Ramayana, the biography of Ram was written by Valmiki in the Treta Yuga, the second in the series of Maha Yuga it was referred to as the Adi Kavya, meaning “the first or the original poem”. Being the first of its kind, Valmiki was highly praised for his work, and Ramayana was well accepted by scholars in society often classified as “Itihasa”, meaning history.
Ramayana is undoubtedly the only book that occupies a special place in every Hindu household. There is plenty of evidence from manuscripts archaeology astrology that supports the integrity of events that have been narrated in Ramayana.
1. Scientific Proof of Ram Setu Being a man-made Bridge
Many years of studies conducted concluded that the Rama Setu was not a natural bridge and was an intentional man-made act for connecting the Indian peninsula with Sri Lanka.
2. Scientific Backing of Lord Rama’s Date of Birth
Recent new findings have once again proven the existence of Lord Ram, with his exact date of birth getting scientific credence. A decade ago, Institute for Scientific Research on Vedas (I-SERVE) took up the daunting task of diving into the shlokas of the original Valmiki Ramayana.
The aim was to find any mention of dates related to the numerous incidents specified in Ramayana. One of the first incidents in Ramayana that had the dates mentioned as per the Hindu calendar, was the birth of Ram, as per the shloka Ram was born on the Navami Tithi of Shukla Paksha of Chaitra Masa, which meant that it was the ninth day of the increasing phase of the moon in the lunar month of Chaitra, further information about the planetary motions and position of stars were mentioned. It said that the nakshatra was Punarvasu, the sun was in Aries, the Saturn was in Libra, Jupiter was in Cancer, Venus was in Pisces and Mars was in Capricorn. The cancer constellation was rising in the east and Jupiter was above the horizon. All this data was noted and fed into the software used for astronomical references called the Planetarium Gold and with this process, the exact date and time of birth of Ram was identified.
The time and date of Ram’s birth have been confirmed as 12:30 in the afternoon on the 10th of January 5114 BCE.
3. Scientific Backing of Bharath’s Date of Birth
The texts also provide information about the birth of Ram’s brother Bharath, when the data is fed into the system, we arrive at 11th January 5114 BCE as the birth date and 5:30 am as the birth time of Bharath.
This means that Bharath was younger than Ram by 16 hours. This agrees with the general conception of Hindus that Rama and Bharath were born on the same day, but Ram was elder than Bharath by a few hours. If Ram was born on the 10th of January, you may wonder why we usually celebrate Ram Navami around march end to mid-April.
The reason for this is the concept of precision of equinox. As for this principle, one day is adjusted once every 72 years, so over 7200 years, we have adjusted about 100 days, which equals the number of days between January 10th and the end of March to mid-April. Therefore, today we celebrate Ram Navami about 100 days after the original date as per the Hindu calendar.
4. Scientific Proof of Many Other Events in Ramayana
The scientifically precise and verifiable information tells us that in the year 2021, we will be celebrating the 7135th birthday of Sriram. The scientists say that, with the new scientific tools and techniques like the planetarium software, supercomputers, space, imagery, underwater explorations, etc, one can validate that the events described in Ramayana are true and not just a work of fiction by Valmiki. This exploration was not just limited to Lord Ram’s date of birth, based on the information available in Valmiki Ramayana, scientists were able to come up with the dates for many incidents that were mentioned in the text.
5. Coronation Day of Lord Rama
On the pre-coronation day of Rama, the Dasaratha calls for his courtiers and informs them that the current planetary motions were not in his favor and therefore he would like to transfer the rule of his kingdom to his eldest son Rama. On the same evening, the incident of Manthra convincing queen Kaikeyi that the throne of Ayodhya belonged to her son Bharath and not to Ram, took place. This incident occurred on the 4th of January 5089 BCE.
This means that Ram was 25 years in age when he was being coronated but later sent to a 14-year-long exile.
6. Lord Rama’s fight with Khardushan in the 13th year of Exile
The fight between Ram and Khardushan that happened after Lakshmana humiliated Shurpanakha by cutting her nose occurred on the 7th of October 5077 BCE. This means that the problems during the exile of Ram Lakshman and Sita began during the 13th year.
At this point, Ram was 37 years old. Therefore, all the major incidents that led to Ram defeating Ravana occurred during the 14th year of his exile, which means Ram killed Ravana at the age of 38. As per the findings, Rama killed Vanar Raj Bali on the 3rd of April 5076 BCE and Hanuman visited Lanka on the 12th of September 5076 BCE. If you notice there is an approximately four-month gap between the time of Sugriva's coronation and Hanuman reaching Lanka.
7. Scientific Dates matches with the Ramayan Events
Interestingly, the same has been specified in Ramayana. That Rama was becoming restless by doing nothing during the four months of monsoon, while he understood that the Vanar army could not achieve much during the reign. He eagerly awaited every day for the arrival of Sharad Ritu to begin.
The search for Sita Hanuman meets Sita on the 12th of September 5076, BCE and returns from Lanka on the 14th of September 5076 BCE wreaking havoc in Ravana’s kingdom. In less than two days, the Vanar army begin their march to Lanka in about a week on the 20th of September 5076 BCE and make it to the fort of Lanka after 22 days on the 12th of October 5076 BCE after creating the magnificent Nala Setu now also Known as Rama Setu, which was built within just five days.
Indrajit also known as Meghnath, was the prince of Lanka and the eldest son of Ravana and Mandodari. He was killed on the battlefield on the 24th of November 5076 BCE.
Based on the above-mentioned dates, we can infer that Ram was about 38 years of age when he returned to Ayodhya and perhaps was close to 40 years when he fathered his twin sons, Luv and Kush.
8. Scientific Community agrees that Ramayana and Mahabharat did occur
Today, Saroj Bala, the director of I-SERVE, concluded that they have enough pieces of evidence to prove that Ramayana and Mahabharata were historic and not mythological. She says that as per their findings, Ramayana references go back seven thousand years, whereas Mahabharata goes back 5000 years. While knowing the dates is of no significance to a Bhakt. From a human standpoint, it is interesting to know how old Sri Ram would have been during the various events of his life. Although one thing that brings in an element of confusion or ambiguity, is that, while Valmiki in his Ramayana mentioned that Lord Rama ruled for a total of 11 000 years while as per the dates, Ramayana was only 7000 years old, which doesn’t quite add up. One might wonder: was there a deeper meaning to this verse? When Valmiki wrote that Rama ruled for 11 000 years? Did he mean that Rama will rule the hearts of the people for the next 11 000 years? Does that mean Ram’s name will still be alive amongst people after 11, 000 years of Ramayana?
Does it also imply that Ram’s name will be forgotten after 11, 000 years because of the effects of Kali Yuga? This could be a possibility, as Kalki Purana mentions, that by the fourth phase of kali yuga, all holy texts will be lost and no one will know the means to attain moksha. It also tells that several powerful and the most well-known mantras like Om Namah Shivaya, or Om Namo Narayana will be lost, while these are just interpretations and hold no prominent evidence. What matters is today, we can seek comfort in the name of Lord Rama today, while we know his holy name, we can make use of it and stay on the path to do good in the world, spread love, and attain moksha.