GOLDEN AGE OF BHARAT Te Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the two encyclopaedia ot Ife and wisdom, portraying an ideal civilisation which humanity has yet to spire after” ~ Swami Vivekananda ee About the two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Puranas in historical perspective, using multiple methods. ‘To understand them as sources of history and as influencers ofthe cultural fabric ofthe country leven today {ODUCTION: fat housed the world’s most ancient civilization on the banks of the Saraswati river. We saw tural, literary, archaeological and geographic evidences corroborating that in the previous ‘The lineages of Indian kings have been charted right from the early Rig Vedic period. The -keepers weaved thehistoric facts into the Puranas and Ithihasas, which p-ove tobe powerful evidences. We have studied in the earlier lessons that Puranas describe incidents with ism, history and mysticism highlighting moral values while portraying tales from the past. @ the word Ithihasa’ translates to It thus happened’, meaning itis a historic account. The great cs Ramayana and Mahabharata ae classified as Ithihasas and give us elaborate accounts on what sd during post Vedic period of Bharat ~ politcal systems, social lifestyle, administrative olcies, ethical standards and more. In this chapter we will understand the historical aspects of Ithihasas by looking at various objective evidences and inferences based on scientific studies STERN NOTION OF INDIAN HISTORY : Westen indologits term IHhasas as mythologies. A myth isa mere fanciful imagination. incorrect to conclude that our Ihasas are myth while there are evidences to prove thls erty. In contrary, civilization lke the Greek, Roman, Egyptian are considered more ancient Han te incian civilization. Why do you think such notions eit? To get the answers we shuldHISTORIOGRAPHY OF INDIA VS THE WORLD: the Vedas or Shruti which contained a lot of historical informal ya tradition, After that, there were diff living customs, For thousands of years, vere orally passed down through the Guru-Shishy history has been recorded - traditional literature, unique ways in which our h following table compares the way history was perceived in and 1 & architecture and more. Th India and the west, Rien kaneeaeen ANCIENT INDIAN VIEW OF HISTORY Values and attributes that the individuals Date and event specific chronology being represented and practiond extremely important story canbe in memory and practice History has to bea writen record Sbjnive for round sping was for moral and eh objective for record sping was legal aspects aspect did something happen and who dt was Visite . What happened and why ithappened, was recorded Tadeo et Cand pcon aia acon! |e ‘based on dates that would fit the Gregorian cal ‘The western record keepers recorded history nd why it cannot be applied to Indian history Let us understand the Gregorian calendar an ‘THE FALLACY OF GREGORIAN CALENDER: Bharat’s history was recorded with astronot “observations, noting the positions of the planets and sf during a particular occurrence. Based on how rare fastronomical occurrence is, tue incident is remember and celebrated in that frequency. The Europeans bs their records on the Gregorian calendar introduced in 19 CCE, based on the ealier Julian calendar from 46 BCE. eee ec Seeetieree eae scst ats Meme enor ts stgrape = SMARTER Reverend James Ussher the ‘Archbishop of Irela ae, Re created on 23% October, e BCE at 9 AM by God, based con the Bible, The Indian epics. Ramayana and Mahabharata predate this er according toliterary astronomical and archaeological Perences Hence the British historians James Mill and Charles Grant ‘Who were commissioned to write ‘The History of India’ incorrect Gesufled most of the Indian literary records as mythological. The Solonisers ofthe globe couldn't accept that sucha rich and glorious don existed even before their history began. civilizat ‘The myth of the date of creation of the world has been busted by secu scientific methods yet the dangerous impact of Mil’s and Grant's work remains, Indi Tren today, ae left confused about the authenticity of our history and heritage, Let us explore} historicity of record-keeping by ancient Indians. 