Is Ramayana story real, there’s some serious proof left.
It’s a question that has been asked hundreds of years since and will be asked hundreds of years for. There have been papers published that make it a part of a forgotten reality, then there were papers published which ridiculed the aforementioned papers. In the whole deal of circulation of papers, we have lost the essence of the epic
But the traces were found in these mythological epics. One such similar scenario is the perfect timing of the distance gap between Sri Lanka and Ayodhya. Now there plenty of images flooded online where people actually started googling about how much time it will take to reach back to Ayodhya from Sri Lanka, and the answer is 20 days.
Yes! You read it right, According to Google, It will take a person 20 days to finish his journey from Sri Lanka to Ayodhya. In, Ramayana it was written as Rama took 18 days to reach his kingdom Ayodhya, from the day he killed Ravana(Dusherra) to celebrate the coming back (Diwali) to his kingdom.
Though there’s no legitimacy behind this theory but, For simplicity lets assume that Ram started his journey from Rameshwaram, the point from where he crossed into Lanka. Well he actually killed Ravan in Lanka but then we do not know where in Lanka, it could be just right across the Ram Sethu from Rameshwaram. Google maps say that distance from Rameshwaram to Ayodhya is 2588 km. If you add the length of Ram sethu which is 30 km then this distance becomes 2618 km.
From Dusshera to Diwali its exactly 20 days. Now travelling 2618 km in 20 days means travelling on an average of 130 km a day. So lets see if it was possible to travel 130 km a day in those times. The fastest way to travel would be on horse.
Typically on an average a horse can travel 30-50 km in a day. But then we are talking about a person of a king’s stature so he would have access to the best horses. And he was no ordinary rider either, having being trained as a prince from the best teachers. From the above article :-
“Of course, a fit horse can travel further than this. Mounted soldiers would ride their horses 50-60 miles (80-100 km) in a day. This is more taxing on both the horses and the riders.”
So 100 km in a day is quite possible. Although it is unlikely that same horse can travel for 100 km in a stretch for 20 days. However note that Rama had well wishers and friendly kingdoms all along the way, so it is quite possible that en-route they would have been changing their horses, again getting the best and fittest horses along the way.
It could be possible to go even faster. During the times of Roman Empire they had a service called Cursus Publicus which was the state run courier and transportation service. It primarily used horses as its means of transport and could cover 100 km a day. Important news travelled even faster.
Therefore the typical trip was made at the rate of 41 to 64 miles (66–103 km) per day. There are several cases in which urgent news or eager officials traveled at a faster rate. There is the journey of Tiberius mentioned by Valerius Maximus, the news of the mutiny of Galba as recorded by Tacitus, and the news of the death of Nero as described by Plutarch.
I think the main reason such travel times were possible was because horses could be changed en route. It is quite unlikely for the same horse to travel this fast over such a pro-longer period of time, but quite possible if the rider is able to switch horses and get fresh and fit horses as soon as the current one gets tired.
Even though the epic talks about Pushpak Viman and traveling through air, it was possible to travel on land using existing means to cover the distance in the mentioned time