Astronomical Dating of the Ramayan
By Dr.P.V.Vartak
Introduction
It has been believed that there is no evidence to determine
the dates of events in the Ramayanic era. Some
historians of the past even refuse to acknowledge that Rama
and other characters from the Ramayana even existed. However, Sage Valmiki has recorded the dates if events in detail, albeit
by describing the positions of stars and planets. To decipher the astronomical
encodings has not been a trivial task, and not many have attempted to do so. It
should be noted that the ancient Indians had a prefect method of time
measurement. They recorded the 'tithis', days
according to the nakshatra on which the moon
prevailed, the months, the seasons and even the different Solstices. By
therefore noting a particular arrangement of the astronomical bodies, which
occur once in many thousand years, the dates of the events can be calculated.
Dr. P.V. Vartak has thus
attempted to calculate the dates of important incidents that occured during the Ramayanic Era.
The correct astronomical records goes to show that Valmiki's
has chronicled an account of a true story and also,
that the an advanced time measurement system was known to the Hindus (Indians) atleast 9000 years ago. Please refer to Dr. Vartak's celebrated book "Vastav
Ramayan" for further reading.
Before coming to the astronomical method, it should be
noted that the Mahabharat has recorded a number of
facts about Ramayan (and not otherwise). The
precedence of the Ramayanic era to that of the Mahabharat can therefore be inferred. An attempt to fix the
dates of the events in the Mahabharat era, mainly based on internal astronomical records. The Mahabharat Era has already been dated
by Dr. Vartak to 5561 B.C. [Reference: Dr. Vartak's book "Swayambhu"].
Genealogical links available from the Mahabharat
and Puranas, Yuga calculations and some archaelogical findings also provide clues to the dating of
the Ramayanic era. Also, literary references to the
characters from the Ramayanic Era provide limits
after which the Ramayan could not have occured. For example, Guru Valmiki
(the author of Ramayana) is refered to in the Taittiriya Brahmana (dated to
4600 B.C) and therefore Ramayana must have before the
Brahmana was composed. However, archaeological and
literary methods can only provide approximate datelines and for determining the
precise time of the Ramayanic events, astronomical
calculations may alone be useful.
Astronomical
Dating
Mahabharat states that Sage Vishwamitra
started counting nakshatras from Shravana
(Aadiparva A.71 and Ashwamedha
A.44) and a new reference to time measurement thus initiated. According to the
old tradition, the first place was assigned to the nakshatra
prevelant on the Vernal Equinox. Vishwamitra
modified this and started measuring from the nakshatra
at the Autumnal Equinox. Sharvan was at this juncture
at about 7500 B.C, which is therefore the probable
period when Vishwamitra existed and also that of the Ramayanic Era.
Formerly, the year initiated with the Varsha-Rutu
(season) and therefore was termed "Varsha".
Ramayan shows that the flag was being hoisted to
celebrate the new year on Ashwin
Paurnima (Kishkindha 16/37,
Ayodhya 74/36). Ayodhya 77
mentions that the flags were defaced and damaged due to heat and showers. These
descriptions point to the fact that their new year started on the Summer
Solstice when heat and rain simultaneously exist. The Summer Solstice fell on Ashwin Full Moon, so the Sun was diagonally opposite at Swati nakshatra. This astral
configuration can be calculated to have occured
around 7400 B.C.
Kishkindha 26-13 describes the commencement of the rainy season. In shloka 14, refers to Shravan as
"Varshika Poorva
Masa". Kishkindha
28/2 clearly shows that the rainy season began in Bhadrapada
Masa. Further description "Heated by the Sun
and showered by new waters, the earth is expelling vapours"
(Kish.26/7) points to Bhadrapada as premonsoon. Kish.28/17 tells that there was alternate
sun-shine and shadowing by the clouds. Kish.28/14 describes the on-coming rainy
season. Thus Bhadrapada was the month of pre-monsoon,
that is before 21st June or Summer Solstice. Naturally, months of Ashwin and Kartika formed the
rainy season. It is therefore concluded that Ashwin
Full Moon coincided with Summer Solstice, that year being 7400 B.C.
