Science Channel on Ram Setu as man-made structure concurs with Historical Rama.

 A video released by Science Channel on Ram Setu shows scientists saying that the submerged structure linking India and Srilanka is man-made. It consists of series or rocks and boulders sitting on a stretch of sand bed.

https://twitter.com/ScienceChannel/status/940259901166600194

The significant information from this video pertains to the dates of the structures. It says that the boulders and rocks found on top of the sand dunes are 7000 years old while the sand dunes are only 4000 years old! The time period of 7000 years BP is the approximate period of Rama at whose behest this structure was built. But the sand dunes that support them being dated at 4000 years BP puts it at post-Krishna period. This could be possible only if the structure was re-built using the same old boulders when the sea level arose.

Boulders of the Ram Setu seen under water.

According to the geologist Dr Badrinarayanan, two dates of rise in sea level was found in this part of the sea, one,  between 7,300 to 5,800 years BP and another between  5,400 to 4,000 years BP. As per the video the bounders correspond to the former date while the sand bed underneath them corresponds to the second and last date of sea level increase. But Dr Badrinarayana finds the occurrence of two sets of corals corresponding to these two levels.

This raises the possibility that the original layer was much below the current one which corresponded to 7000 years BP. For a brief period of 400 years between 5800 – 5400 years BP the sea level came down, exposing the Setu Bridge above the sea level. But once again the sea level rose submerging the structure after 5400 years BP. That was when a fresh attempt could have been made to re-construct the bridge – which was done by raising the height by laying a sand bed and re-laying the same boulders and rocks on top of it. The sacredness of the structure and connection with Rama could have made the re-builders to have retained the same boulders and also re-lay in the same way done originally by the vanaras. Research is needed to ascertain these ideas, but the fact is that research is woefully nil in India in the case of Ram Setu.

What is seen in the picture below as white objects (pic taken from the video released by Science Channel) are in fact the visible regions of the Setu above water – the corresponding regions in Google map is shown below this picture.

Till the 14^th  century the structure was well above the water level. In the next 6 centuries no attempt was made to restore the bridge perhaps due to changing or deteriorating political scenes in the ensuing period. Today, in these times of stable nationhood, we must have by now started rebuilding the structure using the same boulders after the lifting up the foundation.

The formation of stable nation with the arrival of Independence did nothing to secure the site back to its glory. In the previous UPA government, the focus was denying the Ram Setu as man-made and historical. It is unfortunate the same trend is continuing even now. Nothing much had happened in India in terms of research in this site. It needs a foreign channel to tell the world that Ram Setu is manmade while it is precisely the same we have known for ages. So what are we going to do now – the Government, the research agencies of India and the people?

In the case of people, I wish to clarify two objections or doubts that we often hear on this subject.  They are given below.

(1) The time period of Ramayana: Rama belonged to Treta Yuga and the general opinion among the people is that Treta Yuga occurred 17 lakh (1.7 Million) years ago. There also exists a claim by NASA that Setu is 1.75 million years old. However there is no confirmation by NASA that it is man-made. There are many Indians who ascribe to this view as a proof of Rama’s times at 17 lakh years before present.

This is not logical as 17 lakh years ago was the time period when man was just beginning to walk upright. The geological conditions of that period also could not be the same as it is now. In this back-drop it is self-defeating to claim historicity of Rama linked to such an early period.  

This issue can be approached from two angles (1) the veracity of NASA image and (2) understanding the true purport of the time period of Rama.

Taking up the first, the NASA image is true as there exists a natural shoal between India and Srilanka. This shoal is actually formed by underwater volcanic material. This has been confirmed in the studies by geologists. From the events of Ramayana we know that a hill called Mainaka existed exactly in the region of the shoal which grew up above the water when Hanuman crossed the sea. Such growth can be linked to a volcanic activity or magma bubbling up.

Earlier to Rama’s times, the sons of Sagara (Rama’s ancestor) were reduced to ashes while digging at this region. (read my article here). Such a description invariably supports the eruption of magma or heat that led to a calamity to them digging up the shoal here. Studies in this region do support such eventualities as heat flow signatures were found supported by hot water springs while drilling. Thus there can no two opinions on the presence of a natural bed formed of the material of the mantle in this region for ages. What NASA had noted in the satellite picture was the exact region of sea bed where magma got piled up (like a suture) Dating of the bed might give us clues on when such eruptions or volcanism first started.

