagra hill and almost at the edge of the Narmada lake.

 

Ramayana describes the rising of Mynaka parvata from the sagar to assist

Hanuman in his jump over it. The Vindhyas arose from the ocean over 500

million years ago. The author suggests the likelihood that the rise of the

Vindhyan trough coincided with Hanuman's jump. The uplifted trough has a

break where Hanuman crossed it.

 

Regarding Rameshwaram the author says there is an ancient Siva temple in the

Betwa River in Madhya Pradesh known as the Bhojpur temple, a little to the

north east of Bhimbetka and more or less north of Bandrabhan. This temple,

even if rebuilt in Bhoja's time as claimed by some, could be the place where

Rama installed the Siva lingam. The Narmada lake could have at the time

extended to this place just as it did to the Mahendra parvata in Ken basin.

The Vindhyan geosycline's location outside the Narmada lake's perimeter and

the fairly deep alluvium in the vicinity of Bhojpur supports this.

 

Ramayana describes Rama's Visit to Sarbhanga risi's ashram and to Atreya

rishi's asram, near Chitrakut. The author refers to Survey of India maps (63

D/13 and 63/16) showing a Sharbhang stream and an Atreyari Pahar

respectively close to Chitrakuta (Satna), supporting this Chitrakuta as the

one which Rama visited, not Chitrakuta Bastar as believed by some. No

streams or hills bearing the rishi's names are to be seen in or near the

latter Chitrakuta. At the time, Panchvati, on the bank of the Godavari river

was close to Sharhang rishi's ashram and since there exists a Godavari,

known as Guptgodauri, close to the Satna Chitrakuta and none close to the

Bastar Chitrakuta, this is also support for the Satna Chitrakuta being the

Chitrakuta of the Ramayan.

 

Nasik in Maharashtra, at the source of the Godavari River, is generally

believed to be the place where Ravana abducted Sita. But it is too far away

from either of the Chitrakutas. According to Ramayana, Rama reached

Panchvati from Sarbanga Risi's ashram with only an overnight halt at

Sudarsan Rishi's asram. Guptgodauri, close to the Satna Chitrakuta is easily

the Panchvati of the Ramayan.

 

Hanumana and other vanaras formed the southern search party and began their

search for Sita from Kishkindha southwards. The belief that Kishkindha is

somewhere in the Deccan plateau is also not in keeping with the geographical

descriptions in the Ramayana. Hanuman and his party, while once searching

for water to drink saw some birds coming out of a cave with their feathers

wet. At latitude 23° N, 78° E, in Sagar District, there is a place Tinsua

where, according to the Sagar District Gazetteer, the deity Trisumal Baba is

compassionate to thirsty travelers, causing pools of water to appear among

the rocks for them and the author suggests that this Tinsua - "three

parrots" - is the place where Hanuman saw the birds with wet feathers.

 

The author refers to another article by the well known scholar Sankalia

'Ramayana a myth or reality' and 'Hypercritical study of Ramayana' in which

the latter advances several arguments as to why present Sri Lanka cannot be

the real Lanka. Among others he contends that its early historical name in

inscriptions and literature was Simhaldwip and in foreign travelers'

accounts Tamrobane. The name Lanka was not known earlier than a thousand

years before present. He questions how, whatever may be the measure of a

yojana, an ocean can be taken to be a 'hundred yojana sea'. Adam's bridge

and Rameshwaram to its north have also been rejected by him as being the

Setu and Shiva temple of Rama's era.

 

The author of the present article says in regard to the locations of

Ramayana events that for a thousand years we have been ignoring or assigning

indirect meanings to straightforward evidence.

 

Ys

 

Rasananda das