Sri Rama, the Historical Being
Sri Rama, the incarnation (Avatar) of the Supreme Protector, Sri Vishnu, is widely worshipped all over India and South & South East & East Asia (Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Mongolia, Siberia, Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia, Java, Sumatra, Cambodia, China, Japan, Lanka and Vietnam).
The article aims to highlight that Sri Rama, the historical being. Further, it deals with the questions such as, Whether Sri Rama Born; When Sri Rama Born.
Whether Sri Rama Born:
Many people create controversies on the birth of Sri Rama. Bhagwan Sri Rama Chandra was born in human form on the ninth day of the lunar month Chaitra as per Hindu calendar (March–April) in Ayodhya (UP) at the end of the second Age or Treta-yuga. The fact has been proved in Supreme Court in its judgement dated 9th November, 2019 of Ramjanmabhomi case; based on scriptures (including 'Valmiki Ramayana' and 'Skanda Purana') and archeological excavations.
There are numerous places that are indicated as the locations where various events happened in the life of Sri Rama detailed in Ramayana. These locations are now historical sites such as Chitrakoot, Bhadrachalam, Ramesvaram, Nasik, Hampi, Pampa, Sabrimala, Janakpur in Nepal, several caves, such as Ravana Ella Falls in Sri Lanka and others.
When Sri Rama Born:
As per the Institute for Scientific Research on Vedas (I-SERVE), planetarium software has ascertained the birth of Lord Rama as 10th January 5114 BC in Ayodhya based on the details available in Valmiki Ramayana.
However, as per Vayu purana (70/48) shloka –
“।।त्रैतायुगे चतुर्विर्श रावणस्तपसः क्षयात्।।
।।रामं दाशरथिं प्राप्य सगणः क्षयमीयवानम्।।“
Means:-for the behavior of Ravna & due to his bad deeds he was killed in battle by Dashrath Nandan Rama in battle of sri lanka, in 24th stage of treta yuga.
If we go by Vayu purana, Sri Rama was borne in last part 24th stage (Manvantar) of trata yuga. As per Vedic calculations, each Manvantar is further divided into chaturyugis. Each chaturyugis consist of satyuga, traita, dwapar and kaliyuga having 4,800 Deva Vatsaras, 3,600 Deva Vatsaras, 2,400 Deva Vatsaras and 1,200 Deva Vatsaras (summing up to 12000) respectively. Deva Vatsara means one day and one night of God i.e. equal to one human year of 360 days approx. Hence, one chaturyugi is 12,000 * 360 = 4320,000 human years. This is the 28th chaturyugi and first charan(period) of this chaturyugi is in continuation. Hence, the period, since Sri Rama till now comes to around 1.75 to 1.80 million years back.
According to astronomy, the positions of zodiac constellations come back to their original place after a cycle of approximately 26,000 years. The scientific interpretation of the photographs of the remains of Adam's Bridge (Ram Setu) taken by NASA's Gemini-11 spacecraft in 2002, reveals that this ancient bridge linking India to Sri Lanka was manmade, and it was dated to be at least 1.75 million years old.
When Worship of Sri Rama heightened:
Since thousands of years Sri Rama’s character has been inspiring millions of people. Ramananda (Born in Prayagraj UP and settled in Varanasi, lived in 1300-1411 century), placed devotional focus upon Rama, whom he considered supreme Lord. He was the spiritual Guru of the twelve great leaders of Vaisnava cult in North India. Among the group's most prominent members were Tulsidas, Kabir (Muslim), Mirabai, Ravidas (cobbler by birth), Sena (barber by caste), Dana (jat), Pipa (Rajput), Dadu and others. It is widely known that Sant Tulsidas has met Bhagwan Rama through Bhakt Hanuman as a reward of composing Sri Ramcharitramanas.