Scientific Dating of Vedic and Ramayan Era

Ecological perspective

History of the Holocene (post last ice age) deserves to be rewritten based on multi-disciplinary scientific evidences. Aryan invasion theory was propagated based on linguistic guesswork, religious hearsay and old outdated archaeological reports. Christianity has long back discarded its 18th century beliefs that world got created on 23rd October, 4004 BC, Biblical flood occurred in 2400 B.C. and that civilizations started expanding and migrating in around 1500 B.C. It is almost unanimously accepted by the scholars and scientists that there have been several cycles of civilizations and that last ice age ended around 10000 B.C., ushering in the beginnings of Holocene i.e. Nutan Yug.

The melting of ice caps naturally got started near the Equator, resulting in discharge of huge quantities of water which first flowed in the form of rivers in South India. The civilizations developed, populations multiplied over hundreds of years resulting in water scarcity. More adventurous started migrating northwards - initially towards central India and later on towards the Himalayan rivers in the North. Thousands of years of water security provided by Saraswati, Indus and Ganga river systems and world's most fertile planes cultivated around them naturally facilitated the extra-ordinary development of culture and civilization from around 8000 B.C. After thousands of years water supply from ice-caps started depleting, tectonic movements resulted in drying up of rivers like Saraswati, trade relations flourished and more adventurous people started moving towards Central Asia and Europe. Thus there was neither any end of Vedic civilisation due to imaginary Aryan invasion theory nor were Dravidians 'aboriginal savages' of North India. The rise and fall of Vedic Civilisation is thus attributable to ecological cycle post last ice age and not to any 'Aryan invasion'.
           

Sky views in Rigveda

There are 53 references in Rigveda as prayers offered to Aswinis at dawn. The description clearly points to the observation of the pair of stars in the Aries constellation (referred to as Aashvin or Asvini) just before sunrise as a ritual to mark the year beginning. Using Planetarium software, we find that the Winter Solstice occurred on 19 December, 7000 BC at 0735 hrs as shown in Figure 1. This is the earliest reference to Vedic calendar with year beginning at Winter Solstice, found in Rigveda (5-77-1/2; 1-46-14; 7-69-3/2). Heliacal rising of Ashwini Nakshatra (Aries) can be seen to occur on 5th January, 7000 BC, marking the year beginning (Fig. 1).

Fig. 2: Sky on Jan 05, 7000 BC, 0649 hrs shows heliacal rising of Asvini Nakshatra after Winter Solstice, marking the year beginning (RgVeda  5-77-1/2; 1-46-14; 7-69-3/2). 

A thousand years later, Winter Solstice no longer occurred near Aries (Asvini) due to precession. As a result, Ashwinis were no longer rising heliacally as before. They were still below the horizon at sunrise around Winter Solstice time. The Winter Solstice had moved to Revati by 6000 BC. Thus the precession of Equinoxes and Solistices was being observed by Rigvedic Scholars.

The Sky of 19^th December, 6000 BC at sunrise on the Winter Solstice day shows that Ashvini gave way to bright star Chitra (α Vir) on opposite side (Western horizon). A full Moon in Chitra Nakshatra provided a new time marker in the sky and heralded the lunar month naming system-Chaitra, Vaisakha etc. (Rigveda: 5-74-1,2 and Tait Samh. 7-4-8). See Fig. 2 -

Winter Solstice opposite Citra - Sky of 19 Dec 6000 BC at sunrise shows that Asvini gave way to bright star Citra on opposite side (western horizon). It began to be used for determining the year beginning. A full Moon occurring in Citra heralded the lunar month naming system-Caitra, Vaisakha etc (Tait.  Samh. 7-4-8).

Most amazing is the fact that reference to Agastya Muni (who composed some Slokas of Rigveda) first observing star Canopus (star Agastya) from Vindhyas refers to the sky view of 18th Dcember, 5100 BC. Lord Ram also visits Agastya Muni's Agnishala and sequential astronomical dates of important events in Shri Ram's life also are of around 5100 BC!

Recommended Readings:

1. Saroj Bala and Kulbhushan Mishra. 2012. Historicity of Vedic and Ramayan Eras: Scientific Evidences from the Depths of Oceans to the Heights of Skies. Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas. Abridged editions also available in English and Hindi.

2. Subramanian Swamy. 2008. Rama Setu: Symbol of National Unity. 

3. Srimad Valmiki Ramayana (Hindi).

4. Srimad Valmiki Ramayana (English).

5.  Sita Ram, Rai Bahadur. 1932. Ayodhya Ka Itihas (in Hindi). New Delhi: Arya Book Depot, Karol Bagh.