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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 theRamayanic era. Some historians of the past even refuse to acknowledge that Rama andother characters from the Ramayana even existed. However, Sage Valmiki has recorded thedates if events in detail, albeit by describing the positions of stars and planets. To decipherthe astronomical encodings has not been a trivial task, and not many have attempted to doso. 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, themonths, the seasons and even the different Solstices. By therefore noting a particulararrangement of the astronomical bodies, which occur once in many thousand years, thedates of the events can be calculated. Dr. P.V. Vartak has thus attempted to calculate thedates of important incidents that occured during the Ramayanic Era. The correctastronomical records goes to show that Valmiki's has chronicled an account of a true storyand 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 hasrecorded a number of facts about Ramayan (and not otherwise). The precedence of theRamayanic era to that of the Mahabharat can therefore be inferred. An attempt to fix thedates 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 andsome 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 theRamayan could not have occured. For example, Guru Valmiki (the author of Ramayana) isrefered to in the Taittiriya Brahmana (dated to 4600 B.C) and therefore Ramayana musthave before the Brahmana was composed. However, archaeological and literary methods

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can only provide approximate datelines and for determining the precise time of theRamayanic 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 thusinitiated. According to the old tradition, the first place was assigned to the nakshatraprevelant on the Vernal Equinox. Vishwamitra modified this and started measuring from thenakshatra at the Autumnal Equinox. Sharvan was at this juncture at about 7500 B.C, whichis therefore the probable period when Vishwamitra existed and also that of the RamayanicEra.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 onAshwin Paurnima (Kishkindha 16/37, Ayodhya 74/36). Ayodhya 77 mentions that the flagswere defaced and damaged due to heat and showers. These descriptions point to the factthat 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 Swatinakshatra. 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 toShravan as "

Varshika Poorva Masa

". Kishkindha 28/2 clearly shows that the rainy seasonbegan 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.28/14describes 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 Kartikaformed the rainy season. It is therefore concluded that Ashwin Full Moon coincided withSummer Solstice, that year being 7400 B.C.Rama started forest-exile in Chaitra and ended it in Chaitra. He was coronated in the samemonth and one month later, proceeded to Ashokavan with Seeta (Uttar 41/18) when theShishira Rutu terminated. So it seems that Vaishakha Masa coincided with Shishira. So theWinter Solstice was at Vaishakha with the Sun at Ashwini. At present, the Winter Solstice

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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 occured9600 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 ChaitraShuddha Navami (9th), on Punarvasu Nakshatra and five plants were exalted then; Sun inMesha upto 10 deg., Mars in Capricorn at 28 deg., Jupiter in Cancer at 5 deg., Venus inPisces 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 themonth of Chaitra, so the Sun was in Revati, Ashwini or Bharani. Naturally, either Rahu andKetu was in any one of these nakshatra (Rahu and Ketu are diagonally opposite).The planetary positions on 16th October 5561 B.C., the date of commencement of theMahabharat War, have been calculated and known [Dating of the Mahabharat, by Dr. P.V.Vartak]. Therefore, calculating further backwards for the astral combination noted above, thedate concludes to be 4th December 7323 B.C. On this date, Saturn was at 205 deg., Jupiterat 94 deg., Mars between 283 and 298 deg., Rahu at 179 deg. and Sun at 2 degrees. 4thDec. 7323 therefore is the date of birth of Rama, when the aforementioned 4 planetsexalted. Venus is always within 47 degrees from the Sun, and might be in Pisces in anexalted state. Thus Rama's date is confirmed.

The Date of Exile

Rama completed 17 years of age (Ayodhya 20/45) and his coronation was fixed on ChaitraShuddha 9th on Pushya day. However, he had to proceed to the forest on the same day, atthe behest of Kaikeyi. At this time, Dasharatha states that Rahu, Mars and Sun weredisturbing his nakshatra (Ayodhya 4/18). Calculating 17 years from Rama's birth date, thelocation 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 inVishakha, and so was in opposition to Krittika. Being Chaitra masa, the Sun was at Mesha