Rama started forest-exile in Chaitra
and ended it in Chaitra. He was coronated
in the same month and one month later, proceeded to Ashokavan with Seeta (Uttar
41/18) when the Shishira Rutu
terminated. So it seems that Vaishakha Masa coincided with Shishira. So
the Winter Solstice was at Vaishakha with the Sun at Ashwini. At present, the Winter Solstice takes place at Moola. Thus a shift of 10 nakshatras
has occured since the Ramayanic
Era. Precession has a rate of 960 years per nakshatra.
Therefore, Ramayan must have occured
9600 years ago, which is 7600 B.C approximately.
Shri
Rama's Date of Birth
Now we shall proceed with the astral route. Valmiki records the birth of Rama
as Chaitra Shuddha Navami (9th), on Punarvasu Nakshatra and five plants were exalted then; Sun in Mesha upto 10 deg., Mars in
Capricorn at 28 deg., Jupiter in Cancer at 5 deg., Venus in Pisces at 27 deg.
and Saturn in Libra at 20 deg. (Bala Kanda.18/Shloka
8,9).
Ayodhya 4/18 states that Sun, Mars and Rahu
were at Dasharatha's nakshatra.
It was the month of Chaitra, so the Sun was in Revati, Ashwini or Bharani. Naturally, either Rahu and Ketu was in any
one of these nakshatra (Rahu
and Ketu are diagonally opposite).
The planetary positions on
The Date
of Exile
Rama completed 17 years of age (Ayodhya
20/45) and his coronation was fixed on Chaitra Shuddha 9th on Pushya day.
However, he had to proceed to the forest on the same day, at the behest of Kaikeyi. At this time, Dasharatha
states that Rahu, Mars and Sun were disturbing his nakshatra (Ayodhya 4/18).
Calculating 17 years from Rama's birth date, the
location of Mars can be determined at 303 degrees in Dhanishta
nakshatra. From here, Mars casts its fourth-sight on Krittika. Rahu, after 17 years had been at 211 degrees in Vishakha,
and so was in opposition to Krittika. Being Chaitra masa, the Sun was at Mesha and so it could be at Krittika.
This the planetary positions agree with Valmiki's
statement. Dasharatha's nakshatra
appears to be Krittika.
Valmiki has beautifully described the sky (Ayodhya
41/10), when Rama left for forest exile. He states,
"Crux (Trishankhu), Mars, Jupiter and Mercury
have cornered the Moon. Vaishakha and Milky Way are
shining in the sky". Crux is on line with Hasta
(Corvus) on the southern side. On the eastern side of
Hasta, there are Chitra, Swati and Vishakha. As seen
earlier, Mars was at 303 deg. in Dhanishta.
Calculations show that Jupiter was in Poorvashadha at
251 deg. Pushya was at the western horizon with the
setting Moon. On the southern side, from the west to the east, all the other
planets were situated. So poetically Valmiki
describes the sketch as if the Moon was cornered by the planets. The
description of the sky, 17 years after the birth-date of Rama,
is perfect astronomically.
After 14 years of Rama's stay in
the forest, Valmiki tells that Rohini
was imprisoned (
Amavasya (No Moon Day)comes 10.883 days
earlier each successive year.
Rama left for the forest on a
Hanuman's
visit to Lanka
Hanuman set out to Lanka in the hopes and mission to search
for the kidnapped Seeta. He reached this destination
at night, roamed around a little until he located Seeta
the next morning. While describing Hanuman's return in Sunder Kanda (S.56 or 57 /1/2), Valmiki states using a
simile of sea to the sky:
" The Moon was attractive like a lotus, Sun like a good crane
and a span from Pushya to Shravana
was seen. Punarvasu appeared like a big fish, Mars
like a crocodile, Airavata like an island and Swati like a swan."
