A review of the book 'RAMA: His Historicity, Mandir and Setu, Evidence of Literature, Archaeology and Other Sciences' written by Professor B. B. Lal.
This booklet seeks to present archaeological facts, nothing but hard facts, in regard to the three more or less allied topics, viz.:
(i) `Was Rama a figment of the imagination of a poet called Valmiki, or is there any evidence to suggest that he may have been a historical figure?`;
(ii) `Was there a temple in the Janma-Bhumi area at Ayodhya, prior to the construction of the Babari Masjid?`; and
(iii) `What are the “credentials” of Rama Setu`?
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Coming up: A review of the book 'RAMA: His Historicity, Mandir and Setu' written by Professor B. B. Lal.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the publisher.
Little bit about the author:
A world-renowned archaeologist, Professor B. B. Lal was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). His excavations covered a very wide range. At Kalibangan, Rajasthan, he unearthed a prosperous city of the Harappan Civilization. The excavations at Hastinapura have established that there was a kernel of truth in the Mahabharata, even though the epic is full of interpolations. The excavations at Ayodhya have shown that the Ramayana too has a basis in history. In 1961 he conducted excavations in Egypt as well.
Amongst his books are: The Earliest Civilizations of South Asia; India 1947-97: New Light on the Indus Civilization; The Sarasvati Flows On: The Continuity of Indian Culture; The Homeland of the Aryans: Evidence of Rigvedic Flora and Fauna and Archaeology and The Rigvedic People: ‘Invaders’?/’Immigrants’? Or Indigenous? (Evidence of Archaeology and Literature).
The President of India has honoured him with Padma Bhushan.
Let me read a brief description of the book from the back cover:
The recent controversy about the Rama Setu has offered an opportunity to certain individuals to question even the historicity of Rama. Their approach is quite ingenious. If the very existence of Rama as a real-life person is denied, the question of there having been a Setu associated with him automatically does not arise. In this context, one can't help quoting the learned Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who recently raised two very interesting questions, namely "Who is this Rama?" and "From which engineering college did he graduate?"
This booklet seeks to present archaeological facts, nothing but hard facts, in regard to the three more or less allied topics, viz.: (i) `Was Rama a figment of the imagination of a poet called Valmiki, or is there any evidence to suggest that he may have been a historical figure?`; (ii) `Was there a temple in the Janma-Bhumi area at Ayodhya, prior to the construction of the Babari Masjid?`; and (iii) `What are the “credentials” of Rama Setu`?
Cover Illustration: The Rama Setu, connecting India with Sri Lanka. Superimposed is a terracotta figure of Rama, inscribed with his name in Brahmi script of 3rd century CE.
The booklet has an interesting dedication page where the author has written:
Dedicated to my countrymen who have always been worshippers of the truth and even today live by the ideal “Satyameva Jayate.”
The booklet has a total of 36 illustrations and I wouldn’t hesitate to say that the book is worth buying just for these illustrations. Some of them are:
1st ─ A coin issued by Akbar, portraying Rama and Sita along with their names.
2nd ─ View of one of the excavated trenches in the Janma-Bhumi area in Ayodhya.
3rd ─ A stone panel in the temple at Angkor Wat showing Ravana carrying away Sita.
4th ─ Constituting a part of the Quwwatul Islam (Might of Islam) Mosque in Delhi, a colonnade which was constructed by using pillars of Hindu and Jain temples destroyed by Qutb ud-Din Aibak.
5th ─ Kar Sevaks carrying a huge sculpted stone-slab on their shoulders, which they had rescued from the debris of the Masjid and were in the process of depositing it in a safe place. This is one photo I have not seen in any of the books read by me related to the Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Masjid dispute.
This booklet covers the three relevant topics mentioned above in a very fast and to-the-point manner. It covers Rama’s life-story in Literature, Non-Brahmanical sources of the Story of Rama, Rama’s story from beyond the frontiers of India, Evidence of a purely Secular text, Archaeology coming into the picture, Portrayal of Rama’s life in art, and an analysis of the entire evidence.
On page 53, the author has rightly stated:
QUOTE
The only sane thing to do is to take a holistic view of the entire available evidence, be it in the form of literature or archaeology or art. Absence of a contemporary inscription certifying Rama’s birth cannot be construed as evidence of his not having existed in flesh and blood. Thus goes the wise old saying: “Absence of evidence is no evidence of absence.”
UNQUOTE
This booklet is less than a total of 100 pages which includes the Preface, Acknowledgements, List of Illustrations, Bibliography and Index. I give this booklet 4.75/5 and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Masjid dispute from the person who is probably the most qualified to do so. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that, it is because of the archaeological evidence unearthed by Professor B. B. Lal that we can see the Ram Mandir standing at Ayodhya.
The printed price of the book is Rs. 550/- but is available for around Rs. 510/- on Amazon India and for Rs. 495/- at the website of publisher Aryan Books. And it is available for $16.00 USD on Amazon USA. The book is not available in Kindle or Audible format. I have given the respective buy links in the show notes. Please check them out for the latest prices.
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