How old is the Ram-setu?

Dr. R. Brahmachari*


The Setusamudram Project has raised a nationwide debate about the origin and antiquity of the so called Ram-setu that connects India with Sri Lanka. On 3rd May, the debate took both houses of the Parliament by storm. Many believe that the antiquity of the Setu, as asserted by the scientists of National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) of USA, to be correct. By examining the pictures of the Setu taken from a satellite Gemini-XI and Gemini-XII, a few years ago, the NASA scientists came to the conclusion that (1) the Setu is man made and (2) it is 1.75 million years old. They arrived at the first conclusion from the fact that it was not possible for the large chunks of stones, with which the Setu is built, to have been placed in position by any natural process. Most of the people of this country are convinced that the said Ram-setu was built by Lord Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, with the help of Sugriba, the king of Kiskindhya, and his army, in Treta Yuga of Indian time reckoning.

According to the Hindu system of time reckoning, 432,000 years make one Kaliyuga, 864,000 years make one Dvaparayuga, 1,296,000 years make one Tretayuga and 1,728,000 years make one Kritayuga (or Satyayuga). Adding up these four yugas one gets a Mahayuga of 4,320,000 years, which is ten times as big as one Kaliyuga. Furthermore, 71 Mashayugas and a Satyayuga make one Manvantara of 308,448,000 years and 14 Manvantaras and one Satyayuga make one Kalpa of 4,320,000,000 years or 4.32 billion years. At present, we are passing through the Svetavaraha Kalpa, that began about 1.97 billion years ago. After the beginning of the Svetavaraha Kalpa, 6 Manvantaras have gone and the 7th Vaivasvat Manvantara is in currency. And out of the 71 Mahayugas of the Vaivasvat Manvantara, 27 Mahayugas have gone and 28th Mahayuga is in currency. Finally, out of the said 28th Mahayuga, the Satyayuga, the Tretayuga and the Dvaparayuga have gone and the Kaliyuga is in currency and out of the present Kaliyuga, 5108 years have gone and the 5109th year has commenced on 20th March, this year (or 2007 AD). So if we take that Lord Rama was born in the Tretayuga, or more precisely in the juncture of Tretayuga and Dvaparayuga of the current 28th Mahayuga then one obtains that Lord Rama took birth nearly 864,000 + 5108 = 869,108 years ago. So, 1.75 million years, the antiquity of the Setu, as estimated by the NASA scientists, undoubtedly falls within the 28th Tretayuga.

But according to our scriptures, Lord Rama appeared on earth in the Tretayuga of, not the 28th but, the 24th Mahayuga. Our scriptures also say that Lord Vishnu has already taken nine Incarnations (Avataras) in the the present Vaivasvat Manvantara and He is yet to take another Incarnation in the present Kaliyuga. The table-1 presents a detail account of these Incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

Table – 1
Sl no.
Avatara
Yuga
Day (Lunar)
Time
Place
1.
Matsya
1st Satya
3rd day of bright halh of Chaitra
Afternoon
Kritamaltat
2.
Kurma
1st Satya
5th day of bright half of Vaishakha
Dusk
Ocean
3.
Varaha
1st Satya
5th day of bright half of Bhadrapada
Afternoon
Haridwar
4.
Nrisingha
1st Satya
14th day of bright half of Vaishakha
Dusk
Mulasthana
5.
Vamana
7th Treta
12th day of bright half of Bhadrapada
Afternoon
Prayaga
6.
Parashurama
19th Treta
3rd day of bright half of Vaishakha
Afternoon
Jamadagnipura
7.
Rama
24th Treta
9th day of bright half of Chaitra
Noon
Ayodhya
8.
Krishna
28th Dvapara
8th day of dark half of Bhadrapada
Mid-night
Mathura
9.
Buddha
28th Kali
Full-moon day of Vaishakha

Lumbini
10.
Kalki
28th Kali
3rd day of bright half of Bhadrapada
Dusk
Sambhala
(Source: Dr T P Verma, Science of Manvantaras, Vedic Science, Vol-8, No. 4 (2007), p-1)

The above table shows that Lord Rama, as an Avatara of Vishnu, appeared on earth in the Tretayuga of the 24th Mahayuga. More precisely, Lord Rama appeared at The juncture of Treta and Dvapara of the 24th Mahayuga. So one can determine the time of Lord Rama as follows-

Dvaparayuga of 24th Mahayuga = 864,000 years
Kaliyuga of 24th Mahayuga = 432,000 years
The 25th Mahayuga = 4,320,000 years
The 26th Mahayuga = 4,320,000 years
The 27th Mahayuga = 4,320,000 years
Satyayuga of 28th Mahayuga = 1,728,000 years
Tretayuga of 28th Mahayuga = 1,296,000 years
Dvaparayuga of 28th Mahayuga = 864,000 years
And Time elapsed of the 28th Kaliyuga = 5,108 years
_______________________________________________________________
Total = 18,149,108 years

So according to our scriptures, Lord Rama appeared on earth as an Avatara of Lord Vishnu about 18,149,108 years or 1 crore 81 lakh 49 thousand and 108 years ago. And hence the antiquity of the Ram-setu is also of the same number of years.

To conclude, a few words may be said regarding the present controversy over the Ram-setu. In 2001, the Indian History Congress was holding its annual conference in the Alipur Campus of the University of Calcutta. At the concluding session of the said conference, the Nobel Laureate economist Sri Amartya Sen, while addressing the delegates, said, “Ramayana and Mahabharata have no historical value. These two are epics and hence nothing but poet’s fancy”. He also said, “Neither Rama nor Krishna were historical personalities, they are simply mythical”. One should not take the above words simply the sayings of Sri Amartya sen alone, but these are the conclusions of the Marxian as well as Macaulayan historians and intellectuals of this unfortunate country. And the other misfortune of this country is that even after 60 years of obtaining freedom, these people, who have little respect for the ancient cultural heritage of this country and respect for their fore-fathers, are dominating its political and intellectual spheres.

Another example may be presented here to expose their disrespect to the ancient history of this country. Nearly a decade ago the world renowned archaeologist Sri S R Rao has discovered the ancient city of Dwaraka under the Arabian sea. According to a press report appeared in the 17th March edition of the leading daily Times of India, the city of Dwaraka, discovered by Sri Rao, is again getting buried under the sands of the Arabian sea due to utter neglect of the present un-patriotic ruling community and its government.

In this country, Muslims wants that there should be no Ram, no Krishna; and people should adore Allah and his prophet Muhammad alone. Kashi, Mathurs, Haridwar or Vrindavan would no longer be holy places and people would go to Mecca and Medina on pilgrimage. The water of Ganga would no longer remain holy to them, but the water of Zem Zem, the well of Mecca. The Marxists, on the other hand, want to banish Ram, Krishna, Vashistha and Viswamitra from this country. The people of this country would worship only Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. The Christians want that all the temples of this country should be converted into churches and Jesus Christ and Mother Mary should replace all the deities of the pagan Hindus. The Italian lady, who is now running the un-patriotic UPA Government of Delhi on proxy, with Muslims and Marxists as her two legs, has already started to proceed to turn her sinister plan into a reality, by inserting the sign of cross on the two rupee coin.

So the patriotic people of this country should come forward and raise their voice to compel the government to take immediate steps to preserve the ancient relics linked to great national heroes like Lord Sri Ram and Lord Sri Krishna. They must frustrate the evil design of the present antinational government to turn this nation into a Christian or into an Islamic state. This ancient nation of must continue to remain a Hindu nation, a nation of Ganga, Gita, Gayatri and Govinda.
******

*Professor, Department of Applied Physics,
University of Calcutta