Published by Hinduism is the foremost religion of Bharath (present India). People who follow this religion worship nearly three crore gods and goddesses. Most of the people worship goddesses than gods. According to the some old mythology, it was said that a mighty power in the universe gave birth to three Lords – Shiva (The destroyer), Vishnu (The executioner), and Brahma (The legislator). This mighty power then divided itself as three beautiful wives for these gods. Even for today, these Lords and their wives are worshipped as gods and goddesses because people have a staunch belief that these heavenly beings can give good fortune and future to them.
The three Indian epics were written in devotion to Lord Vishnu (The executioner). It was said in Indian mythologies that Lord Vishnu will incarnate as a human in every two thousand years to protect this world from the clutches of Ashuras (The Demons) and the calamities brought by them. The renowned Lord Buddha was also considered of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Here, I would like to tell you about how time was divided in Hindhu mythology.
According to Indian epics, the ancient sages divided time into three divisions with each division comprising of 2500 years.
Three divisions of Time:
- Thretha Yug
- Dwapara Yug
- Kali Yug
These epics illustrate the ancient history of India. If you carefully go through these mythologies, you will definetely find several relationships to the epics of the Greece, especially Odyssey and also you will find the astonishing concepts of space flight, time travel, immortality, India was a nation with thick dense forests and jungles, hills and mountains, lakes and rivers, humans (Aryans – Homo sapiens), Vanaras (Homo erectus), and Ashuras (Cannibals – The Demons).
The three Indian pre-historic epics are:
- Ramayan
- Mahabharath
- Bhagavatham
- Bhagavath Geetha
These epics were the foundation for Indian Hindu culture. They relate the tales of the incarnation of Lord Vishnu (One of the three major Lords of Hinduism).
Similarities
These all three Indian epics were written in an ancient language, The Sanskrit. This language was only taught to high race people. This language was preserved in many books as tales and poems by ancient religious writers.
Today no one cares to learn this language anymore. But it is still learnt by people who are interested in it. Usually only learnt by the preachers of the Hindu temples.
Ramayan
Ramayan was written in Sanskrit by Valmiki. According to the legend, Ramayan was written around 8,000 B.C. (Thretha Yug). It is an epic story written in episodes. It reflects the religious, political, and social beliefs of the past. It is the tale of prince Rama (the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu) of kingdom Ayodhya in India. Prince Rama belongs to Aryan dynasty. Aryans were the descedents of the first human civilization, the Sumerians.It illustrates the journey of Rama in wilderness from north India to Srilanka to wage war against evil demon king Ravan to salvage human kind and to rescue his abducted beautiful wife, Sita. In his persuit to deliver ultimate happiness to the entire human race, prince Rama took the help of virtuous Vanaras (The ape warriors – human nomads) to defeat the huge army of Demons. In this effort, prince Rama and mighty army of Vanaras built Ram Setu (a bridge between India and Srilanka) over the ocean.
The following is the satellite picture of the bridge ‘ Rama Setu. ‘
In the picture, you can see a very feable link between India and Srilanka. The legends say that this link represents a bridge that was built by prince Rama with the help of Vanaras using floating stones, rock, and sand.
If you ever knew about Ramayan before watching the movie ‘ 10,000 B.C. ‘, you would be surprised to see the similarity between the two stories. Though the stories and context were different, the basic theme is the same, i.e. to save people from the clutches of evil and to rescue a woman from an evil ruler.
Deductions and conclusions about Ramayan
The first human civilization is the Sumerian civilization, followed by Babylonians, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Aryans, and so on.
Human evolution did not start at a single location. Because around 8000 B.C., more than two major human civilizations existed on Earth (Babylonians, Egyptians, etc).
Around 8000 B.C., Aryans might have migrated to Indian basin.
Though Indians may believe Ramayan to be a true story but it is just a mere tale like Beowulf, Harry Potter, Superman, etc. The reason behind this conclusion is, If prince Ram existed then according to the tale, he must belong to 8,000 B.C. but the Indo-Aryan language, Sanskrit born around 2000 B.C. So, the writer of Ramayan definitely used his imagination to write the story.
If the entire Ramayan is an imagination then how would the writer know about Vanaras (Homo-erectus), the existence of Cannibals in the Southern India, and especially Srilanka? Definitely, the author has good geographical knowledge about ONLY India or he might have gained knowledge from south Indian people. In his story, Valmiki (author of Ramayan) made use of already existing characters.
Therefore, I conclude that prince Rama never actually existed. Ramayan is entirely an imaginative tale written around 1500 B.C. If Ramayan was a true story then Vanaras would belong to Homo-erectus and Ashuras would belong to Cannibal race.
interesting evaluation.
ramayana is the best story, but need evaluation
It is wrong to conclude that the entire Hinduism is based on the two epics. If one watches it carefully Mahabharath epic was written by Saint Vyasa. He is the one who grouped the Vedas two (Important point to note: Vedas were prevalent before, Vyasa only collected and grouped them into four)
To my knowledge Saint Vyasa could have been one great poet, so with his excellent imagination he created so many Puranas and Mahabharath.
Today, ulmost the whole world thinks that Bhagavath Gita is only the ultimate philosophical product of Hinduism. Which is totally wrong. Bhagavad Gita is just the product of Vyasa (it is just a portion of the epic Mahabharath while describing the war between Pandavas and Gauravas – brothers and infact among the grant sons of the writer Vyasa himself)and anyone who thinks and concludes that Vyasa is the ultimate authority of Hinduism is wrong.
Infact, Hinduism is hijacked by the followers of this Vyasa. I doubt while his consolidation of Vedas, at the most he could have spent major part of his life time to collect the vedic mantras by visiting somany saints in different deep forests and jungles and hills and mountains. We can not conclude that he collected the whole amount of Vedic mantras and practices that were available during his time. He could have missed many given the means of communication and transportation available. Though in epic he paints himself as a great saint (one will naturally boast in his own book). It is with common sense and open analysis will give facts. There were no instances in which Vyasa was termed as the conqueror of senses and the one who reached the ultimate self realisation surpassing the Eighteen Siddhies (spiritual powers). If so, one would simply keep quiet and sing, dance and enjoy living. If one reads this epic we can notice inspite of this being his own book, there are many instances in which he keeps worrying, crying, having sexual desire etc. People with atleast little spiritual attainment will undestand that this cant be from a saint who claims whole authority of the Hinduism religion, he is just another saint thats all.
To conclude as of now, there are several Sidhas and their piece of philosophies (Siddhas are the one who conquered death and just play with the eighteen sidhdhies (ultimate divinely powers).
Please note that even as per the epics both Rama and Krishna died – they have not conquered death. Sidhdhas are the one who conquered death.
Who ever wants to know about Hinduism, please dont waste time on stories and Bhagavad Gita alone, instead learn the philosophies of siddhas like Saint Patanjali Yoga Sutras and various Tantric Sutras (please refer to Sir John Woodroffe’s and G U Pope’s works). That would show you a totally new different world of Hinduism uncontaminated by stories and Puranas of Vyasa.