Namaste Sam,
Thanks for the response.
Reading it reminded me of another doubt - there are characters in the Ramayana that are said to be still alive at the time of the Mahabharata and appear in it, I think the person in particular that I'm thinking of is called Jambhavan; the historian and astronomer explaination fits in with this.
Yes, I think you are right. Jambavan may be in the Mahabharata as well, I’m not certain. I recall something about Jambavan’s daughter being married to Krishna. Also, Hanuman also makes an appearance somewhere in the Mahabharata too, if I am not mistaken. The events of the two epics cannot be so far separated in history, which is why I also like the historian’s explanation.
You may want to check out the
Hinduism timeline. It suggests two possible dates for Rama – ca. 4300 BCE and ca. 2040 BCE. The second one I have come across elsewhere too.
I've never heard the 900 000 years dating before
The 900,000 year date is something suggested by some traditionalists, I don’t think any scholars suggested it. It is based on the belief that Ramayana occurred in the
treta yuga and the intervening
dvapara yuga is 864,000 years long. I must also mention here that there is some controversy about the length of yugas. When ancient texts are referenced the time periods actually listed are much shorter, but the length of yugas you find in most places now take those numbers and multiply them by 360. This is because it is assumed that the length of yugas listed in ancient texts is Deva years, which are 360 times longer than human solar years.
No doubt to some extent the historical stories have been enhanced by dramatists but am still inclined to regard them as factual evan though this flies in the face of present day scholarly thinking but then on the other hand I admit I don't really know and that I don't really need to.
I also believe that there is historical information in the
itihasas, however the manner in which history is related is different than how it is done now. Also, the histories were likely orally transmitted for many generations by bards, and so underwent many renditions. Even after they were written down, there have been many recensions, etc. The Ramayana itself has changed quite a bit since Sage Valmiki wrote it.
By the way I've heard that evidence of the bridge built from India to Sri Lanka can be discerned from satellite pictures, have you heard about this?
Yes, I have seen this picture

. Recently, the Indian government wanted to dredge in the strait between India and Sri Lanka, so that ships could pass between the two countries instead of sailing around Sri Lanka. Many groups have protested this move because it would lead to the destruction of the land bridge.
Here’s a picture of the bridge:
There’s also a great
Wikipedia entry on Rama’s Bridge. The bridge sometimes goes by the name Adam’s Bridge, but Hindus prefer the term Rama’s Bridge

.
OM Shanti,
A.