Ramayana and Mahabharata: Myths or History?

The Frustrated Indian (Who is no lonnger frustrated because the right log are in) published an article on their website  offering "evidence" that The Ramayana and The Mahabharata more than just Mythology. While I admit that there might be some historical elements in the epics, the evidence  submitted by The Frustrated Indian arguing for the historicity of the epics calls for a closer examination.

The first evidence presented by TFI is the Rama Sethu (also known as a Adams Bridge) It is widely regarded as a Natural Formation and NASA distanced itself from the claims that the Rama Sethu is a man made structure. Archaeological Survey of India says that there is no existence of Lord Rama and that Lord Rama himself destroyed the Rama Setu. The article does not cite any source that the Rama Setu is a man made structure.

The next evidence submitted is the Gomphothere, an extinct four tusked elephant and the four tusked elephants encountered by Hanuman in Lanka. The problem with this evidence is that Gomphotheres were extinct by the end of the Pleistocene era 11,000 years ago. This long before the accepted dates of the Indian Civilization and predates the date of the probable date of the Ramayana suggested in the TFI article (3000 BC) by 5000 years.

The Third evidence presented in the article-the pillars unearthed by ASI does not prove the existence of Rama. It only proves the existence of the pillars that were unearthed. It also mentions Ashoka's inscriptions about Lord Rama's Visit to India. Let us see why this is not a good evidence: Several Fans wrote mails addressed to Sherlock Holmes believing him to be an actual detective. These fans were much closer to the time of Sherlock Holmes then we could ever be. Should these letters be taken as evidence of Historicity of the fictional detective according to TFI logic? While it is true that Ashoka (c 300 BC) lived in a period that was much closer to the supposed date of 3000 BC of the Ramayana, he still lived more than 2000 years after the supposed time period of the Ramayana and we are armed with much better methods of studying History.

The fourth evidence is the astrological evidence and the fact that the dates calculated astrologically corroborates with the fact that Rama predates Krishna. This is not an acceptable evidence as Indians were skilled astronomers who could easily have used real planetary configurations for the time of births of fictional characters. Moreover Rama belonged to the Treta Yuga and Krishna belongs to the Dwapar Yuga. The  Difference of approximately 2000 years  between the Rama and Krishna calculated by the Planetarium software does not corroborates with the supposed dates of the Treta and the Dwapar yuga to the best of my knowledge.

In conclusion, the article seems to be a Zakir Naikesque piece - Poorly researched, filled with lies and manipulated data written solely to mislead the gullible and unsuspecting people.           

References:
[1]Look at these Remarkable Evidences and Decide if you still want to call Ramayana and Mahabharata Mythology!
[2]Space Photos No proof of Ram Setu
[3]Nasa Debunks Ram Setu Myths
[4]No Evidence of Ram
[5]Ram himself destroyed Setu govt tells SC
[6]Gomphothere
[7]The Gomphotheriidae
[8]Pleistocene era
[9]Sherlock Holmes's address was flooded with so many fan letters that they decided to hire a secretary

A Note To My Readers

Dear Readers,
I started The Shitting Tree as a blog with the primary purpose of countering the arguments that are generally offered by Islamic apologists like Dr Zakir Naik. Since the arguments made by Dr Naik are hardly scholarly in nature, I chose 'The Shitting Tree' as the name for my blog. It was a tongue in cheek name chosen because my primary target Dr Naik was a fraud who banked upon the gullibility of his fans. Debunking him was child's play and did not require any sincere effort on my part. Today, Zakir Naik has become irrelevant. The issues that we face today are different, both in nature and in scale, from Dr Naik and My blog must evolve in order to take on this issue. To take on issues of a more serious nature 'The Shitting Tree' must reinvent itself and a new name is required to signify this new phase of the blog. After much thought, I have decided on 'The Loupe' as the new name for my blog. Loupe is a magnifying device used by watchmakers and jewelers to get a magnified view of minute objects. As my blog aspires to minutely scrutinize the latest events and trends there cannot be a better name for my blog.

I must apologize to my readers for not being able to post regularly. The main reasons behind this irregularity are:

1.  Small number of readers: My blog has received just over a thousand views and I suspect that I don't have a base of regular readers waiting for the next post.
2.  It is much easier to create a mess than to clean it up: This is a general principle. It takes a lot less time and effort to poop all over one's living room than to clean up the mess. On the same principle, It is easier to write up a large number of crappy articles and to post them on the internet. Debunking them takes a lot more time and effort. It is both exhausting and depressing clean up mess left by others in one place only to see them creating a bigger mess elsewhere or worse to be dragged into the filth by the mess makers. 

These reasons and the fact that Dr Naik, my former arch nemesis has become irrelevant today had forced me to take a long break from my blog.

It is said that the world is not a dangerous place because of the actions of the bad people but because of the good people who stood by watching and at a time when freedom of speech is being stifled, when any dissenting voice is promptly labeled as anti-national by the self proclaimed nationalists, silence is a luxury that can no longer be afforded and one must make their voice heard. The Loupe aspires to be the voice of reason amidst the insanity and keep an eye on the latest developments,   offering our commentary and opinion as and when required.