This confirms an opinion that the island of Lanka was an extension of India and not one that got separated by geological activity as held by some. The very name “Ilangai” (Lanka) in Tamil refers to a raised bund in the midst of water or surrounded by water.  Srirangam is an Ilangai by this definition. The ‘Maavilangai’ mentioned in one of Tamil Sangam texts refers not to Lanka as some people think, but to a raised land in the course of a river.

(Bingala Nikantu, Ch 4:104)

The natural bund between India and Srilanka served as an extension of habitation in this part for thousands of years. There is even proof of growth of wild rice since Ice Age in this part, signalling presence of habitation here.

(Fuller et al: 2010)

In the above picture, the connecting region between India and Srilanka is marked with ‘P’. It refers to growth of wild rice since 20,000 years before present. This can be taken as a proof of habitation in this part of India at that date. One can see that the linkage between the two countries was very wide. In the picture below one can see the light shaded regions around India and Srilanka (yellow-line border done by me). The land was extended till then when the sea level was low. As per the above figure, there is evidence of growth of wild rice in this extended region.

With such a naturally present land connection for a wider extent, Srilanka of those times existed as an extension of India much like the Kathiawar peninsula.

So there never existed a need to build a bridge in this part. Such a need could arise only when sea water completely inundated this connecting land. The inundation maps produced by Graham Hancock throw better hints on this issue.  A comparison of them for different time periods is given below to pin point the date when the need arose to link the two countries by human efforts. The availability of maps start from 21,300 years BP.

Until 8900 BP, the land connection was there naturally, helping in the movement of people. But things changed after this period as sea level rose above the connecting land by 7700 BP. The below-maps show this.

By 7700 BP sea water passed through the connecting land. By 6900 BP the connecting land was completely under sea water.

So any construction of a bridge could have happened only around 7000 BP. The naturally occurring base is already there. What people had to do was to raise structures on the base for a few meters. This was what Rama’s Vanara sena had done!

This date tallies with the date of boulders (7000 years) mentioned in the Video released by Science Channel.

This date also tallies with Pushkar Bhatnagar's date of Rama (5114 BCE).

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Read also :- Rama lived 7000 years ago

:- Did Rama rule for 11000 years?
:- Vanaras were human beings in disguise to escape from Parashurama

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(2) Ramayana is a myth?: There is a group including those from the West claiming that Rama is a myth perpetuated to promote divinity. This arises from a notion that Gods are not born on earth. This notion helps in linking super natural feats with Gods.

The fact is that there is nothing super natural about Gods of Hinduism. There is One God, the All-pervading Brahman and every other God is a manifestation of this Brahman in its different stages of existence. Even man (individual atman) is no lowly creature as he can become God – the all-pervading Brahman. It is only because of Karma binding him, man is born a man (or an animal or a plant). And when he crosses over Karma he is one with Brahman or identical with Brahman. This is what the texts say.

But the easiest way to understand how a man can become a God, the reply by Kalanos to Alexander is an eye-opener. For a question by Alexander on

“How may a man become a god?”

Kalanos replied

“by doing that which is almost impossible for a man to do”.

(Source: works of Plutarch, the Greek historian and biographer of Alexander the Great - here)

When a person does things that no other man can do or which are beyond normal human limits, then such a person comes to be regarded as a God. There comes a discussion on this topic in the Tamil text Silappadhikaram.

From Silappadhikaram

Two women of this story (a real one) showed extraordinary nature. One was Kannagi who despite undergoing terrible times with her husband going after another woman and then coming back to her empty handed, lost him once for all, for the sake of her anklet which the king mistook as stolen from his queen. With all the sense of loss in her heart, Kannagi nevertheless went to the court of the king to establish that her husband did not steal. The king died on the spot on coming to know of his mistake. The strange part of the story is that his queen also died on the spot immediately after him, being unable to bear the loss of her husband.

