How did Lord Rama rule his kingdom
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The Ramayana itself states that Lord Rama is supposed to have ruled for a total of 11,000 years.
It is entirely possible to dismiss the records as fanciful nonsense and the texts themselves as superstitious balderdash. However such an attitude smacks of uninformed ignorance and thus we shall not concern ourselves with the sort of people who hold such views. We shall consider the entire scenario logically.
Since the king was, in several cultures, considered as an earthly counterpart of the gods in Heaven, the calculations of their regnal years was often done in very ritualistic manners. For example- consider the Ganga Emperor, Anantavarman Chodaganga. His regnal period is mentioned in texts as 41 years. However the very same texts mention the period of his reign as 32 years in ‘solar terms’.
We have the entire record of rulers of the Ganga dynasty from the 12th to the 15th Centuries- and thus, can easily reconstruct the calculations Ganga priests used for determining Regnal periods. But that is a story for another time.
In case of Iron Age rulers, these calculations are, often, far more weird. For example- the Sumerian rulers often took a single day to represent an entire year of their reigns. Thus,we obtain figures of regnal periods ranging from as much as 15000 years to even 40000 years in their case. However- as times go by, these incredible figures begin to reduce to far more ‘believable’ figures. This should be counted as a natural advancement of Civilisation from a Bronze Age primarily pastoral scenario to an Iron Age urban society.
It is interesting to note here that the Ramayana is set in an early Iron Age society with walled cities, permanent agriculture, and other such features- yet we can assume that ritualistic reasons were enforcing regnal length measurements to conform to an older standard. By this premise- we can get the ‘real length of Lord Rama’s rule in Solar terms:- approximately 31 years.
Which fits into the pattern of the pre-modern after-puberty life expectancy of around 60 to 70 years.
Another interesting point to note here is the age of Lord Krishna during his death. At 125 years, he was celebrated as one of the most exceptionally long-lived people at the time of the Saga- especially since he did not age at all, throughout all the time.
It is entirely possible to dismiss the records as fanciful nonsense and the texts themselves as superstitious balderdash. However such an attitude smacks of uninformed ignorance and thus we shall not concern ourselves with the sort of people who hold such views. We shall consider the entire scenario logically.
Since the king was, in several cultures, considered as an earthly counterpart of the gods in Heaven, the calculations of their regnal years was often done in very ritualistic manners. For example- consider the Ganga Emperor, Anantavarman Chodaganga. His regnal period is mentioned in texts as 41 years. However the very same texts mention the period of his reign as 32 years in ‘solar terms’.
We have the entire record of rulers of the Ganga dynasty from the 12th to the 15th Centuries- and thus, can easily reconstruct the calculations Ganga priests used for determining Regnal periods. But that is a story for another time.
In case of Iron Age rulers, these calculations are, often, far more weird. For example- the Sumerian rulers often took a single day to represent an entire year of their reigns. Thus,we obtain figures of regnal periods ranging from as much as 15000 years to even 40000 years in their case. However- as times go by, these incredible figures begin to reduce to far more ‘believable’ figures. This should be counted as a natural advancement of Civilisation from a Bronze Age primarily pastoral scenario to an Iron Age urban society.
It is interesting to note here that the Ramayana is set in an early Iron Age society with walled cities, permanent agriculture, and other such features- yet we can assume that ritualistic reasons were enforcing regnal length measurements to conform to an older standard. By this premise- we can get the ‘real length of Lord Rama’s rule in Solar terms:- approximately 31 years.
Which fits into the pattern of the pre-modern after-puberty life expectancy of around 60 to 70 years.
Another interesting point to note here is the age of Lord Krishna during his death. At 125 years, he was celebrated as one of the most exceptionally long-lived people at the time of the Saga- especially since he did not age at all, throughout all the time.
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