46¢ CHAPTER-4JAS AS HISTORIC RECORDS {sa vehicle that takes you to enlightenment, its primary goal being Moksha. But it also incidents that happened over different periods. Puranas deal with five subjects in all ~ dissolution, recreation, genealogies of kings lives ofthe rulers and theirlater generations. vanas were centered on the life of an individual or a lineage, highlighting the Key incidents their lives, exemplifying the principles portrayed by the characters. Of tke many Puranas, fare well known and elaborated upon, The etymology” of the word Purana is ‘Pura Api P meaning old yet new. It implies that the Puranas talk of episodes and virtues that are toall periods of time. the Puranas, we could derive lineages of legendary sages and glorious kings who ruled “Till date many Indian families from different societal backgrounds and different regions Trace back their lineage to one ofthe Saptarishis (glorious 7 sages) through tre Gotra. The two heroes of Bharat from our ancient past are Rama and Krishna. They belonged to the wvamsha (inspired by the sun) and Chandravamsha (inspired by the moon) dynasties. A ctisp ‘oftheir dynasties (non-exhaustive) is represented here, ly Tree of Chandravamsha Family Tree of Suyavamsha ~~ {non exhaustive) (non exhausiive) ikshvak cn on Raghu ed Suryavamahis thrived inthe Trta Yuga, with every king being an exemplary leader who for Dharmic principles, Emperor Tshvaks, was the fist to rule Ayodhya. Crest jel” the Suryavamshis was Rama, the leader who proved that tis humanly posible to uphold a all umes and t live the ideals preached by the scriptures, The descendants of ravamcha started important clan inthe Dwapara Yuga (a later time than Ramayana) ~ ras and Kurus, The paragon’ ofthe Chandravamshis was Krishna, who played a major role re-establishing Dharma though the Kurukshetra battle Paragon : Outstanding Example 1 History ofthe word Crest jewel :Tresured GOLDEN AGEOF BHARAT #47ITIHASAS AS HISTORIC RECORDS Do you know of a poem that has been written thousands of year The Ramayana and Mahabharata are histori records (ltihasas) that have been written in the fy cof poetry each having thousands of verses. Their inferred timeline aligns with the post Rig ve period, coinciding with the late Saraswati civilization. 15 ago and sil zemembered tod ‘The authors who wrote the epics lived during their era. Rishi Valmiki, called the Adi Kavi, composed the Ramayana in Sanskrit in a poetic metre. The Mahabharata was written as an eye witness account by Rishi Veda Vyasa “The inspiring lives of King Rama and King krishna have spun the social fabric of India over thousands of years, The literature, mi dance, theatre, architecture, textile, temp rituals, festivals and many other aspects of lifestyle of the Indian subcontinent even today: centred on these two historic epics. Moreover! ration from the lives of principles of administration and laws of the land heavily draw inspi wo Heroes of our land, Can they be imaginary? Let us look at some obvious evidences and di ‘our inferences THE EPIC RAMAYANI Rama belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty, the descendants of Suryavamsha. Ramayana the line of prominent kings for 51 generations before Rama and 32 generations after him tracing it lf ‘way to Mahabharata. Brihatbala, considered to be a descendant ofthe Iishvaks clan and king| ‘Kosala, fought on the side of the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra war. The protagonist of the Ramayana is Rama, the prince of Ayodhya. Rama was the apple of father Dasharatha’s eye, but had to go to the forest in exile to keep up ts father’s commit to his step mother, Kikeyi. Rama's wife Sita and