03, Nov 2015

In his book, Abdul Rahim Quraishi argues that nowhere in the Vedas or the Puranas is the Gangetic plain mentioned as the birthplace or the kingdom of Ram.
Written by Abantika Ghosh | New Delhi | Updated: November 3, 2015 7:36 am
A book by a senior functionary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has claimed that the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute is a relic of the British-era and that Ram was not born in present-day Ayodhya, but somewhere in northwestern India or Pakistan.
The AIMPLB, which is a party to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute pending in the Supreme Court, now plans to organise meetings all across the country with Hindu leaders to “spread awareness” about the book’s “findings”.
In his book “Facts of Ayodhya Episode (Myth of Ram Janmabhoomi)”, Abdul Rahim Quraishi — assistant general secretary and spokesperson of the board — argues that nowhere in the Vedas or the Puranas is the Gangetic plain mentioned as the birthplace or the kingdom of Ram. He adds that Ram’s domain — the Sapta Sindhu — was actually the land extending from Haryana and Punjab, through Pakistan and up to the eastern fringes of Afghanistan. He also questions the Hindu belief of Ram being born in the Treta Yug.
“According to the Hindu Yuga system of calculation of time, Sri Rama appeared at the end of the 24th or 28th Treta Yug and we are in the 28th cycle of Kali Yuga. This gives the period of Sri Rama approximately 18 million years ago. Nowhere in the world anything, any remains or any relic of a million years past has been found. On the basis of position of stars and constellations given in Ramayana etc experts have calculated the year of his birth as 5561 BC or 7323 BC. But in Ayodhya and other places of UP – whose names appear in Ramayana in connection with some event of Sri Rama story – no human habitation is found beyond 600 BC in the past,” Quraishi writes in his book.