back 

The festival of Diwali is usually celebrated with great fervour and enthusiasm in Britain. The popularity and acceptance of this famous celebration has steadily grown over the years  among the indigenous British population. From schools, where the festival forms part of the Religious Education syllabus; to the work place, where it is now common to have Diwali dinners; to coverage of the festival by the media; to the Royal Mail issuing press releases about the last day on which Diwali post can be posted; to the Prime Minister and other dignitaries attending Diwali functions; to diaries & calendars having entries about the festival; Diwali is now an established part of British Life.

When it comes to being cognizant about the time when the story of Ramayana actually took place one encounters many different theories. These ideas are nearly always based on an individual’s research, personal opinions and even speculation.

Most of these notions postulate that events in the Ramayana occurred somewhere between 200 BC to 7000 BC. Unfortunately none of them give an opportunity for the tradition to speak for it self i.e. what do the Vedic (Hindu) scriptures say about the date of Ramayana?

We will now look at the evidence from the Vedas to calculate the date of the Ramayana.

kaushalyayam dasharathan
nava-durva dala-dyutih
tretayam avirabhavach
chaturvimse chatur-yuge 
bharatena sumitraya
nandanabhyam ca samyutah
(Laghu Bhagavatamrta Text 78)

‘Splendid as a new blade of durva grass, and accompanied by Sumitra's two sons and by Bharata, He appeared in the Treta-yuga of the 24th chatur-yuga as the son of Kaushalya and Dasharatha.’

tretayuge chaturvishe ravanastapasah kshayaata
raamam daasharathim praapya saganah kshayamiyavaan 
(Vayu Purana 70.48)

‘Due to his lowly behaviour Ravana was killed along with his friends and relatives
by Lord Rama, the son of Dasharatha, in the 24th chatur yuga.’

Present time
Kali Yuga in the 28th millennium of the 7th Manu in one particular day of Lord Brahma.

One Chatur-yuga
Satya yuga (1,728,000 years) + Treta yuga (1,296,000 years) + Dwapara yuga (864,000 years) + Kali yuga (432,000 years) = 4,320,000 years

1 Kalpa = 1000 Chatur Yugas

1 Day of Lord Brahma = 1 Kalpa (NB 1 night of Brahma also = 1 kalpa)

Life of Brahma  = 100 years i.e. 7300 Kalpas =311 trillion and 40 billion years

Catur-yugas passed
24th part (roughly half) of Treta & full Kali, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th till part of Kali-yuga

Years passed (appx.)
432,000 + 432,000 + 4,320,000 + 4,320,000 + 4,320,000 + (4,320,000 – 427,000 left)

=17,717,000 years + or - 432,000

(+ or - 432,000 years is required because we don't exactly know in which period of Treta Yuga, He appeared).

So according to the tradition Lord Rama appeared over 17 million years ago at Ayodhya, North India, to perform His pastimes as recorded by the sage Valmiki, the original writer of the Ramayana.