brother Lakshmana chase to follow him to jungle for 14 year. Ravana, a demonic king, kidnapped Sita and withheld her captive in his ‘Lanka, Rama made allies with the monkey army (Vanara Sena) and travelled through the length India, crossed the ocean and fought a battle in Lanka to free Sita, In this katte of Rama triump! cover Ravana, The victory of Rama is celebrated even today as Dussera all over the country. ‘Could this story be fictional? Let us explore multiple evidences to understand this. EVIDENCES CORROBORATING RAMAYANA: ‘Valmiki’s Ramayana (the earliest v Popular research claims that astronomical data from ahcient literature can be mapped on ‘modern calendar using specialised software. This projects Rama's birth date, which falls on 9 d ‘of Chaitra month, tobe 10 January 5114 BCE at 12:30 PM. His brother Bharata’ birth date is fo ersion) mentions detailed star configurations in many chaptefobe 11 January 5114 BCE 530 AM. As written in the literature, he was born 16hours after Rama, Rama's coronation was mapped as 4 January 5089 BCE, which matches with the description in Ife epic as Rama was 25 years old. Astronomical data throws up multiple dates, but the most jpobable one can be mapped only withthe aid of other evidences ERATURE: Bishi Valmiki wrote Ramayana {opheld Dharma (righteou: ousness) as the highest principle of life, Imagine how talented our sages must have been to pen down history in a poetic met, with interesting Ipetaphors and wordplay. The epie was rewritten by many scholars, poets an Periods in many native languages, rinterpreting the original epic to suit 3s the biography of the noblest person, an ideal human being who s and duty con: in the late 1edenand of the times, Tn5" contury CE, the poet Kalidasa penned down his magnum opus Raghuvamsa, based on the Ramayana. In 12" century CE, King Kulothunga Chola Il patronised Kamban and encouraged Himto write the ‘Ramavatharam’ in Tamil, highlighting the values that Rama stood for. It brought about a social transformation. In 14" century CE, Kairaja Madhava Kandali wrote his Sapthakanda Ramayana in Assamese. Ramcharit Manas, written by Goswami Tulsidas in Avadi language in IP century CE, radically influenced the Bhakti movement in the North and is living tradition ¥en today. The chanting of the Sundara Kanda of the Ramayana is a cust Bross India during auspicious months, & ) Cee ee ee et en Which translate to the following A cat reached the great ocean of milk and desired to drink itall by licking and slapping, Just like that I ambitiously desire toretell the story of Rama who won over everything, without committing Se een he eee ra) The theme of ontinent, F, the Ram: f the Ramayana influenced the scholarly and illiterate alike across the Indian sub- ‘or example, the Adivasi (tribals) in Wayanad (Kerala) have their oral adaptation of called Adiya Ramayana. The incidents may be exaggerated for dramatisng but the GOLDEN AGEOFBHARAT #49nerbs, native nayana in the form of dance ballets, songs, poetryfe word ‘Ramayana’ translates to joumey of Rama, Every prominent place on Rama's route he sought Sita is on the Indian map even today. Some of the many places that Valmiki pes in his Ramayana are Ayodhya, Mithila, Chithrakoot, Panchavati, Dandakaranya, ita (current Hampi), Pampa Sarovar and Rameshwaram. The geographic landscapes of trees, hills and hermitages that Rama visited on hs route to find Sita presence of the famous Rama S Gent bridge connecting southern tip of ia to Sri Lanka, has been confirmed by flit imagery. The Yuddha Kanda of the smayana details the construction details of ‘ridge - surveying, planning, execution post completion. Nala, the chief engineer, fructed the bridge for Rama with the help fhe Vanaras (monkey-human) injust5 days. fe epic elaborates the varieties of wood used giving a cushion effect -Sala, Ashvakarna, fa, Bamboo, Arjuna, Palmyra, Tilaka, Bilva, Saptaparna, Karnika, Mango, Ashoka. Stones and rocks were piled on