Lord Ram Was for Real

[Guest guest]

Forwarding this important mail for the benefit

of the group – Lalit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shishir Tripathi

[shishirnasscom]

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

12:55 PM

Rewanchal ;

Lalit Mishra, Noida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lord Ram was for real.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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, 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 Indian territory from North to

South, reducing the sufferings of mankind and ensuring victory of good over

evil? Let us take a look at historical facts:

The story of Shri Ram's life was first narrated by

Maharishi Valmiki in the Ramayana, 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 stars (nakshatras). Needless to add that similar position of

planets and nakshatras 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 " corresponding exact dates of these events according to

the English calendar can be known.

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Pushkar Bhatnagar of the Indian Revenue

Service had acquired this software from the US. It is used to predict the

solar/lunar eclipses and distance and location of other planets from earth. He

entered the relevant details about the planetary positions 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.

Maharishi Valmiki has recorded in Bal Kaand sarga

19 and shloka eight and nine (1/18/8,9) that Shri Ram was born on ninth tithi

of Chaitra month when the position of different planets vis-a-vis zodiac

constellations and nakshatras (visible stars) were: 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 & Pllux star); x) Day time (around noon).

This data, was fed

into the software. The results indicated that this was exactly the location of

planets/stars in the noon of January 10, 5114 BC. Thus Shri Ram was born on January 10, 5114 BC (7121 years back). As per the Indian calendar it was the ninth 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.

Shri Ram was born in Ayodhya. This fact can be

ascertained from several books written by Indian and foreign authors before and

after the birth of Christ - Valmiki Ramayan, Tulsi Ramayan, Kalidasa's

Raghuvansam, Baudh and Jain literature, etc. These books have narrated in great

detail the location, rich architecture and beauty of Ayodhya which had many

palaces and temples built all over the kingdom. Ayodhya was located on the

banks of the Saryu river with Ganga and

Panchal Pradesh on one side and Mithila on the other side. Normally 7,000 years

is a very long period during which earthquakes, storms, floods and foreign

invasions change the course of rivers, destroy the towns/buildings and alter

the territories. Therefore, the task of unearthing the facts is monumental. The

present Ayodhya has shrunk in size and the rivers have changed their course

about 40 km north/south.

Shri Ram went out of Ayodhya in his childhood

(13th year as per Valmiki Ramayan) with Rishi Vishwamitra who lived in Tapovan

(Sidhhashram). From there he went to Mithila, King Janaka's kingdom. Here

he married Sita after breaking Shiv Dhanusha. Researchers have gone along the

route adopted by Shri Ram as narrated in the Valmiki Ramayan and found 23

places which have memorials that commemorate the events related to the life of

Shri Ram. These include Shringi Ashram, Ramghat, Tadka Van, Sidhhashram,

Gautamashram, Janakpur (now in Nepal),

Sita Kund, etc. Memorials are built for great men and not for fictitious

characters.

Date of exile of Shri

Ram: It is mentioned in Valmiki

Ramayan's 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.

Dashratha's zodiac sign was Pisces and his nakshatra was Rewati. This planetary configuration was prevailing on the

January 5, 5089 BC, and it was on this day that Shri Ram left Ayodhya for 14 years of exile. Thus, he was 25

years old at that time (5114-5089). There are several shlokas in Valmiki Ramayan which indicate that Shri Ram

was 25-years-old when he left Ayodhya for exile.

Valmiki Ramayan refers to the solar eclipse at the

time of war with Khardushan in later half of 13th year of Shri Ram's exile. It

is also mentioned it was amavasya day and Mars was in the middle. When this data was entered, the software indicated that

there was a solar eclipse on October 7, 5077 BC, (amavasya day) which could be

seen from Panchvati. The

planetary configuration was also the same - Mars was in the middle, on one side

were Venus and Mercury and on the other side were Sun and Saturn. On the basis of planetary configurations described in

various other chapters, the date on which Ravana was killed works out to be

December 4, 5076 BC, and Shri Ram completed 14 years of exile on January 2,

5075 BC, and that day was also Navami of Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month. Thus

Shri Ram had come back to Ayodhya at the age of 39 (5114-5075).

 

 

 

 

 

A colleague, Dr Ram Avtar, researched on places visited by

Shri Ram during his 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 and

Sita. These include Tamsa Tal (Mandah), Shringverpur (Singraur), Bhardwaj

Ashram (situated near Allahabad), Atri Ashram, Markandaya Ashram (Markundi),

Chitrakoot, Pamakuti (on banks of Godavari), Panchvati, Sita Sarovar, Ram Kund

in Triambakeshwar near Nasik, Shabari Ashram, Kishkindha (village Annagorai),

Dhanushkoti and Rameshwar temple.

(The writer is a

Commissioner of Income Tax posted at Delhi.

The article will conclude on the Oped page on Monday)

 

 

 

 

 

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In Valmiki Ramayan it is mentioned that Shri Ram's

army constructed a bridge over the sea between Rameshwaram and Lanka. After

crossing this bridge, Shri Ram's army had defeated Ravana. Recently, NASA put

pictures (reproduced here) on the Internet of a man-made bridge, the ruins of

which are lying submerged in Palk Strait between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka.

Recently the Sri Lankan Government had expressed the desire to develop Sita

Vatika as a tourist spot. Sri Lankans believe this was Ashok Vatika where

Ravana had kept Sita as a prisoner (in 5076 BC).

 

 

 

 

 

Indian history has recorded that Shri Ram belonged

to the Suryavansh 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 80 years ago by Rai Bahadur Sita Ram.

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Subhash Kak of Lousiana University, in his book, The Astronomical Code of the Rig Veda, has also listed 63 ancestors of Shri Ram who ruled over

Ayodhya. Sri Ram's ancestors have been traced out as: Shri Ram, King Dashratha,

King Aja, King Raghu, King Dilip and so on. 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 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. 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. The words Hindu (resident

of Hindustan) and Indian (resident of India) were synonymous. India was also known as Bharat (land of

knowledge) and Aryavarta (where Aryans live) and Hindustan (land of

" Hindus " - derived from word Indus).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. Luv and Kush

grew in his ashram as his disciples. We need to be proud of the fact that

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 the Bheel

tribe. Shri Ram's army, which succeeded in defeating Ravana, was 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, Christians, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Prophet Mohammad was born 1,400 years ago. Jesus

Christ was born 2,000 years back. Gautam Buddha was born 2,600 years back,

whereas Ram was born 7,000 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 about our cultural heritage?

 

 

 

 

 

As Indians, let us all take pride in the fact that

the Indian civilisation is the most ancient civilisation today. It is certainly

more than 10,000 years old. Therefore, let us reject the story of Aryan

invasion in India

in 1,500 BC as motivated implantation. In fact Max Mueller, who was the creator

of this theory had himself rejected it. Let us admit that during the 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

the 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!