On coming to know of these developments, the Chera king asked his wife who among the two – the queen and Kannagi – was greater. The Cheran queen preferred Kannagi over the other on the basis that Kannagi put up with the suffering at the wake of the death of her husband to prove the world that he was innocent. So she was fit enough to be celebrated in human world whereas the other, the queen would be celebrated in the other world (heavens). This resulted in consecrating Kannagi as a deity in a temple.

This narration is in tune with what Kalanos said on doing the impossible. There had never been another Kannagi in history!

In the same way Rama, a man born in this world did some extraordinary feats and exhibited extraordinary character that he came to be regarded as a God.

From Ramayana

Rama never considered himself as a God.

He expressed, “I am a human being” (‘Atmaanam maanusham manye Ramam Dasharathatmajam’ -VR 6-117-11)

But Brahma replied, “For destruction of Ravana you entered human body here, on this earth (“Vadaartham Raavanasyeh pravishto maanusheem tanum” – VR 6-117-28).

So it is found within Ramayana that God reincarnates as a human being. Rama was such an incarnation.

As a human being, how do we recognise him as a God?

By the impossible feats that no other man can do.

What was that impossible feat?

This is expressed in Valmiki Ramayana itself through the words of Madodari, Ravana’s wife. On seeing Ravana fallen dead, Madodari wailed that she knew Rama was not an ordinary mortal and therefore should not have been taken to task. Two things she mentioned as proof of this. One was the building of Setu! (The other was vanquishing demons at Janasthana)

 “The day when the terrific monkeys built a bridge on the great ocean, that day itself I believed that Rama was not an ordinary mortal." (VR 6-11- 11)

Ravana was feeling secure sitting at Lanka as it was cut off from the mainland by the sea. Individuals might cross the sea in boats; but to cross the sea with a huge army to defeat him was impossible, Ravana thought.

The impossible feat of laying down a road or a bridge across the sea was unthinkable for any man. That is where Rama scored as super human – a God.

There are other attributes that made him God – all those are impossible for ordinary mortals. Explaining them here is out of context for this article.

What we need to know is that divinity in Hinduism does not make god unreal and unborn.

Rama was very much real as he lived and walked in this country. By the same reasoning of impossible accomplishments, Skanda, who lived in flesh and blood, came to be regarded as a God. He was perhaps the first man identified as a God in the Vedic civilization of the current era of Vaivasvata Manu. In his mantra for establishing Indra dhvaja, Manu invokes Skanda’s name.

By the same reasoning, Vamana, Parasurama, Balarama and Krishna were regarded as Gods. So there is no basis to say that Rama was only a mythical character. Ram Setu is one of the evidences of his time period.

Discovery of ‘river’ in the Bay of Bengal – vindicates the route of Ganges in the channel dug by Sagaras

A decade old research by NIO in collaboration with French scientists have found out that a river flows in the Bay of Bengal along the east coast starting from the estuary of Ganges up to the tip of South India. The waters poured into the Bay of Bengal by Ganges and Brahmaputra and the east flowing rivers such as Mahanadhi, Godavari and Krishna flow together for a width of 100 km down towards the south and to a depth of 40 meters from the surface. These rivers pour nearly 1100 cubic kilometres of fresh water from the monsoon rains into the Bay. Thus by the time the monsoon season gets over, this fresh water poured into the Bay by these rivers flow along the east coast and reach the tip of the South India and even circling Srilanka. The researchers have come up with this map of the flow of this river in the Bay.

Arrows showing the origin of the 'river in sea' in the Bay of Bengal all the way to the end. Locations from where fishermen collected water samples are named along the coast.

© Gopalakrishna, V. V. et al.

Source: http://www.natureasia.com/en/nindia/article/10.1038/nindia.2015.67

This discovery is a confirmation of what I have been repeatedly writing from 2008 onwards - on the presence of a channel bordering the east coastal line of South India, dug by the sons of King Sagara, the ancestor of Rama in which the river Ganges flowed down for the first time after the Gangotri melted to form the Ganges river. My detailed article in Tamil written in 2011 can be read here.