the wood. er the years the wood probably solidified into Biomass. The precise linear alignment of the ge is astonishing. It was built inthe 1:10 rato, Today it measures 35 km in length, Ths civil ering marvel is? m below sea level today. Oceanography roughly dates the bridge at 5000 Interestingly the bridge is referred ton the Mahabharata too. Many South Indian empires ithe Rama Sethu on their coins and the kings proclaimed themselves to be Sethukavalan or spath (protector of the bridge), EPIC MAHABHARATA: (Mahabharata saga began much after the Ramayana period. The people ofthis era were more alistically driven, than the Ramayana era. The plot is weaved with complex human emotions social goals. The epic describes the life-events of two brother from the Kuru clan- Pandu and rashtra pugh elder, Drithrashtra didn’t have claim to throne as he was born blind. Only one who i fit dl qualified in all aspects could become king, Pandu was an abe rule. He retreated to experience life for a while, making his brother a temporarily caretaker to the throne. Pandu had 5 the Pandavas, Drithrashtra had 100 sons (Kauravas). After Pandu’s unfortunate death in the his queen Kunt returned tothe capital with her sons, The Pandavas excelled inall learning, were the favourites. The Kauravas led by the eldest, Duryodhana, denied the Pandavas their ghiful land and kingship over Hastinapura Pandavas developed their own splendorous ety Indraprastha with the Felpof their cousin dna, the King of Dwaraka, Yet the Kauravas snatched their wealth, kingdcm rights and even honour in a game of dice trough deceit. Moreover, the Pandavas were xed tothe forest BF12 yeas and 1 year of disguised living, Krishna supported the Pandavas through all the odds the Pandavas were denied justice even after they successfully finished their exile, Krishna entio the cour of Dritharashtra as a messenger, secking justice tothe Pandavas.Denied their due, GOLDEN AGEOFBHARAT #51{in present day Haryana). Itwas not merely a sre dn the fay it was the ight for astice between the Dharmic and Adbarmic forces, Kt varus the entie Mahabharata war through clever strategies and situational lessens thet righteousness wae served The Pandavas won the war and justice prevailed. The Vick aecaaenr te end ofthe war stil inspires us after thousands of years, acting asa symbol of EVIDENCES CORROBORATING MAHABHARATA (A) ARCHAEOLOGY: Krishna is known as Dwarakadhish the! the Mahabharata war took place at Kurukshetra, maker and leader ofthe astonishing city of Dwaraka. Fispeope were under threat fal time, Krishna bul the city in Ind reclaimed fom 6 archology shows evidence of the submerged city of Dwaraka off the costs of Guara snultiple underwater explorations over an area of 980,000 sam, many building tones ar walls and pillars, stone anchors, etc have been found at 4-12 m depth The Dwaraka M oe eathed was a unigue seal 1820 mm in size, showcasing a3 headed animal, This is men sone Mahabharat as a mark of identification for the residents of Dwaraka who migrated i ne This was a security measure to Keep out the enemy Jarasanda (King of Magadha fethovindave of Kamsa) and his allie. These are dated back to 3000 BCE. With every excava the dating ofthe articles is pushed back further. Ve EULA ‘These coins were excavated in Ai Khanom, Afghanistan and dated back to 200 BCE. Can you guess the characters depicted? Ciuc: Notice the wheel (Chakra) and the plough {f) LITERATURE, TRAVEL RECORDS AND INSCRIPTIONS: su Vamsha (Pandavas and Kauravas) and Yadu Vat wvata Purana enlists the generations before ‘also detailing on many happenings during ‘the involvemen: of Krishna in Kash “The genealogy of the empires before Kur | (Krishna) are detailed in the Puranas. The Bhaga ffter Krishna. It details the life story of Krishna, Mahabharata, Nilmath Purana of Kashmir discusses! 