[Advaita-l] On evidence for and against Yugas of Indian chronology

[D.V.N.Sarma డి.వి.ఎన్.శర్మ]

According to some puranas King Dasaratha ruled for 60000 and odd
years. Can we take it as a fact?

regards,
Sarma.

On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 4:56 PM, Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On 13-Nov-2017 4:52 PM, "Raghav Kumar Dwivedula" <raghavkumar00 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Namaste Venkataraghavan ji
>
> I have to admit that examining the itihAsa as having a core of historical
> truth, may be not exactly be par for the course in an advaita forum. But
> there are so many learned members here who I felt, cherish the itihAsas as
> having atleast some historical value so I raised this topic.
>
> The intention behind my question was as follows. Much of the content of the
> Indian itihAsas is dismissed as imagined or allegorical from the
> perspective of modern science.
>
> This may be due to several reasons one of which is,  the fantastic
> incidents mentioned in them. I am not examining this aspect.
>
> One additional  reason which is advanced to dismiss itihAsas as having no
> historical value which I specifically wanted to focus on was that the time
> scales mentioned in the itihAsas with human dynasties having been present
> for much longer (Sri Rama belonged to c.870,000 BCE if we accept 432000
> years as the Kali Yuga; but it appears that this figure of 432000 years for
> Kali Yuga is not insisted upon by all within the tradition. Another figure
> of 600 years is also accepted by some) than what is regarded as plausible
> or compatible with evidence from modern science. I wanted to know if any of
> the members in this group have any idea about this aspect. I posted that
> 'science invalidates the yuga concepts and such large time scales' as
> something like a hypothesis for examination.
>
> To say that the itihAsas describing Sri Rama the King of Ayodhya are mere
> imagined stories weakens the overall sanAtana dharma, is my perception. A
> deeper bhakta may indeed not bother since he has discovered the Rama tattva
> within his heart and is moving towards the nirguNa svarUpa of Sri Rama.
> For him,  it is of no consequence whether Rama existed historically or not.
> He has already embraced the eternal archetype of Sri Rama available as a
> possibility for divine communion within the mind through nAma japa etc.
>
> But for a large number of people it does make a difference if it is said
> that Rama ruling Ayodhya is just a story with not even a historical
> *possibility* given that *870000* is just too far back. In such a case we
> have to, as Swami Dayananda Saraswati ji or Sri Yukteswar Giri suggest,
> revise the duration of the Kali Yuga to 600 years. Or we show that the
> so-called proof that there were no human beings that far back, coming from
> science, to be of doubtful authenticity. I was hoping some members have
> more idea about these two ideas.
> 1. Is the Kali Yuga 600 (or some relatively small figure) or is it the more
> commonly quoted figure of 432000?
> 2. Does the evidence from science which goes against the larger time scales
> have any significant flaws or problems? (For example until recently, it was
> held that there were no human beings before 20,000 BCE and this figure has
> morphed into 200,000 BCE or even more. Well that's an improvement no
> doubt.)
>
> I am also not too sure the time scales are merely an arthavAda for
> inculcating vairagya. I am trying to take itihAsa (iti ha aasa - thus it
> happened ) as having atleast some historical basis. Sri Kanchi Periyava for
> one took them quite literally and seriously.
>
> In this post, I did not mention Sri Krishna since the time scales
> traditionally mentioned of 3102 BCE has no violent clash with scientific
> and archaeological evidence. (Please note I am not trying to validate but
> only discover non-conflict. But with traditional dates for Sri Rama the
> conflict is too strong. )
>
> Om
> Raghav
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