Yesterday I had a conversation with my Boss on the Ramsetu at Dhanushkodi. Whenever such a conversation takes place with anyone, I check on the veracity of the discussion. So I checked on that and found the following.
Rama is called Maryada Parushottam. Which means an ideal human being as per the societal norms of that time.
Maryada in Hindi means dignity and glory and denotes adhering to ethical and moral values under all circumstances. Purushottam of course means the best among men in virtues.
Why is Rama called thus?
Despite facing difficult situations he lived his life according to the Dharma prescribed by the society at that time.
Despite being a Prince, he unwaveringly accepted the exile for his father’s and foster mother's sake considering it to be his Dharma.
He lived a life of strict monogamy and never looked at another woman apart from his wife.
When he was later anointed as the King of Ayodhya, he treated his subjects with great kindness and love.
Just because one of his subjects commented that he had accepted Sita without a test after her being so long at Ravanas palace, he chose to put Sita to the Agnipariksha to prove her chastity.
Of course this is just to satisfy his subjects, but that was the way people thought at that time and he has merely submitted to their wishes despite having a great love for Sita.
By today’s standards though, this would be seen as something terrible because he has sacrificed his wife’s comfort for the sake of someone else. So Dharma changes with time.
GEOGRAPHY OF RAMAYANA
Many of us assume that Lanka of the Ramayana is Sri Lanka and also assume that the 48 Km rock formation between Dhanushkodi in India to Mannar island in Srilanka to be the Ramsetu.
But the actual fact is something else altogether. The rock formation between India and Srilanka is completely natural and has nothing to do with the Ramayana.
When we examine the Geography of Ramayana, our assumption of Srilanka is blown to bits.
The Ramayana is dated to about 700 BC and so happened 2700 years ago.
AYODHYA is of course the current day Ayodhya.
PRAYAGA of the current day is not the Prayaga of Ramayana.
PRAYAGA of Ramayana at that time was a dense forest with Rishi Bhardwaja’s hermitage serving as the lone habitation.
As per Rishi Bharadwaja, his hermitage is located 2.5 yojanas from CHITRAKOOT. A yojana is 0.60 Km and therefore his hermitage is located only 1.5 Km from Chitrakoot.
Surprisingly the Ganga and Yamuna met at the Ramayana Prayag at that time and not at Allahabad as they do today.
During the 2700 years’ time between the time when Ramayana happened and today the rivers changed their course and meet at the current day Prayag.
As per Ramayana PANCHAVATI was in the DANDAKARANYA forest which was then under the administration of the Rakshas Khara, Dooshana and Trishira. Panchavati stood close to Sarangpur in Madhya Pradesh.
The Brahma Purana tells us that Gautami Ganga is the name of the Ganga south of the Vindhyas. It is otherwise known as Dakshina Ganga or Godavari.
Surprisingly the purana says that the length of Godavari in Dandakaranya is only about 5 yojanas or 3 Km. which means at that time Godavari was a small stream.
KISHKINDA was located to the north of Vindhya Mountains and Narmada, to the west of Ganga and Yamuna and to the east of Mathura. This is near Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh.
DAKSHINA SAAGARA is leapt upon by Hanuman from Mt. Mahendra. This was described as a body of salt water abounding in dangerous fish and other living things.
Ramayana says MT. MAHENDRA is in the Vindhya range and is next to Dakshina Saagara.
It refers to Dakshina Saagara as a body of salt water and it is by the side of a forest.
Ramayana does not mention the location of Mt MAHENDRA but both Srimad Bhagavata and Mahabharata do so.
They locate it in Kalinga (the present day Orissa). Mt Mahendra is known as Mahendragiri today and is located in the Ganjam district of Orissa north of Srikakulam, 50 Km away from the sea.
At the time of Ramayana Mahendragiri was by the side of the sea and the sea retreated 50 km back since then.
Lanka was located 100 yojanas or 60 km from Mt Mahendra. The Sonepur tract( called Subamapur today) of western Orissa was known as Lanka till as late as the 10th-11th centuries AD.
The Goddess Lankeshwari is still regarded as the presiding deity of this territory and is worshipped daily.
Travelling south east of Subamapur brings us to Mahendragiri and thence to a small town called Lanka even today which is 40 Km away from there.
So Lord Rama never set his foot in the South of India much less in Tamilnadu, but without examining the issue we continue to believe that Lanka of the Ramayana is Srilanka.
If anyone wants to research on the topic further, I give below that link of a blog which provides excellent and exhaustive information on that.
https://bharatbhumika.blogspot.com/2015/11/geography-of-ramayana.html?sc=1745116305215
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