The digging ended at Setu in Rameswaram (read here). The Sagaras went on digging around Srilanka, circled it and ended up at Setu as that place (Setu) was hard to dig and had hot springs. The Ramayana description of Minaka Mountain encountered by Hanuman shows that there was volcanism or a vent in the mantle cover underneath that place. This is a fact, as studies done by the Geological Survey of India have found out hot springs of 60 to 70 degree Celsius along the Setu bund.  (Read here). (The sea near this place in Rameswaram is called as Agni Theertham even today). The heat of the springs had killed the Sagaras. Their ashes washed by the River Ganga could give them salvation. It was for this reason Bhagiratha, the descendant of Sagara, did penance to bring Ganga from the Himalayas.

What had actually happened was that the Gangotri glacier melted due to increasing heat at the end of Ice Age, sometime around 10,000 years BP and flowed down, initially as a lean stream. It flowed in the path dug by the Sagaras, according to Ramayana description. That path entered what is now Bay of Bengal. The Sagaras had dug along the east coast of India. The Ganges had entered that path and ended at Setu. As time went by Gangotri started melting more and more and the river Ganges started getting more water. But by then the water level at the Bay also had risen up and the shore lines had advanced towards land, sinking the channel of Sagaras underneath it. The location of this channel exists close to the shoreline as the land mass of India was slightly extended towards the Bay.

One can see the shoreline extended throughout the east and south of India.

The Bathometry analysis of the Bay of Bengal done by the researchers of NIO shows 4 strands parallel to the east coast at depths of 130, 80, 60 and 30 metres in this section. They consider it to be the marks of “sea level regressional phases” during the period between late Pleistocene and Holocene.  It must be remembered that at the start of Holocene (13,500 years ago), the ocean level was 120 metres lower than now. The Bay of Bengal being higher than the Indian Ocean must have had much lower water level. That means shore line existed until the outer most strand that was at a depth of 130 meters. The width of this extended shore line is not given by the researchers. But this area is enough for someone to make a tunnel. That is, this region offers scope to believe that the Sagaras dug along this patch of land along the shores.

This patch of land now under water is our focus of attention. It is here the river carrying the waters of Ganga and Brahmaputra are flowing along with the waters of Mahanadhi, Godavari and Krishna after picking up their water enroute. This water can be noticed from to the surface up to 40 meter depth in this length. And it flows to a width of 100 km. This is perfectly fine. But the question is why they should take a coastal route. Why didn’t the waters of these huge rivers just spread out in front of the estuaries?

In fact the bathymetry analysis of the Bay by NIO (here) says that the sedimentation brought by Ganga and Brahmaputra is so thick that it is 21 km thick at the apex of the Bengal Fan (near the estuary) and goes up to 7 degree South where it is a few hundreds of metres think. This has made the bottom of the Bay look plain and featureless. This also shows that the river water had spread straight into the Bay.

The above picture shows bathymetry of Indian Ocean along with the Bay of Bengal. One can see a light blue feature in the whole of Bay showing a more or less plain bottom. The arrow mark shows the Ninety East Ridge which is buried under the sediment as it nears the Indian land mass in the north.

It is logical to expect the waters of the rivers to spread in front their mouths. But why should they take a coastal route if not for the presence of a coastal channel that is at a higher level than the rest of the Bay?

(For the full map click http://mapsnmaps.blogspot.in/2014/02/bay-of-bengal.html )

The above picture shows the coastal band and the estuaries. Though water from the rivers had flushed into the Bay they had also taken coastal route throughout.

The coastal strands noted in the NIO study at depths of 40, 60, 80 and 130 meters may have a reason other than regressional coast line. Note the route of the coastal strands mapped by the NIO and compare with the recent discovery of the route of this river.

(Source: http://drs.nio.org/drs/bitstream/handle/2264/449/J_Indian_Geophys_Union_4_185.pdf;jsessionid=9AA67F420210F68D88B1E3625F8140B6?sequence=1 )

Route of the river mapped by NIO.

The route is the same as seen in the previous map.