Even though a poetic simile, Valmiki
provides a plot of the nakshatras from the west to
the east. When Hanuman started from Lanka it was early morning, because Seeta tells him to rest for a day in some hiding place (Sunder
56/3,11; 57/18). Since it was morning, the Sun was
rising and appeared like a crane and the moon like a lotus. As both the moon
and the sun were present simultaneously in the sky, it probably was a Paurnima (Full Moon Day) with the moon on the western
horizon and sun on the eastern. The span of nakshatras
streched from Pushya to Shravan, that
is from 104 deg. to 281 deg. Punarvasu was also seen.
Aairavat connotes an elephant, and it is possible
that Scorpio was seen like an elephant showing its trunk. The span of nakshatra's from Punarvasu to Sharavan is seen early in the morning of
Hanuman had set out for Seeta's
search after Ashwin masa as
he himself says in Kishkindha 53/21,22.
So he must have started the campaign in Kartika masa. One month, that of Margashirsha
was spent in the
Ravana had abducted Seeta in the season
of Hemant (Aranya 16/1) and
had given a period of 1 year, that is upto the next Hemant to consider
marrying Ravana (Aranya
56/24, Yudh 12/19). Had Seeta
not accepted this offer, Ravana would have killed her
in Hemant. Hemant is
composed of 2 months. Sunder 58/106 or 108 state that Seeta
told Hanuman that only 2 months of her life remain, after which she will die. Seeta therefore must have conveyed this to Hanuman before Hemant began, that is, in the season of Sharad.
Thus Pushya lunar month coincided with the season of Sharad.
According to the above description, Mars was near Punarvasu and Pushya. It was
noted that during the (Lanka) war, Mars was at 102 deg. in Pushya.
Naturally, since Mars many a time becomes stagnant, Mars would have been near Punarvasu and Pushya two months
earlier.
The distance from Kishkindha (Vijayanagar to Hospet) to the
centre of Lanka is about 600 miles. An army can travel about 20 miles a day,
therefore accordingly, Rama's army would have taken a
month to reach Lanka. Even assuming a pessimistic speed of 30 miles per day, Hanuman
may have covered the distance in 20 days. Also, it is
known that the army of Vaanar tribe were searching
for Seeta in many directions, and therefore, may have
taken 2 months to reach Lanka. This army had started searching for Seeta in mid-Kartika, and would
have reached Lanka in mid-Pausha. The assumption that
Hanuman returned from Lanka in the month of Pausha
therefore appears to be reasonable. The Vanar army
hurriedly returned to Kishkindha and could have spent
20 days in the interim and the date falls at Maagha Shuddha 5th. Rama marched to
Lanka in one month and reached there on Phalguna Shuddha 5th (
The Great
War started
On Phalgun
Krishna 2nd, Rama's army seiged
the gates of Lanka. Angada
proceeded as Rama emmisary
on a peace mission to Ravana's court. However, any
peace proposal was rejected by Ravana and the next
day (Phal.Kr. 3rd), Rama-Ravana war commenced. The great war spanned 13 days and concluded on Phalgun Krishna Amavasya, with
the death of Ravana. The very next day, Chaitra Shuddha 1st was
celebrated as a Victory Day. This tradition still continues to be a New-Years's Day and is marked by hoisting flags.
End of Rama-Ravana War. Ravana killed.
Following are
the dates of few events from the Ramayana:
Rama's Birth Date
Rama-Seeta Married
Rama Exiled
Hanuman enters
Lanka 1st September 7292 B.C
Hanuman meets Seeta 2nd
September 7292 B.C.
Seetu (Bridge) built
26-30th Oct. 7292 B.C
on the ocean
The War
begins
Kumbhakarna is killed
Ravana is killed by Rama
Rama returns to Ayodhya 6th December 7272 B.C.