Sankshiptaparayana (Sundarakanda) Part - 4.

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Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

(Part – 4)

 

The Historical evidence Ramayana.

 

In India, Lord Vishnu is worshiped primarily as Avatar, or incarnations,

particularly as Rama and Krishna, the principal characters of the epics Ramayana

and Mahabharata.

 

In both of these wonderful long stories the God takes on human form in order

to heal a breach in the order of society, and thus the world in general. In

doing so, there is an attempt to reestablish the moral code of social conduct

and proper relation of mankind to divinity.

 

In addition, certain collections of tales come to be widely known in popular

life, especially from these two great epics. Ramayana tells the story of Rama of

Surya vamsa (Dynasty), the ideal Hindu man and king, whose wife Seetha is

abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka. There is subsequent hilarious journey of

Rama to Lanka to conquer the demon king and recapture Seetha. Mahabharatha

tells the story of Chandra vamsa kings and their allies with the main role of

Lord Krishna in establishing Dharma. The history of Rama was in Treta Yuga and

Mahabharata was in end of Dwapara Yuga with a gap of thousands of years.

 

Both the epics are filled with educative tales, edifying poems, and fables. It

is probably through their constant retelling in the villages over centuries that

Hinduism is most efficiently disseminated from generation to generation.

 

However, India's beautiful spiritual mythology can constitute a serious

obstacle to the Westerner who is developing an interest in Vedanta if he takes

this mythology too literally (as many people do). He draws back in amazed

disbelief when he discovers that there is no good historical evidence for

India's favorite divine incarnations, Rama and Krishna.

 

He is further taken aback when he encounters India's many gods; some

beautiful, some strange, and some grotesque! He can be so shocked that he may

lose interest in India's great spiritual tradition before he has investigated

it.

 

Therefore, people with superficial knowledge of Indian mythology may conclude

that these epics contain mere fictitious folklore (and superstitions) rather

than true religious or spiritual truths.

 

The only suggestion to those, to rectify such misconceptions at this stage

would have been the one “Sethu” in the under waters of Indian Ocean which is

found in the recent geographical survey, through the Satellite as for as

Ramayana is concerned, had it not been disputed. Yet Ayodhya, Mithila and other

evidences are there. So far Mahabharata, many more places such as Mathura,

Dwaraka, Hastinapura, and Kurkshetra etc are the evidences.

 

Most of the Senior citizens of our Country and abroad, know about one place

called Dhanushkodi (which I have seen during 1962 and walked more than two

kilometers into knee-dip water of the sea).

Dhanushkodi is situated in the South-East of Pamban, about 18 kilometers to

the city. Hindu myth says that at the request of Vibheeshana, brother of Ravana

and ally of Rama, Rama broke the Sethu with one end of his bow and hence the

name Dhanushkodi. In Sanskrit Dhanu means Bow and in Tamil, Kodi means end. It

is also said that Rama marked this spot for Sethu with one end of his famous

bow. Bath in holy Sethu at the junction of the two seas normally precedes the

pilgrimage to Rameswaram.

 

The customary tradition says that Pilgrimage to Kashi will be completed only

after the worship at Rameswaram besides a holy bath in Dhanushkodi at the

Confluence of Mahodadhi (Bay of Bengal) and Ratnakara (Indian Ocean). Setu is a

Sanskrit word to denote bridge or causeway. It has now acquired a special

significance to mean the bridge across the ocean constructed by Rama to reach

Lanka.

 

The Dhanushkodi railway line was destroyed in the 1964 cyclone from Pamban

Station and a trainload of passengers was washed into the sea. Even though the

railway line was laid between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, it was in course of

time covered by six sand dunes and it was abandoned. The only surviving relic of

the past is the Kothandaramaswamy temple, which still contains the icons of

Rama, Seetha, Lakshmana, Hanuman and Vibhishana. It can now be reached either by

road from Rameswaram or by boat in the sea. It is advisable to go during day to

the village and return to Rameshwaram before Sun set as the entire 15 km stretch

is very lonely and there is no safety.

 

Why all these chronicles now? It is only to analyse the fact of the

narrative. When the fate of the place on the Indian continent, in between India

and Ceylon, is such, in a period of 40 years, what evidence will be available

for the history after the passage of countless ages?

 

For example, in the history books of South India, those studied earlier to

80s, can remember a big Moore market of 200 years old constructed during the

English period, near to Chennai Railway Station and was subsequently

conflagrated overnight and there are no traces to prove its existence. As such

can we take the recent history as bogus? There are many like those, prior to

and after independence.

 

As such, devotees who trust God should have faith in the Hindu mythology. Only

the belief of every Hindu is the unobjectionable EVIDENCE.

 

Further the second chapter of Sundarakanda of Ramayana introduces us to the

glorious city of Lanka and Anjaneya’s first encounter with it. The geography

around the island where Lanka is located is described herein. The chapter also

depicts the initial reaction of Hanuman on seeing the city and his initial

thoughts about the feasibility of the task of overcoming the Rakshasas and

Ravana to reunite Sri Rama with mother Seetha.

 

The third Sloka of the second Sarga of the fifth chapter is reproduced below:

 

yOjanaanaam Satam shriimaan stiirtvaap vyuttamavikramah,

aniSSvasan kapi statra na glaani madhigachhati.

 

The glorious Hanuman with the best courage, even though crossing a hundred

yojanas, was without a sigh and did not obtain any tiredness.

 

This Sloka and others clearly mention that Hanuman crossed an ocean of hundred

yojanas. At the present time, the shore to shore distance between southern tip

of India and Northern tip of Sri Lanka is around sixty miles. Even with a

measure of 2.5 miles per yojana, hundred yojanas converts to 250 miles (this is

only my tentative calculation). To explain this anomaly, we need to consider

that around the time of Ramayana, the distance was lot more than the current

sixty miles. This is in sync with the current theories by geologists, that the

ocean between India and the current Sri Lanka had been replaced by land mass

over a period of time. Most of the land to the south of current Raghunatha Pura

had been covered by landmass in antiquity. Also according to Ramayana, the

mountains Trikuta, Lamba and Suvela were to the north of Lanka, but currently

the mountains are found in the southern part of Lanka. This suggests that the

northern parts of current Lanka were submerged in

water during the Ramayana period.

 

A Land mark of Ramayana.

 

Amongst the ruins of the Vijayanagara empire near Hampi, is a cave known as

Sugriva's Cave. The cave is marked by coloured markings. The place holds its

similarity to the descriptions of 'kishkinda' in Sundarakanda. Rama is said to

have met Hanuman here. The place is also home to the famous Hazararama temple

(Temple of a thousand Ramas).

 

There are plenty of historical and geographical evidences to show the great

Ramayana is the factual narrative, for a believer, but not to those with

negative approach.

 

Note: All the above details are distinctly meant to establish the historical

evidence for India's favorite divine incarnations, Rama and Krishna and not

motivated for any political cause and not warranting any criticism please.

 

Contd . . . 5.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry

 

 

 

 

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