Shri Ram Navami of this year was celebrated in a distinctively different mood in absolute contrast to the past years. The amicable and peaceful solution to the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, which had been plaguing the social life of India for more than 500 years, filled joy and new hope in the Indian society. This solemn sense of jubilation was perceptibly visible in the Bhoomi Pooja for the construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya and the grand project for the reconstruction of the ancient Ayodhya city. The construction work of the shrine that will shine as a world of pride for the Muslim community has also been started. The ‘Nidhi Samaharan,’ led by a trust set up by the central government for the construction of the temple, substantially involved the community as a whole in a way that did not reflect even the pressing plight of the Covid pandemic.
The Ram Janmabhoomi movement, the ensuing legal issues, and the way it was resolved point to the fact that it was beyond the simple matter of a land dispute. Moreover, it accentuates the exigent necessity of an Indian historiography. The claim to Shri Rama’s birthplace has been unequivocally proved by the court order. It was principally supported by archaeological pieces of evidence, revenue records, and other literary documents. The verdict was based on the concept of God as Lord baby Rama, a legal entity. It has been unequivocally proved in court that a very ancient temple existed there in Ayodhya and that people went there to worship Lord Rama for many centuries.
At the same time, the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation brought to the foreground a potently fundamental issue; the very existence of Lord Rama as a historical personality. Some suspicious minds sustained several questions like whether Raman was originally born or not, if so, when, and where did Rama live. The exact age of the city of Ayodhya and the history of the people there were also questioned. The common people of Sri Ramapaksha were stunned by such questions. Much of the people give more attention to the ongoing legal battles in the court to establish the antiquity of the concept of God as Balarama (Ramlala) and the right to the disputed land. At the same time, there had also been some strenuous efforts during this period to rationally study the existence and life of Rama as a historical reality.
Eurocentric historians and their descendants in India firmly believe that India has no valid history or even the concept of historiography. European historians often failed to acknowledge the historical facts beyond the beginning of the Christian era. Their theory was that “history after Christ is more factual and history before Christ is more mythical.” So, not only the gifted history of India but also the illustrious histories of ancient Greece, Japan, and China were myths, beliefs, or literature to their limited awareness. They have written and distorted Indian history according to their limited chrono-sense, dismissing the significant facts as pure myths.
Swami Vivekananda’s biographies narrate his conversation with a group of university students in Rajputana during his wandering as an unknown monk of India in 1891. His post-dated observation finds a radiating relevance in this context. Accordingly, The Swamiji said, “The history of India today is confusing. The Englishman has written our country’s history. We must study the legends of Shruti, Smriti, Purana in a critical way. On that basis, we must write the authentic, innocuous, and self-inspiring history of India with scientific evidence. The Indians themselves must write the history of India”.
European historians and the later colonialist and Marxian historians summarily failed to recognize the chronological complexities of Indian history, and they cunningly sought to subvert Indian history using their theoretical designs. India continued to be distorted, misunderstood, and jeered at. But, with the beginning of the twentieth century, a new trend upsurged; consigning themselves to Swami Vivekanda’s clarion call, several patriotic scholars began to present the history and contributions of India in various fields to the world. Prominent among these were BB Dutta, a historian of mathematics(History of Hindu mathematics), Prafulla Chandra, famous as the father of Indian pharmaceuticals and as the historian of chemistry(Hindu Chemistry), and RC Majmudar(Volumes on ancient India). Colonialist and Market historians who controlled the universities and academic institutions in India craftily dismissed them as ‘Hindu historians.’ Many historians have once again developed an Indian methodology in Indian historiography with a nationalist pursuit, taking up objections, neglects, and challenges. Dr. BB Lal, Kalyanaraman, Michial Danino, Francis Gottior, Kelnad Elst, Subhash Kak, Pushkar Bhatnagar, and Ved Veer Arya are just a few among this noteworthy. Their research demands a relook in writing the Indian history cooked up by the European and Marxist historians and developing an Indian historiography. They could successfully expose the numerous fallacies of colonial and Marxist versions of Indian historiography. The unprecedented and continuous resistance of the traditionalist historians has now forced eminent historians to rethink the colonialist and Marxist historiography. Romila Thapar, the living legends of colonialist and Marxist historiography, has recently published a book titled “The Past Before Us: Historical tradition of Early North India,” in which she clearly indicates a change in the mindset of the eminent historians. The Harvard University Press writes about the book as the “Claims, often made that India – uniquely among civilizations- lacks historical writings distracts us from a more pertinent question according to Romila Thapar, how to recognize the historical sense of societies whoes past is recorded in a way very different from European conventions.” The Press further goes on to write that ” Thapar reveals a deep and sophisticated consciousness of history embedded in the diverse body of classical Indian literature.”
