Sri Rama's times

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra

Maha Desikaya Nama:

Sri Rama's Times

------------------------

There are any number of opinions on the historic

period to which Sri Ramayana relates. As everybody is

aware, no historian worth his salt agrees with

another, on any matter of significance, and in the

matter of determining Sri Rama's times too ,there are

several divergent schools of thought. There is

divergence to the extent that some historians even

place the Ramayana in the A.D.

Based on the widespread references to the usage of

iron articles in the great epic, some say that the

Ramayana belongs to the Iron Age ,viz., the period

between 200b.c. to 200 a.d. Another evidence cited in

support of this view is the reference to " KousEyam " (

Chinese silk) in Sri Valmiki's magnum opus. The

opponents of these views point out that even PANini ,

whose period is determined to be around the 20th

century b.c., uses the words " ayasthooNa: " (iron

pillar). Similarly, Sri Apasthamba Mahrshi, who is

said to have belonged to the 28th centuryb.c.., refers

to the practice of presenting newly-weds with Chinese

silk, using the very term " KousEya " .

Since Amara Simha, the author of Amara Kosa, does

not mention Sri Rama's name ( while referring to

other devatas like Sri Krishna),some Indian historians

place the Ramayana period after 200 a.d ,which is

roughly the lifetime of Amarasimha. This too is not

conclusive because AmaraSimha was a Jain, and had no

compulsion to mention things and people not connected

with his religion. A similar argument, referring to

the absence of any references to Sri Rama in the

accounts of Fahien, the Chinese traveler who visited

Ayodhya around 400 a.d., ascribe still later time

slots to the epic.

Coming to astrological pointers, based on the timing

of the summer and winter equinoxes now and then, some

scientists place the Ramayana around 9000 years ago,

roughly in the 7th century b.c.

While it is difficult to pinpoint the relevant period

of history with any degree of certainty, for us,

belonging to the Sri Ramanuja Sampradaya, it matters

very little whether Sri Rama was an inhabitant of

10th century b.c. or 8th century a.d.. In fact, trying

to measure lifetimes of this AdipurushA in terms of

b.c. or a.d. itself would be anathema to us. What

matters is that from time immemorial, Sri Rama's name

and fame have been household words in the entire

Bharata Varsha, not to speak of the far eastern

countries. And the epic continues, for thousands of

years, to be the subject of innumerable discourses.

Can you imagine any other story being told, retold and

listened-to, from time immemorial , with such

devotional fervour, and still not palling on either

the recounter or the listener, for,after all,

theme-wise, it is a very simple tale, which could be

told in a few sentences. In Sri valmiki's own words,

" Yavat sttAsyanti giraya:saritascha maheetalE

Tavat Ramayana katha lOkEshu pracharishyati "

(As long as there are mountains and rivers in this

world, Rama's name and fame will continue to prevail.)

 

dasan, sadagopan.

Srimate SriLakshmiNrsimha Divyapaduka sevaka

Srivansatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Maha Desikaya

Nama:

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

sadagopan iyengar wrote:

 

> There is

> divergence to the extent that some historians even

> place the Ramayana in the A.D.

 

[-- snip --]

 

> A similar argument, referring to

> the absence of any references to Sri Rama in the

> accounts of Fahien, the Chinese traveler who visited

> Ayodhya around 400 a.d., ascribe still later time

> slots to the epic.

 

I believe such historians need to go back to school.

Alexander's arrival on the frontier of NW India is

dated precisely at 326 B.C. and this fact is accepted

world-wide by every historian. Alexander's own

scribe - Megasthenes, in his work " Indica " describes

life in the northern provinces of India during that

period, particularly the kingdom of Magadha (present

day Bihar/vihaara). Megasthenes (in addition to the

caste system and other social norms) refers to the

existence of a distinct community of " Vaasudeva "

worshippers, which dates Krishnavataaram to be

*at least* one millennium prior to 3rd. century B.C.

So, unless we rewrite our itihaasas to move Raama

avataaram ahead of Krishnar, we have to accept that

the above statements about Ramayana are wrong.

 

Another cross-reference: The period of gautama

buddha is placed in the 5th. century B.C., based on

Pali texts written during Asoka's time. Certainly

raamavataaram predated buddhism. These two

periods of (a) Alexander's arrival in NW India, and

(b) Siddhartha Gautama - are not disputed by most

Indo-european scholars/historians anymore.

