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The most
popular Indian epics-the Ramayana and the Mahabharata-are compared to
Homer’s Illiad and the Odyssey. The Mahabharata is about a long drawn out
war, full of heroics, treachery, and blood-shedding like the Illiad.
The Ramayana dealing with the wanderings of Ram and Sita, resembles
the Odyssey but the story is one of Sita the wife-like Penelope- who
remains faithful to her husband despite being wooed by another and even
abducted. The epic is idealistic, presenting Sita as a woman impressive
by her devotion. This epic has a strong emotional appeal to Hindus.
Ram, is worshipped as a perfect being, never failing for his duty as
a son to his father, and a husband for his commitment to his wife.
Briefly,
the story about Ram and Sita will provide a background to one more religious
absurdity rooted in their epic now thrown up in this modern century.
Once upon a time a king named Dasratha, with Ayodhya as his capital,
had four sons, the eldest being Ram. Ruling over another kingdom was
a king called Janaka who had an incredibly beautiful daughter, named
Sita. She was born from Mother Earth, having appeared out of a furrow
in field.
Janaka
declared any suitor who could bend his mighty bow would win Sita as
his wife. A number of suitors tried and failed. But Ram
not only bent the bow he snapped it. Ram and Sita were married and travelled
back to Ayodhya. Dasratha, old and feebleminded, had made a promise
to one of his wives that he would grant her any request she wanted.
She immediately asked that instead of Ram her son, Bharat, should be
placed on the throne. If the old man didn’t fulfill her wishes she
would directly die, she said.
Her wish
was that Ram should be sent in exile to the Dandakaranya forests of
central India for fourteen years, as a hermit with matted hair, wearing
skins. and living in a cave. The deeply grieved Dasratha agreed to send
Ram and Sita away. With them went a faithful brother, Lakshman.
The Ramayan presents details of their long journey crossing the Ganges
and then the Yamuna river into the deepest forested region. They built
a simple dwelling near the sources of the Godavari river. From here,
Ravana, the twelve headed king of Ceylon, abducted Sita, grabbing her
by her hair and lifting her into his flying chariot yoked with asses.
Having been away neither Rama nor Lakshman knew why or how sita disappeared
from their hermitage.
In the
quest for Sita, the two travelled far south. Finally Hanuman, the monkey
headed god, located Sita’s imprisonment in Ceylon. Though there was
a wide channel dividing the island from the mainland, the god leapt
through the air and discovered Sita was confined in a garden of Asoka
trees, protected by fierce female guards. Hanuman gave her a token from
Ram, and returned with a message of her undying love and fidelity despite
Ravana’s relentless wooing.
Ravana
was thoroughly frightened by Hanuman’s appearance. Moreover the monkey-god
set his tail afire and bounded through the town and burnt more that
half of it to ashes. But Ravana refused to return Sita. Both sides sat
down to make plans for war. Ram was supported by countless chieftans
and Hanuman and his monkey followers. Ravana enlisted rakshasas (devils)
on his side.
The island
was separated by a passage of sea, dotted with a number of small islands.
To get his army across Ram built a causeway for them to march and invade.
Ceylon. Ravana was killed and Sita resorted to Ram. This is a brief
account from the 24,000 couplets originally composed by Valmiki. The
bridge – Ram’s Bridge-is evidence of the great scientific ability
of Ram and his monkey brigade as builders. This bridge is a significant
example of Ram’s existence as a real being.
In Ayodhya
there are countless temples where each presiding priest can point out
to the exact point on which Ram was born in his temple, proof of his
identity as a real human and not a mere mythological character. But
Hindu fanatics had long decided the true spot was under a mosque built
by Babur the Moghul to erase the original sacred site. The Babri Masjid
was destroyed by the Hindu political party, the BJP, triggering off
a number of Hindu-Muslim riots in the country, many killed on both sides.
This widened the deep rift between the two communities. The Hindus have
had pillars and stone blocks cut to erect the temple to Ram on the spot
of the mosque. But a stalemate persists with the government preventing
the construction to go ahead.
The destruction
of the Ayodhya mosque put Hindus in conflict with Muslims. But now two
sides again confront each other-the Hindu fundamentalists against the
Congress-led government at the centre. Ram’s Bridge is going to be
knocked down. Fanatics claim if that happens Hinduism itself will collapse.
The countrywide agitation is gathering strength.
In earlier
maps the bridge made by Ram was called Adam’s Bridge. Its real name
is Ram Sethu. What is the advantage from breaking through this causeway?
