# Reading the Ramayana’s Past: Archaeology, astronomy, and the manuscripts

- Link: https://globalvoicebd.com/opeds/reading-the-ramayanas-past-archaeology-astronomy-and-the-manuscripts/
- Published: 2026-11-07T03:12:19-05:00
- Author: Sushanta Das Gupta

The first part of the Ramayana film, made with a huge budget, has just been released.
I thought this was a good opportunity to write about some of the archaeological 
and historical background of the sacred Ramayana.

The life-ideals of Shri Ramachandra, Sita Devi, Lakshmana and Hanuman are deeply
connected with the reverence, devotion and religious practice of countless people.
With that sense of respect, I spent the whole day trying to learn first about the
time of the events described in the Ramayana, then about the period when the text
was composed, and finally about the location of the ancient manuscripts. This piece
has grown out of that inquiry.

In religious tradition, the appearance of Shri Ramachandra is linked with the Treta
Yuga. Modern research has used various methods to place these events within a particular
year or century. Although several proposals about the time period have been put 
forward, scholars have not yet reached a consensus on any specific year.

Archaeologist H. D. Sankalia, in his paper _Archaeology and the Rāmāyaṇa, or Dating
the Rāmāyaṇa_, compared the descriptions of cities such as Ayodhya, Mithila and 
Kaushambi with the excavation data available at that time. According to his calculation,
the earliest signs of urban life at these places go back to around 1000 BCE. On 
that basis, he proposed that the possible historical background of the described
events should not be placed earlier than approximately 1000 BCE. This is a possible
time-range derived from the archaeological evidence and urban descriptions of his
time; it is not a calculation of Shri Ramachandra’s exact year of birth.

On the other hand, Pushkar Bhatnagar, in his book _Dating the Era of Lord Ram_, 
matched the planetary and stellar positions mentioned in the Ramayana with the help
of software and proposed that Shri Ramachandra was born on 10 January 5114 BCE. 
There is a specific published source for this date. However, the calculation depends
on the interpretation of the planetary descriptions and on the chosen reading of
the text. It is therefore appropriate to mention the date as the birth date proposed
in Bhatnagar’s astronomical research.

These two examples show that there are lines of inquiry into the time of the events
of the Ramayana. Because researchers have used different methods and assumptions,
their results have also differed. One must also consider whether the cities, weapons
or social practices described in the ancient text belong to a particular stage of
composition. The time of the events and the time when the description was written
may be different.

The excavation at Ayodhya is an important part of this inquiry. In the summary of
the ASI’s 2003 report, one ancient settlement phase at the excavated site was placed
between approximately 1000 and 300 BCE. Pottery, terracotta figurines, beads and
objects of daily use were found there. These remains tell us about the history of
the ancient settlement of Ayodhya. Further specific evidence is still needed before
that settlement phase can be confidently linked with the reign of Maharaja Dasharatha
or Shri Ramachandra.

Research has also been done on the scientific background of the Ram Setu. According
to a 2022 online study by researchers of India’s CSIR–National Institute of Oceanography,
seawater began to enter the Palk Strait region about 8,500 years ago, and the older
river channels were buried under sediment around 7,000 years ago. These are the 
times of geological change in the region. The study does not give a single date 
claiming that the entire Ram Setu was built exactly at that time.

The age of some ancient coral reefs near Rameswaram has been determined to be as
much as about 1,25,000 years. The age of those corals and the age of the sandbars
deposited on them later may be different. A 2024 satellite-based study produced 
a detailed map of the Ram Setu, but it did not date any human construction activity.
Therefore, more research is needed before the age of the geological layers, the 
age of the corals, and the time of the bridge-building described in the Ramayana
can be treated as the same.

After this we come to the period of composition of the Ramayana text. Robert P. 
Goldman, in the introduction to the first volume of his Ramayana study, places the
possible date of composition of the ancient core form between 750 and 500 BCE. Several
historical observations lie behind this proposal.

First, although the Bala Kanda identifies various cities on the route of Shri Ramachandra’s
journey with Vishvamitra, the name of the later important city of Pataliputra is
absent. Jacobi and Goldman have seen this as an indication of an environment before
Pataliputra rose to prominence. Second, Ayodhya holds the position of political 
centre of Kosala. In the historically better-known later period, the importance 
of Shravasti is seen. According to Goldman, the description preserves the memory
of the political situation of ancient Kosala.