 

Sri Vaishnavam point of view -- Vasisthar was the

rajaguru of Dasaratha. According to sampradayam,

the veda was not divided into four - until the time of

vyasa maharishi. During the time of vasishthar, a

brahmarishi - all the vedas were together, undivided.

Therefore the raamayana predates vyasa maharishi,

back to a period when vedam didn't exist in its four

partitions of rk, yajus, saama and atharva.

 

> Coming to astrological pointers, based on the timing

> of the summer and winter equinoxes now and then, some

> scientists place the Ramayana around 9000 years ago,

> roughly in the 7th century b.c.

 

This sounds more like a period when the veda was still

undivided. Just my personal opinion here!! Learned

members may please respond to any of the above with

corrections/other inferences.

 

adiyEn,

-Srinath C.

[Guest guest]

At 10:38 PM 4/7/2001 -0700, sadagopan iyengar wrote:

>10th century b.c. or 8th century a.d.. In fact, trying

>to measure lifetimes of this AdipurushA in terms of

>b.c. or a.d. itself would be anathema to us.

 

 

I would like to respectfully request all the members to

kindly refrain from using b.c. and a.d. for referencing

time periods. a.d. is particularly offensive to prapannas.

May I request the members to use BCE (before common era)

and CE (common era). These are free of offensive meaning.

 

Thank you,

 

-- adiyEn

[Guest guest]

Srimate' Sri LAkshmi NrusimhA para brahmane nama:

 

Adiyen would like to share some data which I found in a Jyotisha

Saastra book.It was used by my grand father Late C.V.R swami of srirangam.

In that book,they had given total years for every yugam.Please

excuse adiyen for not remembering the exact figure.The following were the

data.

 

Krutha Yugam : around 48 lakh years

Tretaa yugam : around 19 lakh years

Dvaapara yugam: around 8 lakh years

Kali yugam : around 4 lakh and 32000 years

 

Also Kali is now running somewhere above 5100 years today.It means

that Kali yugam had started somewhere in 3000 b.c.According to the

descriptions ,that was the time when Sri Nammazhvaar was born in this

world.In an Upanyaasam,The Present Sri Mat Azhagiyasingar explained how

Sri Nammazhvaar felt after coming to earth when he realized that Sri

Krishna had left to Sri Vaikunta after His duties were over

here.That was the time when just the Kali had started.Sri Mat

Azhagiyasingar also used the example as how a person would feel if he had

missed the train just by whiskers.

 

All of know that the time to which Sri Rama belong is the Treta

yugam.So this definitely goes beyond 8 lakh years in past.Adiyen never

know whether this is acceptable in terms of present science which takes in

to account the life of the earth.

 

The average life span of humans is reducing as time progresses.It

is said that Dasarata was there in the world for 60000 years with out

wards.He did PutraKaameshti Yaagam after that and Sri Rama was born.

Making something constant and by increasing the life span,the years had to

be very high to the tune of what we could see above.

 

If we agree the funda of Treta yugam then it is very difficuilt

for us to get archelogical data of that time as adiyen would say that time

had completely taken out all the evidences.

 

Adiyen read an article in Dinamani some 4-5 years before reg the

time of Sri Rama and some conclusions of the research.It was very

confusing that different research concluded with different times in which

Sri Rama lived.One very interesting and very important information was

that the names used by the people,the Kings of Egypt were derived from the

name " Rama " .Adiyen suppose that those names of the kings were some

" Ramahs " .The research also said that there were so many names used by

people which derived from " Lava " and " Kusa " .They were the sons of Sri

Rama.One reasearch also said that Mitilaapuri was nothing but Troy.Adiyen

is not able to conclude anything.All that tells is that there is a slight

evidence available to prove that Sri Ramayana is not not just a

story but it is History.

 

Please correct adiyen if there are mistakes and incorrect

information.

 

 

 

Adiyen,

Parthasarathy daasan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tue, 10 Apr 2001, Dileepan wrote:

 

> At 10:38 PM 4/7/2001 -0700, sadagopan iyengar wrote:

> >10th century b.c. or 8th century a.d.. In fact, trying

> >to measure lifetimes of this AdipurushA in terms of

> >b.c. or a.d. itself would be anathema to us.

>

>

> I would like to respectfully request all the members to

> kindly refrain from using b.c. and a.d. for referencing

> time periods. a.d. is particularly offensive to prapannas.

> May I request the members to use BCE (before common era)

> and CE (common era). These are free of offensive meaning.

>

> Thank you,

>

> -- adiyEn

>

>

>

> Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

> Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

>

>