What remains after the discovery of the coastal flow of the river water is the confirmation of  a verse by Valmiki in Ramayana that Sagar, the lord of the sea (in the Bay of Bengal) as it appeared to Rama (at Rameswaram) flowed down with the Ganga’s waters as the chief among the other river waters until that spot. “Ganga sindhu pradhanaabhir aapagaabhi” (Valmiki Ramayana, 6-22-22).

These waters were stopped by the Setu built by Rama’s Varana sena. Rama praises the Setu as “Paramam Pavithram, Maha Paathaka nashanam”  (Valmiki Ramayana 6-123-21). It is because water from the sacred rivers of Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadhi, Godavari and Krishna are available together at Setu, enabling people take a dip at all the waters at one place. 

History of Rama shows that this combo river flowed down the channel dug by Sagara. Today’s researchers have found out that there is indeed a combo river flowing along this route. Future research is needed to show that this channel was facilitated by man-made action!

Related articles:

Bay of Bengal was dug by RAMA'S ANCESTOR- Puranaanooru testifies!!

All Tamils must unite to save Ram-Setu.

SETHU – The first TarpaNam at the GANGES was done here!

BAY OF BENGAL was a high-land once!

SETHU – Digging of the Bay of Bengal ended here!

http://thamizhan-thiravidana.blogspot.in/2011/03/47.html

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From

http://www.natureasia.com/en/nindia/article/10.1038/nindia.2015.67

Fishermen point scientists to ‘river in sea’

K. S. Jayaraman

Fishermen plying on the eastern coast of India have helped scientists discover a fresh water ‘river' that forms in the Bay of Bengal just after monsoon season¹.

Arrows showing origin of the 'river in sea' n the Bay of Bengal all the way to the end. Locations from where fishermen collected water samples are named along the coast.© Gopalakrishna, V. V. et al.

The ‘river in the sea’ forms in northern Bay of Bengal at the end of the monsoon and ‘vanishes’ gradually after a while. About 100 kilometres wide, it flows southward hugging the eastern coast of India and reaching the southern tip after two and a half months. The seasonal river in the sea was discovered by salinity measurements of sea water samples collected by fishermen along the coast. 

The Bay of Bengal receives intense rainfall during the monsoon. This, and the run-offs from the rivers -- Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna -- bring around 1100 cubic kilometres of freshwater into the bay between July and September.

"This very intense freshwater flux into a relatively small and semi enclosed basin results in dilution of the salt in seawater," says one of the lead researchers V. V. Gopalakrishna, a scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa. The diluting effect gets concentrated in the upper 40 metres of the bay waters, resulting in a stark contrast between surface freshwater and saltier water below, he says. 

The presence of low salinity water (called stratification in oceanography parlance) over the Bay of Bengal prevents vertical mixing of sea water. This results in the accumulation of more heat in the near-surface layers, Gopalakrishna says. The sea surface temperature remains above 28.5°C, a necessary condition to maintain deep atmospheric convection and rainfall. Similarly, strong salinity stratification close to the coast would mean more intense tropical cyclones, he says. 

Earlier studies have shown that salinity plays a crucial role in influencing climate variability and cyclone activity. However, lack of in-situ observations in the bay hampered clarity on the temporal and spatial distribution of salinity near the coast. 

To fill this gap, the NIO engaged fishermen at eight specific stations along the east coast to collect seawater samples every five days in clean bottles. The bottles, marked with the date of collection, have been routinely brought back to NIO since 2005 for salinity measurements. 

The new dataset revealed a salinity drop of more than 10 grams per kilogram of water in the northern Bay of Bengal at the end of the summer monsoon. This relatively fresh water propagates southward as a narrow (100 km wide) strip along the eastern coast of India, according to the scientists. 

"Local fishermen have been a great help in developing this coastal network," Matthieu Lengaigne of the collaborating institute, French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, told Nature India." 

This knowledge may help us validate models used to predict cyclones evolution in the Bay of Bengal," Lengaigne says. The study demonstrates the possibility of building a scientifically usable observational network at low cost by relying on local communities, he says. 

Following the success of the Indian programme, Sri Lankan oceanographers have initiated a similar network around Trincomalee and Colombo. 

While the scientists have so far focused on salinity measurements, they contend that the coastal seawater sampling programme could also be used for regular monitoring of other oceanic parameters such as phytoplankton or bacteria.