The idea came up in 1860, proposed by an English marine engineer, A.D.Taylor.
Smaller ships managed to navigate the channel between Ceylon and India,
but bigger ships had to go round the island of Sri Lanka. A canal can
be deepened from the Gulf of Mannar to the Bay of Bengal through a separating
stretch of sea in the Palk Strait. Two channels can be created-one across
Ram Sethu (Adam’s Bridge), the chain of islets linking the two countries.
Another channel could be made by deepening the Palk Strait, providing
a depth of 300 meters for two-way navigation of the largest ships. The
project will reduce travel distance by 254-424 nautical miles (about
465-835 km.) and cut time by 21-36 hours. National defence will be easier
and quicker between west and east coasts of India. Coast guard and naval
ships won’t need to go right around the island of Sri Lanka. The Project
can be completed by 2009 and promote industrial developments, and trade
and commerce by sea.
The Project
was cleared by Nehru’s cabinet in 1965, and a number of studies were
done thereafter. The estimated cost would be about Rs.2,500 crores.
The present government has inaugurated the Sethusamudram Ship Canal
Project (SSCP). Hindu critics have claimed NASA has taken pictures
of Ram Sethu and announced it is a man made structure. NASA has
refused to endorse this absurd claim put forward by RSS and BJP leaders.
However, the Geological Survey of India which studied the Ram Setu found
the causeway is a natural formation, and about four or five hundred
thousand years old.
The four
Shankracharyas of the four peethams of Hinduism (like popes each with
his own establishment) met in Bangalore on May 20 to discuss the issue.
They decided to intensify the agitation peacefully against the project
which is to demolish Ram’s bridge. They, according to a Times of
India report, claim the bridge is 17 million years old. Which would
place Rama into an Age where there were no humans as his subjects ruling
a kingdom with only primitive mammals and birds. They declared Ram Sethu
is not a natural bridge of rocks and sand. It is highly scientifically
built bridge made by Ram to rescue Sita. It is proof of the oldest bridge
ever built in the world, proving Hindu culture was superior even thousands
of years ago. As is the custom countless numbers of politicians have
promptly plunged into the sea, each putting forward their claim to shake
the world. They declare the Rama Setu is like the Ayodhya site- a sacred
symbol of the Ramayana era. It establishes that Lord Rama did exist
and made a heroic effort to rescue Sita by building the bridge with
the help of “vanars”. (monkeys) commanded by the monkey-god Hanuman.
Hanuman is the official bridgekeeper and to prove that he means to defend
the bridge he has made costly equipment, dredge and cranes simply tumble
into the sea. Astrologers have discovered omens in their stars of the
Project dismally failing.
Inevitably,
the culprit who wants to make Hinduism fall is Sonia Gandhi. She is
in collaboration with the Americans providing dredgers, cranes etc.
One spokesman says “We want Om not Rome!” When the agitation turns
violent, goons will target Gandhi.
The Ram
Sethu movement is gathering momentum. Organised Hindu groups have promised
to make the entire country rise up to defend it. Another high seer has
announced that Ram was a real god who lived 17 lakhs years ago-that
is, 1.7 million years ago. Antiquity is always significant in Hinduism.
Ages are easily defined without the need of carbon-dating, or any scientific
investigation. We are told ancient rishis lived millions of years ago,
their times coinciding with the appearance of species of dinosaurs.
They didn’t even bother those wise men who lived in forest dwellings
and discovered every known science simply by their intuition.
Ram’s
age takes him into the Pleistocene period which began about a million
years ago. Enormous woolly mammoths, shaggy, and with large tusks, existed
in the coldest regions, sabre-teethed tigers roamed in the jungles with
many other mammals still at primitive stages of
evolution. And here was when appeared the “Dawn Men” and Cave-dwellers,
prehistoric humans. It is laughable to appoint Rama as a king over creatures
half-way between apes and humans. There remains one other problem which
nobody has thought of. In Rama’s time most of the earth was frozen
with vast sheets of ice spreading over most regions. This was the Ice
Age. Actually during Rama’s time the sea channel between India and
Sri Lanka must have been frozen, offering easy access of his monkeys
and warriors to invade the island. There was no need to haul rocks and
sand to make a bridge.
Seven
million years or 1.7 million years have no reference to the Ages devised
by Western science. Only Hindu four Ages are valid, with reference to
all myths and fables. Hindu science is far superior to Western science.
Hindu science, supported by Hanuman the guardian-deity, will save the
Ram Sethu from being demolished by modern technology.
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