RAMAYANA | Was It Real?
Is the Ancient Hindu Legend a Part of Human History?
The Ramayana has been the bedtime story for all Indian kids for generations. Almost every single generation in India knows the story about ravan kidnapping sita, Hanuman carrying the sanjeevini mountain to heal Lakshman’s wounds etc. What does this say about the grand epic?
The Ramayana is an Epic written by the Sage Valmiki thousands of years ago, which follows the Journey of Shri Rama on a quest to save his wife Sita from the clutches of the Lankan King Ravana.
When you ask someone about RAMAYANA, you will encounter 3 different types of people:
Firstly, the people who believe that this Epic is just another Fairy Tale written by our ancestors to represent our culture. It represents the Incarnation of Lord Vishnu who ascended to Earth as Rama to finish all Evil. That’s what the summary would be if you asked most of the common folk in India.
Secondly, for some people it holds more Philosophical value. They appreciate the values that the Ramayana teaches. For example, it teaches us the ideal way of living. Lord Rama is a prime example of a Good Son, Good Brother, Good Husband and the absolute upholder of Dharma. It teaches us no matter what the situation, we must follow our Dharma, which is how we do justice to our lives.
Ramayana teaches us that Shri Rama’s Dharma is greater compared to Ravana’s absolute devotion to God.
Thirdly, the ones who believe in the Philosophy, but also believe that this is not just any bed-time story, but a part of our Human History.
Ramayana represents one of the oldest civilizations in the world.
But the question is, who in these three types of people are right? Is Ramayana just a story, a Philosophy, or is it a set of events that actually occurred thousands of years ago? The facts will answer this question.
Ancient Hindu scholars were masters in Symbolic Representation of whatever they wrote. For example, one of the main Supporting Character in the story, Lord Hanuman is represented as a Monkey. But, it doesn’t mean that he was literally a monkey, maybe it was a way to tell that he possessed the attributes and quirks like Jumping, Swinging and the agility of a monkey.
Now, let’s look at factual data which help us examine whether the Ramayana actually occurred.
1. Cities and Places mentioned in the Ramayana
Archaeological investigations, the existence of places, and the existence of structures are key to determining if a story is a myth (fiction) or real.
Ayodhya
This is the place, also referred to as RAMA JANMABHOOMI, is the birth place of Shri Rama. This is the place where the whole story of Ramayana begins. The existence of Ayodhya city with the number of temples belonging to Rama and Hanuman indicates the history of Ramayana.
Today, Ayodhya is situated in Uttar Pradesh, retaining it’s rich cultural history from the Ramayana.
Examining early literature texts apart from Hindu texts, Buddhists and Jain canonical texts mention that the religious leaders Gautama Buddha and Mahavira visited and lived in the city. The Jain texts also describe it as the birthplace of five Tirthankaras namely, Rishabhanatha, Ajitanatha, Abhinandananatha, Sumatinath and Anantnath, and associate it with the legendary chakravartins.
From the Gupta period onwards, several sources mention Ayodhya and Saketa as the name of the same city.
This proves from different perspectives that this city was not just a fictional city.
The Janakpur Kingdom
Sita (Wife of Lord Rama) was the daughter of King Janak of Janakpur, a city of the Mithila Kingdom. Ramayana also refers to King Janak as “Mithila Naresh”. Lord Rama went to Janakpur from Ayodhya where Rama was married to Goddess Sita.
TODAY: The place is located in Nepal with many temples belonging to Sita. The area adjoining Janakpur is known as Mithilanchal, which comes in the Indian state of Bihar adjoining Nepal.
Ashok Vatika, Sri Lanka
Goddess Sita refuses to stay in Ravan’s Palace and stays beneath an Ashok tree in a garden. The garden is famous as Ashok Vatika as per Ramayana. It was the place where Sita was held captive after her abduction.
TODAY: Presently it is at the Hakgala Botanical Garden, close to the resort city of Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka. Not only in India, but in Sri Lanka there are lots of places, and temples dedicated to Lord Rama and Sita. Some of them are really old. Here is what it looks like today.
The real existence of these places cannot be ignored, as these places are situated exactly as mentioned in the epic. This indicates to real events that occurred as described.
3. Rama Setu (The Bridge between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka)
In the story, it is mentioned that Rama took the help of the Vanara Sena (Monkey Army) to build a bridge to Sri Lanka, to cross and save Sita.