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References

1. Chaitanya, A. V. S. et al. Salinity measurements collected by fishermen reveal a ‘river in the sea’ flowing along the east coast of India. Bull. Am. Meteorol Soc. (2014) doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00243.1

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From

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/fishermen-discover-river-in-bay-of-bengal/article7278515.ece

Fishermen discover river in Bay of Bengal

By

K. S. SUDHI

Continuous monitoring of salinity levels for nearly a decade confirmed the river’s presence. Photo: Special Arrangement

Movement of freshwater mass begins at the end of the summer monsoon

Fishermen have helped oceanographers discover a river in the sea that has been meandering its way along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) after summer monsoon. A decade-long coastal salinity observations, carried out at eight collection points with local fishers from Paradeep downwards up to Colachel, allowed a detailed description of this uncommon oceanic feature.

The movement of the freshwater mass begins at the end of the summer monsoon and survives for nearly two-and-a half months. It also travels over 1000 km from the northern BoB to the southern most tip of India, say scientists.

A research paper on the formation of the “river in the sea flowing along the eastern coast of India” was recently published in the Bulletin of American Meteorological Society.

The presence of the river was confirmed through continuous monitoring of salinity levels for nearly a decade, said V. V. Gopala Krishna, Chief Scientist of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, the Principal Investigator of the project supported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Sorbonne University and LOCEAN Laboratory, Paris, and the Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences, Goa, partnered in the research work.

The southwest monsoon roughly lasts from June to September. During this period, water vapour collected at the ocean surface by the powerful southwesterly winds is flushed over Indian continent and the BoB.

A large fraction of the monsoon shower reaches the ocean in the form of runoff and contributes to the freshwater flux into the BoB in equal proportion with rainfall over the ocean.

The large rivers — Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Irrawaddy, and three small others — Mahanadi, Godavari, and Krishna — together contribute approximately 1100 km of continental freshwater into the BoB between July and September.

This very intense freshwater flux into a relatively small and semi-enclosed basin results in an intense dilution of the salt contained in seawater, explained the paper.

The over 100 km-wide freshwater mass that is formed from river discharges and runoffs is transported down south by the East Indian Coastal Current, the western boundary current of the BoB. The freshwater signal generally becomes smaller and occurs later while progressing toward the southern tip of India, the paper said.

The salinity distribution in the BoB may impact cyclones and regional climate in the BoB. However, the paucity of salinity data prevented a thorough description of the coastal salinity evolution.

This lacuna was addressed by including fishermen in sea water sample collection process. Fishers collected seawater samples once in five days in knee-deep water at eight different coastal stations along the coastline. The samples were analysed at the modern lab of the institute and compared with open-ocean samples to obtain a picture of the salinity evolution, researchers said.

According to the research paper, the occurrence of this river in the sea along the eastern coast of India was probably not a generic feature that could be observed in many locations in the world.

The peculiar geography of the northern Indian Ocean that resulted in both a massive inflow of freshwater into the semi-enclosed northern BoB and the strong coastally trapped currents along the eastern coast of India were responsible for the formation of the river, the paper suggested.

From

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/07/ramayana-mythology-or-history-k.html

Ramayana -- a mythology or history? -- K. Gopalakrishnan (July 2013) 

The cultural memory of Ramayana narrative is abiding and intense in many parts of the globe.

śrāddham -- homage to pitṛs, ancestors -- is performed by pilgrims at Dhanushkodi. They draw a dhanush (bow) on the sands, offer samkalpam, create a śivalinga from the wet sands, perform puja and immerse the linga in the sacred waters of Setusamudram.

śankha is a shell unique to Indian Ocean rim and is sacred in Hindu traditions. Sacred śankha lives on the Ramasetu. śankha can live only on hard surfaces like boulder conglomerates and not on shifting sands. The boreholes drillings by NIOT revealed boulder conglomerates as one layer, conclusively proving that boulders obtained from land were used for the construction of the Setubandha causeway linking Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar.

This is a world heritage monument and a celebration of protection of dharma by rescuing Sita devi. Valmiki calls Sri Rama vigrahavān dharmah'embodiment of dharma'.




















