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The question is related to when (e.g., 500 BC or 100 BC or 10,000 BC) did Valmiki, the creator of the Ramayana, live?

I saw a discrepancy in this:

  1. According to Wikipedia:

    The Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa is dated variously from 500 BC to 100 BC ... He is the author of the epic Rāmāyaṇa

  2. It is also known that Valmiki lived in the era of Ramayana, as he met Sita and taught Ramayana to Lava and Kusha. Here is the discrepancy, because Ramayana is quoted here (by Dr. P. V. Vartak) to have taken place in 7600 BC:

    Therefore, Ramayana must have occurred 9600 years ago, which is 7600 B.C approximately.

Question: How can Valmiki write Ramayana in 200-500 BC when he was also present during Ramayana in 9600 BC? Isn't it a huge discrepancy of about 9000 years?!

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Saurabh J
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    Don't believe in Wikipedia. – Vipul Hadiya Jul 29 '15 at 21:04
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    Most of Hinduism on Wikipedia is written by 'neo-orientalists' - western scholars that are Judeo-Christians that look down on Hinduism. See this free online book - http://rajivmalhotra.com/books/invading-sacred/ – Swami Vishwananda Jul 30 '15 at 02:29
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    But still, the doubt remains, because if valmiki has written Ramayana in the recent era, how can be be present during the Ramayana itself? – Saurabh J Jul 30 '15 at 03:36
  • Saurabh J - Why don't u write Ur previous comment other way round... 'Valmiki wrote Ramayana in Rama's era then how he can be present in recent era?' because Ramayana was written and taught to Luva and Kusha by Valmiki that time. Luva and Kusha narrated Ramayana in Rama's assembly. https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in/sloka?field_kanda_tid=1&language=dv&field_sarga_value=4 – YDS Dec 05 '17 at 15:06
  • @SaurabhJ And if u r agree on my prev comment then there should not be any doubt at all...bcz Parshurama incarnation happened before Rama but still he was teacher of Karna in Mahabharata...however I didn't find any but why there should be any doubt if some scripture mention Valmiki in recent era? – YDS Dec 05 '17 at 15:14
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    Ramayan is a compilation of stories coming down through ages. Somehow the name Valmiki has stuck to it due to the word's dictionary meaning, ant-hill. Just the way many ants make an ant-hill similarly many people have helped compile this story which is why many bits sound a bit illogical. – Sona Parivraj Dec 04 '17 at 15:25
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    The Vedas were composed around 5,000 years ago, so the Ramayana obviously has to be written after that. Hinduism on Wikipedia is actually mostly written by South Asian Hindus, there's no "Western conspiracy". You can see the page history; it's mostly Hindu usernames. – Aryaman Jan 03 '18 at 20:42
  • @SaurabhJ: Good question. Occurrence of Ramayana and composing of ramayana are different issues. – Srimannarayana K V Dec 04 '19 at 16:18
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    There are many theories of Ramayana and the period when it took place, if at all it took place as described. It is hard to be certain without material proof, so many things are left to one's belief system. Prof Weber and others theorize that The Ramayana is a story adapted from The Vedic story of Vritrasura (not the Puranic one), and others claim differently. So yes, there is a conflict if you accept both notions including that wikipedia article, and also disagree with the notion (that I find in some texts) that people of that age lived thousands of years. So too many assumptions involved here – Vidyarthi Jan 05 '20 at 01:09
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    To complete the previous comment, I am not saying one should or should not believe in The Ramayana as written or as it is available today. I am just saying logically processing some of these claims is hard because logic requires a set of premise. And most premises we can write down in issues like this are either assumptions or faith based notions. Assuming chronological consistency is the desired outcome here, it is hard to do it without questioning one or more of the existing assumptions and faith based assertions. And there aren't many facts based options to question one faith over the other – Vidyarthi Jan 05 '20 at 01:13

1 Answers1

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The questions are

  • How can Valmiki write Ramayana in 200-500 BC when he was also present during Ramayana in 9600 BC?

  • Isn't it a huge discrepancy of about 9000 years?

There are 3 issues involved in the question.

  1. Occurrence of Ramayana at much earlier period

  2. Composing of Ramayana in 200-500 BC

  3. Appearance of Sage Valmiki in both the periods

A piece of advice: Please go through articles of Wikipedia, but don't believe the content in their entirety.

  1. The occurrence of Ramayana took place at much earlier period, contrary to projections of many authors

In Ramayana, a mention was made about 4 tusks elephants in Sundara Kanda. So we can infer that Ramayana occurred at around 16 lakhs years ago.

  1. Ramayana was composed in the Classical Sanskrit around 5th Century B.C. Hence, the period of occurrence of Ramayana and the period of composition of the EPIC Ramayana are different.

  2. Let us examine the issue of appearance of Sage Valmiki in both the periods.

The Answer is simple. Someone might have inserted, at a later date, the appearance of Sage Valmiki in 1-4 sargas of Bala Kanda and Ayodhya Kanda (16 and 17 slokas of 56th Sarga of Ayodhya Kanda). It can be an interpolation.

  1. Appearance of Sage Valmiki in Uttara kanda is also an interpolation.
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