International Conference & Exhibition on "Lord Srirama in Art, Literature & Religion" From 22nd - 25th February 2017 at Mysuru
(Venue - Auditorium, Dept. of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, Mysore)
4-day International Conference on “Lord Srirama in Art, Literature and Religion,” was organised in the Auditorium of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Mysore. Peethadhipathi of Sri Sudarshana Narasimha Kshetra, Department of Archaeology, Karnataka, ASI, Ayodhya Research Institute, ICHR, and IGNCA jointly organised this conference. An Organizing Committee for Ramayan Conference was formed of which Shri B S Krishna Prasad was the Convenor.
A long list of speakers and distinguished guests was given on the invitation, but most of the eminent speakers and guests did not attend. The only two other learned persons, whose presentations I still remember with admiration were Dr Yogendra Pratap Singh, Director of Ayodhya Research Institute and Ms Molly Kaushal of IGNCA. The topic on which Mrs Saroj Bala made the presentation was entitled, “Ramayan Retold Through Scientific Evidence: Sky Views of Important Astronomical Dates of References in Valmiki Ramayan and Supporting Scientific Evidence -
The gist of the Presentation made by Mrs Saroj Bala in Mysore on 22-25 February 2017 is as under -
People all over the world, particularly in the Indian Subcontinent, remember, admire and worship Shri Ram. Most of the festivals in India revolve around the events related to the life of Shri Ram. Maryada Purushottam Ram remains unparalleled as an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal warrior, an ideal king and an ideal social reformer!
Shri Ram moved from place to place to spread the message of unity all over Bharat Varsha by showing a high level of respect for the people, who are at present considered as belonging to Dalit class backward tribes. He was a nationalist par excellence who left his kingdom to protect the tribals, hermits and sages living in the forests, from the atrocities of wicked Brahman King Ravana of Sri Lanka and his relatives like Khar and Dushan, Subahu and Trishira, who after having turned into Rakshasas, were committing barbarities on innocent and noble people of India.
There is only one ‘Ramayan’, which was composed by Maharishi Valmiki Ji as a contemporary admirer of Shri Ram; admirers of great men get replaced with followers after a few hundred years. Then after a long long time, followers yield place to the devotees. This Paper is based on the story of the life of Shri Ram narrated by Valmiki Ji in ‘Ramayan’ along with the archaeo-astronomical dates of important events determined on a purely scientific basis, along with other scientific evidence supporting such date sequence.
Maharishi Valmiki was a great astronomer and he made sequential astronomical references on important dates related to the life of Shri Ram indicating the location of planets vis-a-vis zodiac constellations and the other visible stars (nakshatras). Needless to add similar positions of planets and Nakshatras vis-a-vis zodiac constellations, are not repeated in 25920 years. By entering the precise details of the planetary configurations of the important events in the life of Shri Ram, as given in the Valmiki Ramyan, using the software named ‘Planetarium Gold’ the exact dates of these events according to the English calendar could be known. When converted into the Luni-solar calendar followed in ancient India; these perfectly match the sequential lunar dates given by Valmiki Ji. The software naturally displays the lunar tithi as well which can be easily calculated after looking at the location and phase of the Moon. The paper presents some of these sky views, observed from the given locations.
These astronomical dates of planetary references in Ramayan, are corroborated by several scientific proofs; including those from archaeological, geological, oceanographic, geographic and genetic research reports. An attempt was made to present such scientific evidence, which would persuade the viewer to believe that Ramayan was not a mythological story / fictional novel, but represents the true ancient historical heritage of India.
The most distinguished scientist of the 20th century, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, had said, “The important aspect about the Ramayana is that when Maharshi Valmiki wrote the epic, he made it with many proofs. He packed so much information about the various planetary positions of those days, the geography of the areas mentioned in the epic, the seasonal events, about the genealogy of various kings, that it is virtually a no-brainer to establish the dates on which those events occurred. Genealogical links and archaeological findings also provide clues to the dating of the Ramayana era………...” Through this presentation, an attempt was made to explain the evidence which proves that these assertions made by this great son of India were all correct.
In Mysore on 22-25 February 2017
62 Exhibits display precise dates of events narrated in Valmiki Ramayan based on Astronomical, Archaeological, Botanical, Genetic, Oceanographic and Remote sensing proofs
Subsequently on 27th March 2017, a "Seminar on Ram Kathas" was organised by Amity University in Delhi. A presentation was made by Mrs Saroj Bala on the subject 'Ramayan Retold with Scientific Evidence'. The exhibits displayed above were presented during that Seminar also.
PDF contains 62 exhibits depicting the story of ramayan with exact dates and multiple scientific proofs