520 CHAPTER-4‘The Jataka tales (fain text) uses the Pandavas as principal characters in its stories, The literature of the Tamils, considered to be one of the oldest written records, mentions it migrants from Dwaraka settling in Southern kingdoms and about kings who supported ‘Pandavas in the war. Even foreign historians like Al-Beruni (an Islamic traveller-writer) wrote it Krishna and the places he lived in, when he wrote Indian history. Temple inscriptions are historic records, According to scholars, there are at least 601 inscriptions mentioning [Kali Yuga started in 3101 BCE, which is a few decades after the Mahabharata war. ing the verses from the Mahabharata, the nightskes ofthe ime when key eventshappened recreated and the approximate date for the Kurukshetra battle was propesed as 3067 BCE on the mentioned astronomical observations. From Vyas's writings, ne can find the star ation onthe fst day of war, the day war continued into the night the dy King Balarama 5 elder brother) arrived at the battlefield, the number of days Bhishma sustained on the of arrows and more. The epic mentions a lunar eclipse onthe night before the frst day of war fa solar eclipse onthe thirteenth day ofthe war when King Jayadratha gets slayed, Back-o- ‘clipes within 13 days is a rare occurence. On projecting the feasible cates, taking into the other evidences, the war is estimated to have happened almost 3900 years ago. Professor BB Lal, former Director General of ASI, Padma Vibhushan ‘The evidence clesly establishes tht the Purana Quila (New Deli) and its southem represent Indraprastha ofthe Mahabharat times, In fact, ight up 01947, vlage Indrapat existed inside the Purana Qua This name was derived fom ancien’ Indraprastha, a7 of the geographic entities mentioned in the Mahabharata exist in current day Indian 3 Some of them are - Banaganga (Haryana), where Bhishma laid on the bed of arrows Kurukshetra (Haryana), the battlefield that earlier spread between rive's Saraswati and Drishtavati Hastinapura (Uttar Pradesh) and Indraprasta (New Delhi) Gandara Desha (Afghanistan), native to Kaurava queen Gandarai and her brother Shakuni Sindh Desha (Pakisthan), native to Jayadratha who married the only Kaurava princess Dushchala and despised the Pandavas Panchala (area between Himalayas and river Chamba), which was native to princess Draupadi ‘Mathura and Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) where Krishna grew up, on the banks of Yamuna ‘Kashi (Uttar Pradesh) an important empire and native to princesses Ambika and Ambalika, aughters-in-law ofthe Kuru clan Magadha (Bihar) a power centre during Mahabharata, ruled by Jarsandha who stood by the Kauravas and swore enmity towards Krishna Pragiyotishpura (Assam), native to Narakasura who was sain by Krishra, Also native to loop the Naga princess who became Aruna’ wife GOLDEN AGEOFBHARAT #53,XL Manalur (Manipus), native to princess Chitrangada, wife of Arjuna iL. Matsya Desh (Rajasthan), the kingdom where the Pandavas stayed In disguise during ti 138 year of exile | IIL Avantika (current day Uji, Madhya Pradesh), home toSandeepany Rishiin whose Ashram Krishna-Balarama studied in their early da XIV, Vidharba (Mahara Kauravas even today. There are temples or monumé Many of the places have retained their nami these spots to remember the legacy ofthe Mahabharata, The natives practice unique customs] ple: In the neighbouring vila Lath Mar Holi iscelel membered. For © rmake sure their history is culturally Nandgaon and Barsana (naive to Krishna and Radha) in Uttar Prade ara grand way. The men from Nandagaon enter Barsana with colours just ike Krishna andl Fa ae ngmen of Barsana chase them and beat them with sticks, ike Radha and her fren and then they all play Holi with colours, ‘DID YOU RO a ra), home to Rukmini (Krishna's wife) and an ally kingdom to thalMAHABHARATA WAR: today, the Kurukshetra war is considered the most ferocious war with the biggest impact in id history. The word Mahabharata denotes the great empire of Bharat. Every kingdom and in ll of the extended Indian geography took part in the