Rama Setu Bridge is a causeway that’s built across the sea connecting Pamban island in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island.
Surprisingly, this bridge actually exists at the exact location mentioned in the Ramayana. But scholars argue that this is a naturally formed bridge, and it is definitely not man-made.
The epic states that Rama, with the help of his army built this bridge with floating rocks to cross the sea and reach Sri Lanka.
In 2021, The Archeological Survey of India (ASI), launched a new expedition of the Rama Setu to find archeological remains of the structure, in a hope to valdiate the claims in the Ramayana.
The possibility of it being Man-Made is huge, because similarly in 1979, The Marine Archaeological Unit (MAU) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted excavations under the supervision of Dr S. R. Rao, one of the most renowned archaeologists of India, and proved the existence of Dwaraka City, founded by Sri Krishna during the Mahabharata Era.
The Ram Setu strucutre has been Carbon-Dated and is suggested to be around 7000 years old, which also fits to the Chronological Timeline of the Story.
Overseas Geographical Locations
After Rama kills Vali to help Sugreeva claim back the throne, Sugreeva agrees to assist Rama in his quest of searching Sita across the world.
In Valmiki Ramayana, Sugreeva orders Vanara leader Vinata to go towards the East direction and search for Sita. Vinata is allowed to take 100,000 vanaras with him in this search operation.
Sugreeva directs him to go to a region with people who have a golden compleixon and wear tower-like hats.
तीक्ष्ण चूडाः च हेमाभाः प्रिय दर्शनाः (4–40–27)
means people with towering wisps, wearing golden crowns or complexion and pleasant faces.
They are Khmer people in East Asia.
He is talking about the Khmer tribe of South-East asia, which consists today’s Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
मागधाम् च महाग्रामान् पुण्ड्रान् अंगाम् तथैव च |
भूमिम् च कोशकाराणाम् भूमिम् च रजत आकराम् || ४-४०-२३
Translation : “From Magadha, through Pundra and Anga enter the land of Koshakaara”
which is literally a silkworm or one who makes scabbards.
Sugreeva describes the land where Silk is worn and Silver is mined. This is present day Myanmar (Burma) where Myanmar silk is hand made and even in neighbouring countries like Thailand, silk is worn.
He also describes 7 kingdoms which have gold and silver mines like Yava (Java), Sumatra, Bali, Indonesia etc.
यत्नवन्तो यव द्वीपम् सप्त राज्य उपशोभितम् |
सुवर्ण रूप्यकम् द्वीपम् सुवर्ण आकर मण्डितम् || ४-४०-३०
Translation : “You strive hard in the island of Yava, which will be splendorous with seven kingdoms, like that even in Golden and Silver islands that are enwreathed with gold-mines, in and around Yava islands”.
He called the land between Myanmar (Burma) till Malaysia as Suvarna Rupyakam Dweepam. Even today countries between Myanmar-Malaysia are called Suvarnabhumi.
Bangkok airport is named as SuvarnaBhumi International Airport.
Here, the mountains described are in Thailand.
Yava became Java, and simha puri ‘lion-city‘ became the present day Singapore.
After searching in Plaksha and Ikshu islands, which are Indonesia and Malaysia, Sugreeva asks them to go towards an Island where sea waves dash the shores violently.
ततः समुद्र द्वीपान् च सुभीमान् द्रष्टुम् अर्हथ |
ऊर्मिमंतम् महारौद्रम् क्रोशंतम् अनिल उद्धितम् || ४-४०-३६
Translation : “It will be apt of you to proceed from there and see the terribly furious, tempestuous, blaring, and tide-ripped ocean called ikshu samudra, and that ocean’s islands which will be extremely ghastly”.
Here, Anila Uddhitam or Aniloddhita is description of present day Japan, where ‘Anil’ means wind and ‘Uddhita’ means impudent.
The Island where wind is always impudent and strong waves hit the coasts is Japan.
Even today Japan faces fierce storms from all sides.
All these mentions in the Ramayana still stay relevant to today’s geography in the respective areas, which is definitely an indicator that real people were involved in these expeditions and this is not just another fictional story.
Many of the south-east Asian countries also celebrate Ramayana as an epic in their literature and history. All these facts CANNOT be ignored.
So, the Ramayana might not be just a story. It is a part of our Human History.
regardless, it does teach a lot of values about life, dharma and relationships. It has given us a set of ideals to live by, which we as individuals must embrace and keep the culture alive.
जय श्री राम.
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