Third, clear influence of the imperial rise of Magadha or the spread of Buddhism
is not found in the ancient layer. He has also brought into comparison the environment
of small kingdoms, forests and Vedic sacrificial centres. These, however, are internal
clues from the text and historical comparisons. It is possible to describe an earlier
environment even in a later age. Therefore, 750–500 BCE is a possible period of 
composition; it is not a year obtained directly from any dated ancient manuscript.

John Brockington has placed the early stage of composition roughly in the fifth 
to fourth century BCE. The reference for this is his _The Sanskrit Epics_ (Brill,
1998), page 379. In his analysis, the ancient portions of the second to sixth kandas
took shape earlier. He has identified an important phase of their expansion between
the third century BCE and the first century CE, and of the inclusion of the Bala
Kanda and Uttara Kanda between the first and third centuries CE. These conclusions
come from his research based on comparisons of language, arrangement and readings
across different manuscripts.

There is also material evidence of the ancient circulation of the Ramayana. The 
University of Michigan Museum of Art in the United States holds a fragment of a 
terracotta plaque identified as a scene from the Ramayana, collection number 2012/
2.160. According to the museum, it belongs to the fifth century CE. Again, the fourth
stanza of the K.359 inscription from Veal Kantel in Cambodia mentions the donation
of the Ramayana along with several other texts and arrangements for their daily 
recitation. Modern research has identified the inscription as seventh-century. These
provide evidence of the recognition and circulation of the Ramayana in the respective
periods.

Finally, we come to the question of ancient manuscripts or handwritten copies. It
must be remembered here that the year in which a manuscript was prepared may be 
much later than the composition of the original text. The copies of ancient texts
have reached us through reading, writing down and preservation over many generations.

The oldest dated manuscript of the Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana discussed in older 
research and critical editions is identified in the collection of the National Archives
in Kathmandu, Nepal. Its number is NAK 1/934; microfilm number NGMPP A 25/2. Earlier
it was known as manuscript number 934 of the Bir Library. It is a Sanskrit copy 
written in Newari script on palm leaf. Its microfilm was also used in the critical
edition of the Ramayana prepared in Baroda.

At the end of this manuscript are written the name of the copyist Gopati and the
year Samvat 1076. Taking the year as Vikram Samvat, many editors have calculated
it as approximately 1019–1020 CE. Other research has given 1154 CE by taking it 
as Shaka Samvat. The difference of opinion is about which calendar the year should
be read according to. Therefore, when mentioning the date of this copy, it is necessary
to state both calculations.

Traces of even older manuscripts preserved in other languages are also found. In
the British Library in London, under the number IOL Tib J 737, there is a Tibetan
description of the events of the Ramayana. Their own catalogue gives its time range
as 750–1000 CE. It is a damaged scroll written in ink on paper. It contains a retelling
of the events in the Tibetan language. Therefore, when speaking of the oldest manuscript,
it is necessary to mention the language and the version.

A photographic facsimile of the Nepal manuscript of Samvat 1076 was also published
by Lokesh Chandra in two volumes in 1982. Such a publication is called a facsimile,
in which the writing and appearance of the old pages are reprinted like photographs.
Information about this publication and its holdings in various libraries is available
in Japan’s CiNii library-information system. Interested readers can search for the
published facsimile of the ancient manuscript through this and learn more about 
the long tradition of preservation of the Ramayana text.

In summary, what emerges from this writing is that there are two notable research
proposals about the time of the events described in the Ramayana: Sankalia, on the
basis of archaeological comparison, has said that the possible historical background
should not be placed before about 1000 BCE, while Bhatnagar, through astronomical
calculation, has proposed that Shri Ramachandra was born on 10 January 5114 BCE.
These are research results obtained by different methods; there is still no consensus
on a specific time of the events. Researchers place the ancient stage of composition
of the text roughly between 750 and 500 BCE in the first millennium BCE. The significant
address of the preserved ancient Sanskrit copy is the National Archives in Kathmandu,
while a Tibetan description of 750–1000 CE exists in the British Library in London.

The time of the geological changes of the Ram Setu, the time of the events of the
Ramayana, the period of composition of the text, and the age of the manuscripts 
are separate matters. Only by maintaining these distinctions can the statements 
of research about the antiquity of the sacred Ramayana be clearly understood.

**_Sushanta Das Gupta is a UK-based activist and presenter._**