Modern disciplines such as space science, archaeology, geology, anthropology, deep oceanography, ecology, remote sensing technology, paleobotany, paleontology, and genetics have developed significantly and provided eloquent evidence in the field of history. Ancient astronomical indicators are one of the most reliable documents on ancient Indian history. The mastery and precision of astronomical observation in India are acknowledged and approved by the world.
On July 30, 2011, the former President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, inaugurated a national seminar on the chronology of the Ramayana and the Vedic literature. In the speech, APJ Abdul Kalam reminded of the need for scientific research and integration of different disciplines of science in historiography. The title of his speech was “Past Meets Present Leading to a Better Future.” In this speech, he asserted: “Vedic and post-Vedic literature has a tremendous amount of scientific knowledge which will be extremely beneficial to humanity. For creating faith in these documents, there is a need to establish the date of creation of Vedas and Upanishads so that they are transformed into historical events and not imaginary mythological events…….if we look at the scientific dating of Ramayana, the important aspect about Ramayana is that when Valmiki composed the epic, he picked so much information about the various planetary positions of those days, the geography of the areas mentioned in the epics, the seasonal events, and about the genealogy of various kings that is virtually a no brainer to establish the dates on which those events occurred.” He was addressing a gathering of eminent astronomers, ecologists, archaeologists, and anthropologists across the world. These appeals by APJ Abdul Kalam have convinced many scholars working in sundry fields of science on the need for historical research in India and the importance of different branches of modern sciences in it. Many of India’s leading astronomers and scientists have come together to establish the date of Indian ancient history. The vastness and depth of the research books published in this field speak volumes that they have succeeded in unravelling the mystery of the complex chronology of Indian history that Swami Vivekananda narrated a century ago. There is still a lot of room for research to be explored in this terrain. Moreover, what research has proved till this time must be communicated to the general public especially, the young generation, through school and college curriculum and publications in local languages.
If we consider only Ayodhya and the Ramayana period, references to Ayodhya begin from BCE 13800 in the scriptures. In the Rig Veda, the river Sarayu is mentioned in the fourth and tenth chapters. Atharva Veda refers in 10.31 to Ayodhya as the capital of the gods during the Battle of Devasura. Researchers estimate the human settlement as early as BCE13800-12500 in Ayodhya. Tradition takes the stand that Vaivasvata Manu and his son Ikshvaku founded the capital city of Kushasthali near Saurashtra in Gujarat around 12,500 BCE and ruled for 12 generations. It is estimated that the Vedic Saraswati River got diverted around 11,000 BCE and that the settlements in the area slowly moved elsewhere. Recent Paleo River Channel studies confirm this. Ayodhya was again made the capital of India from 11000 BCE to 4700 BCE. The genealogy of the Ikshvaku dynasty has been published today by scientific analysis. Sri Ramachandra, the son of Dasaratha, was the sixty-first king of that dynasty. According to the modern study of the ancient astronomical indicators mentioned earlier, Rama was born on February 3, 5674 BCE, or January 10, 5114, based on the Jathaka or the horoscope of Sri Ramachandra mentioned in the Ramayana. The planetary condition can be reconstructed by confirming that the assassination of Ravana took place in November 5635, and the coronation of Lord Rama in Ayodhya took place on December 21, 5635.
Certain trivial differences can be tracked down in the findings of different astronomers who have done research in the Ramayana. However, the various contextual shreds of evidence in the Ramayana, the references to non-Ramayana Vedic literature, the geographical studies related to the Ramayana, and the oceanographic studies of Rama Sethu have concertedly continued to make the Ramayana period all the more precious. Dr. Vedavir Arya, who authored some authentic books on Indian ancient chronology, confirms that it was chronologically nestled in the sixth millennium BCE. Yes, the challenge initiated by the academic community has to go ahead and make the best use of the opportunities opened by the New National Education policy to bring about changes in the historiography, social and political studies with a scientific approach. It must trigger the ability of critical analysis and problem-solving skills. Indian knowledge systems and traditional practices must mandatorily find a valuable space in the curriculum. The academic autonomy and the resurgent interest in research, cutting all edges, should definitely make India a vibrant knowledge society with national pride.
A.Vinod karuvarakundu is Member National Monitoring Committee for Education, Govt. of India and Secretary, Madhava Ganitha Kendram
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