Author: Sunit Bezbaroowa &
Arvind Joshi
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 8, 2003
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow?msid=273107
"Ram was and is for real. He was
born on January 10, 5114 BC," Saroj Bala, IRS, Commisioner of Income Tax
says, calmly, with the assurance of one who has tangible facts.
Taking on the contemporary historical
interpretation of Ramayana as a religio-literary text, and Lord Ram as
a semi-mythical figure, is this unassuming person who zealously devotes
her spare time to research in history when she's not playing the tax mandarin.
And she has chosen the unusual
combination of astronomy, Internet and literary texts to provide us a startling
picture of Shri Ram. This might change the way we look at history and religion.
We might refuse to begin reading Indian history from that comma, or hyphen
called 'Indus Valley.' We might have to stretch the beginnings by a few
thousand years because, as Saroj Bala says - Ram was born on January 10,
5114 BC.
Excerpts of an interview with the
lady who has the intellectual courage to go beyond the obvious:
Q.: What got it all started.
A.: As an amateur historian, I've
always been interested in Indian culture and heritage. I am proud that
we're Indians and the products of one of the oldest civilisations. However,
British rule changed us; we developed a sense of being somehow inferior.
But I could never reconcile to
theories like the theory of Aryan invasion to India in 1500 BC. That would
make Indian civilization only 3,500 years old.
And if you choose archaeology to
dig beyond 7,000 years, you'd have to dig more than 60 metres - something
not being done in India as yet. So, archaeology is not the only answer.
There's a lot of objective research of another kind that needs to be carried
out in earnest.
Q.: So, how can we say Ram was
born on January 10, 5114 B.C.
A.: My colleague Pushkar Bhatnagar
of Indian Revenue Service is the real originator of this theory. He acquired
a software named Planetarium, used to predict planetary movements and configurations.
By entering in this software, precise
details of planetary positions vis-à-vis zodiac constellations described
by Maharishi Valmiki in the Valmiki Ramayan, it is possible to determine
important dates starting from Shri Ram's birth-date to the date of his
return to Ayodhya.
Q.: More than just Ram's date of
birth.
A.: The results have not just thrown
up Shri Ram's date of birth; it has actually traced the entire sequence
of incidents throughout Ramayan.
Pushkar Bhatnagar starts with tracing
Ram's birth. Then he moves ahead in the narrative. Valmiki Ramayan states
Ram was 25-years-old when he went to exile. When the configuration of planets
described at this point is fed into the software, the date thrown up matches
perfectly with Ram's age at that juncture of his life - 25 years.
Again in the 13th year of Ram's
exile, during a war with Khar and Dushan, Valmiki describes a solar eclipse.
The software proves that on that given day there was indeed a solar eclipse
(with Mars in the middle). This solar eclipse and the particular configuration
of planets could be seen from Panchavati (longitude and latitude plainly
shown in the software).
Q.: Hanuman Saw 8 Constellations
while flying to Lanka.
A.: In the Sunderkand, when Valmiki
describes Hanuman crossing the sea and returning from Lanka to Rameshwaram,
he gives details of 8 constellations. Usually, one can see not more than
6 constellations at a given point of time. But since Hanuman was flying
across, and it must have taken him approximately 4 hrs to get there, he
could see 8 constellations - in two hours one constellation would have
moved out of sight and another become visible. So, in a period of 4 hrs
he saw 8 constellations!
Q.: Historicising Shri Ram. Man
or God.
A.: After researching on Shri Ram,
I do believe he's a man who walked the earth in flesh and blood. There
is an essential difference between the Valmiki Ramayana and the Tulsi Ramayana.
Tulsidas was a devotee who looked up to Ram, but Valmiki was a contemporary.
Valmiki has written Ram's life-history, as a biographer does - he's a contemporary
of Ram, and this is not very different from what happens all over the world.
Kings have always had their life-history written.
Q.: The submerged bridge.
A.: Recently, NASA had put pictures
on the Internet of a man-made bridge, the ruins of which are submerged
in Palk Strait between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka. This clearly should be
treated as historical evidence that corroborates its mention in Valmiki
Ramayana.
Q.: The puzzle of Indian history.
A.: The presence of Ramayana, Mahabharata
and Vedas cannot be explained by the short period between the decline of
the Indus valley civilization and the Rig Vedic period. A civilization
cannot suddenly burst into advanced writing.
One needs to look at various sources
of history to re-build it. Especially when looking at ancient history.
One needs to excavate, look at literature, ancient texts, astronomy.
Q.: Government apathy to archaeological
diggings and investigation in this direction.
A.: There's been a very strange
development in the media and the people of India. We have started seeing
ancient India as something equivalent to the word 'Hindu'. The very word
Hindu came into circulation only after the advent of Islam in India. In
Ramayana and the Vedas , there is no mention of the word 'Hindu'. At the
most, there is only mention of terms like 'Aryavrat' or 'Bharatvarsh' and
residents here are called as 'Aryans'. Since centuries, Christians, Muslims,
Sikhs have been living in this country and it's their land as much as it
is to a Hindu. Anything that has happened on this land in the past is their
common heritage. But, unfortunately, politicians with vested interests
have divided the people on artificial religious lines and making it appear
that anything related to ancient India was perhaps related to Hindu, which
is not the case and should not be the case.
Q.: There has never been any strong
will.
A.: It is not that researches have
been not taken place. There has been excellent work done by noted historians
like Sir Alexander Cunningham and Dr Lal. Cunningham has written as many
as 21 volumes on ancient Indian history. But one needs special permissions
to access these texts.
Unfortunately, Cunningham's work
that has very important information has not seen the light of the day.
Dr. Lal has pictured the ancient city of Dwarka and it can be read in 'The
lost city of Dwarka'. He has listed out 1000 artifacts. Only 9 crores needed
to be sanctioned by the government in placing a transparent tube to the
sea-bed that could allow people to see for themselves the wonder that was
Dwarka.
And now people equate the sum total
of ancient history to 'a temple or no- temple' at Ayodhya.
Q.: Delay in research also because
science hadn't arrived.
A.: Without the aid of science
it is practically impossible to manually calculate the exact planetary
configuration 7, 000 years back. It is science which is going to validate
our history and prove that it is much older than 3, 500 years.
Q.: What would be the implications
of your research on the society?
A.: I seriously feel that there
can only be positive effects of my research. In fact, Indians should seriously
re-look how old is our history and culture. This is not the end of the
research; it's just the beginning. People should be encouraged to do more
in-depth research by all means such as archaeology, dating methods and
oceanography.
Max Mueller had come up with the
theory that Aryans had come to India in 1500 B.C. In the Internet, Max
Mueller Foundations says that that they have re-looked at this theory and
is of the opinion that this theory is no longer valid because Indian history
is much older than that period. It's just that people have to open up their
minds and find out the answers for themselves.