war. This 18-day battle was also “Jaya or victory as itis symbolic of Truth vs Deceit, Dharma vs Adharma. There were 18 uuhinis fighting the war - 11 on the Kaurava side and 7 on the Pandava side. In all, millions people participated in the war ‘was the mastermind helping the Pandavas. He lent his Narayani Sena (powerful army) the Kauravas to be far. King Drupada (Panchala), King Kuntibhoja(Kuntirashtra), King Virata 3), King Dhrishtaketu (Chedi) were amongst the important Panadava allies. Even the South kingdoms of Pandyas, Cheras, Cholas, Dravidas sided with them. Kekeya, Kashi, Karusha, ‘and many more kingdoms supported Pandavas. lary warriors like Bhishma, Dronacharya, Kripacharya led the Kaurava forces under King wana, King Karna (Anga), King Susharma (Trigarta), King Jayadrata (Sindhu), King ta (Pragiyotisha), King Shakuni (Gandaraa) were the most powerful and important allies the Kauravas. King Shalya of Madra kingdom, leading a powerful army, wasthe maternal uncle the Pandavas, but was tricked into joining the Kauravas. Those kingdoms which were defeated y times by the Pandavas during their Rajasuya Yagna (for reign of supremacy) chose to side the Kauravas. 21,870 chariots 21,870 elephants 65,610 cavalry 109,350 infantryCONCLUSION: \Vatmiki's Ramayana and Vyasa's Mahabharata are the adhesives that have held India to hough all ages. Over thousands of years, the traditions we follow, the terature we read artforns we express and the faith we practice have been influenced by these epic. The projec dat Crcarrence could vary based on the method of research, but their truth Mined. Even today Rama and Krishna ae the most popular prefixes and suffixes to Indian nar ects, roads, villages, districts are named after them. A nation, unawat identity. When we are unaware of our glorious history, we become the boal or, caught inthe boisterous waves ofthe ocean In the next lesson, lt us explo ow our ancestors continued to lead the Dharmic lifes expounded inthe Ithihasas and Purana 56 CHAPTER-&What is Gregorian calendar? Why can a Gregorian calendar not be used for studying Indian history? What are names of King Rama’s and King Krishna's dynasty? ‘Why should we not call Ramayana and Mahabharata as mythology? Who were the authors ofthe Itihasas? Which Itihasa was written first? Write in brief about Ramasethu P Explain an Akshauhini ANSWER IN DETAIL Write the major differences between the western view of history and ancent Indian view of history Explain a few evidences why Ramayana can not be a myth Share evidences to show that Mahabharat can not be a myth J. FILL IN THE BLANKS, The_ is the earliest literature of the human race ——___ is aseal that has the three-headed creature Ai26 ——_ patronized Kamban and encouraged him to write the Ramavatharam in Tamil ‘An ancient bridge connecting southern tip of India to Srilanka is ‘The author of Ramcharita Manas is ‘MULTIPLE cHoIcE auEsTIONS j The aris considered tobe the ferocous war with the bigges impact in work history | 2) Magacha 1) Kalinga ©)Kurushetsa ———d) Maryan | Kaliyuga started in_ j 2) 3102 BCE 1) 3101 BCE 6) 3105 BCE 4) 307 9c Hastinapura is now called a 4)Uttar Pradesh 6) Haryana Bihar 4) Rajasthan — is the place where Bhishma laid onthe bed of arrows. 2) Banoganga 1) Vrindavan) Manala 4) Avantika ‘The adivasis in Wayanad have their oral adaption of the Ramayana called )Ramavatharam b) Adiya Ramayana )SaptaKanda Ramayana d) Rana Chait Manas GOLDEN AGEOFBHARAT #57V. PICTURE BASED QUESTIONS i. Who wrote Tamil Ramayana? ii, Name any two values learnt from Ramayana, i. Which is the traditional Masked Dance Drama of Thailan fi, What does it depict? VI. MATCH THE FOLLOWING 1. Kalidasa = Keishna’s elder brother 2, Truth vs Deceit = Lineage of the moon 3, Chandra vamsha = Lava and Kusa 4. Rama's son = Mahabharata 5, King Balarama = Raghuvamsha Vu. MAP. (On the India Political Map mark the following places: + Kalinga + Dwaraka i + Mathura + Avanti | + Magadha 58 CHAPTER-«