i dont have the time to write a full comemnt, so will restrict to afew points.
it is a very good article and presents some interesting historical facts. in a brief reading i found 2 weaknesse in the arguments.
1.that ram lived 8,69,108 years ago is alittle far-fethced, since the earliest recorded history is not even 10,000 years old. there HAVE to be njumerous secondary confirmations for this date to be accepted as reliable. unfortunately there are none. 2. that the hanuman sethu is man-made is another weak point. if oyu look at satellite pictures of islands near larger land masses, you will see similar submerged rock formations. i have myself seen a few on the net.
i think the bigger problem here is that we Indians tend to get emotional about such things, rather than doing solid archaelogical or historical research
RE:RE:Did Ram exist ?
by Eternal Sunshine on Apr 16, 2008 09:17 AM Permalink
Everything you said is fine from your point, but please do not limit this to just "Indians". EVERY RELIGION, EVERY COUNTRY IN THIS WORLD FIGHTS TOOTH AND NAIL IN THEIR DEFENCE. Yes, every religion. Every country. It is possible to find 100s of discrepencies in each religion and there have been enough books written on them, some are under ban and some are not. So where does this latest fashion come from, where you take pride in admitting that your country/your religion/ your family is the only unscientific and emotional one??
Dear Ajay, Archeology, History, all have their own limitations. The archeologists's claims only apply to the discovered things within a few hundred meters depth. So with the discovery of a few skeletons, predicting the possible age of human civilization and characterizing the finding and finally generalizing it is not logical. There are still a lot of loopholes in the present system. The non availability of complete information of fossil scatter area and crust changes is the biggest drawback faced. Aren't there mismatches in the prediction of weather? Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Why, then, is it so difficult for people to be convinced that there might be mistakes here? We still have a long way to go before we can prove/disprove any theory, scientific, historical or mythological.
RE:Did Ram exist ?
by Kris iyer on Apr 18, 2008 08:05 PM Permalink
Dear Eternal Sunshine, Good response from you. In all my travels, I have never come across any group as critical of their own, as the Hindus. It may be due to the 800 years of discouragement Hindus have received - they were ruled by non-Hindus for centuries, paid Jaziya tax to visit Kashi, Mathura and Prayag, accepted Western missionary interpretation of Hinduism and Hindu history. You may find that the so-called "uneducated" Hindus in the rural areas, are better than the urban educated ones, in the comfort level and "Sraddha" level they show towards their ancient way of life, outlook. When they sing Bhajans, they are so totally committed in their Bhakthi. They are not distracted by all these historicity of Raja Ram, astronomy, dates, etecetera. To them, Raja Ram IS SIMPLY THERE. He comes when they do Jap. He is a constant PRESENCE.
RE:Did Ram exist ?
by Eternal Sunshine on Apr 21, 2008 03:40 PM Permalink
Dear Kris,the years of oppression have made us like this. We feel 'modern' when we repeat silly questions about our religion, which we hear from outsiders. You would also find a few guys proudly announcing that they are NRIs - assuming that the ones speaking in favour of Hinduism could only be saffron-clad villagers. Well isn't it possible for us to think and ponder, before agreeing with any Tom Dick and Harry about the 'weaknesses' in our religion? Until we realise that defending our religion, our country, our society is nothing to be ashamed of, people will always get away with portraying India as a dirty and backward country. Just a year back I saw a documentary about an Indian metro and all they showed were slums and fly-infested food and people bathing under tubewells. Not a glimpse of any of the numerous historical monuments in that city. The fault lies with us, we tend to overlook the beauty and concentrate on the ugliness, and we don't waste a moment sharing this ugliness with the world. If Science is the language of people these days, then doesn't Science teach us to go forward? Is making fun of Gods the only way Science can flourish?
As we can see very well here, people who ask meaningless questions don't last for long. Most of their knowledge is copy paste and when you try to argue with logic, they run away or get abusive.
RE:RE:Did Ram exist ?
by Eternal Sunshine on Apr 21, 2008 03:44 PM Permalink
As for Ram and proving his existence, if someone is happy with his beliefs, why create issues? These are just evil ideas of some political leaders. There is a difference between faith and blind faith, and as long as I am not blindly jumping from a cliff hoping for Lord Rama to save me, or trying to cross an ocean hoping God would help me walk on water, what's the harm if I am offering prayers in peace? Trying to make this a political issue by raising questions about God's existence, is going to prove harmful not only to Hinduism but to other religions as well. We are only human beings and we would naturally start raising fingers at other religions if someone questions our faith!!!! Where does that take us all? To more riots? Is this what our country needs now?