Valmiki ramayana, Sarga 21, Yuddhakandam describes Rama's victory over the ocean; he releases the arrow which makes a volcano erupt. This episode is rendered as a painting by Ravi Varma.

GENERALISED CROSS-SECTION OF RAMASETU

DERIVED FROM BOREHOLE DATA OF NIOT (SECTION NOT TO SCALE)

Similar Boulder Conglomerate Beds are recorded in
Mannar on Sri Lankan side

RAMAYANA – A MYTHOLOGY OR HISTORY ?

FACTS & EVIDENCES

COMPILED AND PRESENTED

By

K.Gopalakrishnan,

Director (Retired), Geological Survey,

Government of India

WHY THIS QUESTION ? TWO CONTROVERSIES REGARDING RAMAYANA ARE RAGING IN INDIA.

Rama Janma Bhoomi issue.

Rama Sethu issue.

Both cases are pending with the Supreme  Court of India.

One, concerning the Demolition of an existing  Mogul structure-Babri Masjid by Hindu activists.

The Other, regarding the Attempt at the Destruction of an existing  Hindu Structure-Rama Sethu by the secularist Government of India.

FACTS & EVIDENCES 

COMMON SENSE REASONS.

AGE OF RAMAYANA

FROM HINDU COSMIC TIME SCALE

      (i)            As per Yuga Cycles

    (ii)            As per Vishnu Purana

   (iii)            As per Manu Samhita

  (iv)            As per Srimad Bhagavatham

    (v)            As per Swami Yukteshwar Giri

B.       ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES

      (i)            By Vedic Astronomy –by Dr. P.V.Vartak

    (ii)            By modern Astronomy – by Pushkar Bhatnagar

C.   SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES

      (i)            Sea Level Changes

    (ii)            Fossil Evidences of Early man's Migration

   (iii)            Botanical Evidences

  (iv)            Zoological Evidences

3. HISTORICAL EVIDENCES

Lineage of Rama

      (i)            Rama's Ancestors  (ii) Rama's Descendants

B. References in Ancient Literature

      (i)            Puranas

    (ii)            Tamil Sangam Literatures

   (iii)            Other 5th – 6th Century Literatures

  (iv)            References Later Ramayanas in Other Languages

    (v)            Moghul Time Ramayana and Mahabharata

  (vi)            Ramayana in Southeast Asia

 (vii)            References in Historical Paintings

C. HISTORICAL PAINTINGS

D. OLDER RECORDS AND TRAVELLOGUES

E. REFERENCES IN HISTORICAL MAPS

F. LOGO OF SURVEY OF INDIA

4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES

From Excavations

Inscriptions on Pillars, Plaques and Copper Plates

References in Ancient Coinages

References in Ancient Temple Sculptures

5. GEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCES

Rama's Trip with Maharishi VISHWAMITRA

Rama's route during Vanavas and to Sri Lanka

6. GEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCES IN TAMIL NADU

7. GEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCES IN SRI LANKA

8. GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES IN TAMIL NADU

9. GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES IN SRI LANKA                                                                                    

10. GEOTECTONIC EVIDENCES

From the present-Day Active zone in South Pacific to the Present-Day apparently Inactive Rama Sethu Zone

Earth Movements, and Rise of Hill form the Ocean and corresponding subsidence on Sri Lankan side

 Valmiki's Description of the Gulf of Mannar site with Rama's arrow piercing the ocean, producing Earquakes, Volcanic Eruption and Tsunami generation

Drying up of far away ocean and island called Markandhara in the north by Rama's Brahmaastra – the present-day Taar Desrt in Rajasthan with trillions of tons of Rock Salt below sand.

11. EVIDENCE FROM BOREHOLES IN RAMA SETHU AREA

The research article as outlined above can be read in the following link:-

http://www.scribd.com/doc/156149708/Ramayana-FACTS-EVIDENCES-K-Gopalakrishnan-July-2013

Ramayana - FACTS & EVIDENCES (K. Gopalakrishnan, July 2013)

Related articles:-

Volcanism at Sethu!

All Tamils must unite to save Ram-Setu.