Astronomical Dating of the Ramayan

By Dr.P.V.Vartak

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Introduction

It has been believed that there is no evidence to determine the dates
of events in the Ramayanic era. Some historians of the past even refuse
to acknowledge that Rama and other characters from the Ramayana even existed.
However, Sage Valmiki has recorded the dates if events in detail, albeit
by describing the positions of stars and planets. To decipher the astronomical
encodings has not been a trivial task, and not many have attempted to do
so. It should be noted that the ancient Indians had a prefect method of
time measurement. They recorded the 'tithis', days according to
the nakshatra on which the moon prevailed, the months, the seasons and
even the different Solstices. By therefore noting a particular arrangement
of the astronomical bodies, which occur once in many thousand years, the
dates of the events can be calculated. Dr. P.V. Vartak has thus attempted
to calculate the dates of important incidents that occured during the Ramayanic
Era. The correct astronomical records goes to show that Valmiki's has chronicled
an account of a true story and also, that the an advanced time measurement
system was known to the Hindus (Indians) atleast 9000 years ago. Please
refer to Dr. Vartak's celebrated book "Vastav Ramayan"
for further reading.

Before coming to the astronomical method, it should be noted that the
Mahabharat has recorded a number of facts about Ramayan (and not otherwise).
The precedence of the Ramayanic era to that of the Mahabharat can therefore
be inferred. An attempt to fix the dates of the events in the Mahabharat
era, mainly based on internal astronomical records. The Mahabharat Era
has already been dated by Dr. Vartak to 5561 B.C. [Reference: Dr. Vartak's
book "Swayambhu"].

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/ramayan/rama_vartak.html

End of Rama-Ravana War.
Ravana killed.

15th November 7292 B.C was then Phalguna Amavasya. Valmiki states that
Ravan came out for the last battle on the Amavasya day (Yudh. 93/66) and
was killed. In the description of the battle, Sage Valmiki writes, "Kosala's
nakshatra Vishakha is aspected by Mars" (Yudh. 103/37). The annual
motion of Mars is 191.405 degrees. In 14 years, it will progress by 159.58
degrees. At the time of Rama's exile, Mars was at 303 deg. 159 deg. added
to this provides Mars at 102 deg. in Pushya. From Pushya Mars could cast
its fourth-sight on Vishakha. So, the calculations presented so far seem
to be correct. It also shows Valimiki's minute observations and time recording
capabilities. Thus the date of the last battle of the War is 15th November
7292 B.C.

  
Following are the dates of few events from the Ramayana:

    
Rama's Birth Date            4th  December 7323 B.C

    
Rama-Seeta Married           7th  April    7307 B.C

    
Rama Exiled                  29th November 7306 B.C.


Hanuman enters Lanka         1st September 7292 B.C

    
Hanuman meets Seeta          2nd September 7292 B.C.

    
Seetu (Bridge) built         26-30th Oct.  7292 B.C 
on the ocean

    
The War begins               3rd  November 7292 B.C

    
Kumbhakarna is killed        7th  November 7292 B.C.

    
Ravana is killed by Rama     15th November 7292 B.C.

    
Rama returns to Ayodhya       6th December 7272 B.C.

Nice to know. It was good that Valmiki and Vyas did put all those planetary positions in their writings.

Good Post.
I thought Ram was exiled for 14 years, but again my ref is Hindi Serial.  According to the dates he was out of Ayodha for over thirty years.

I think last entry has a typo

Rama returns to Ayodhya 6th December 7272 B.C.

looks like intended to be 7292 BC, and that makes 14 years of exile  and also makes sense that he reached Ayodhya with month after killing Ravana

F-22:

It's 14 yrs... the date is BC (Before Christ), so the earlier the date is the higher the number... therefore, 7306 BC thru 7292 BC is 14 yrs.

Thanks Mr. Neupane for this really intresting topic.