Dating Ramayana - A new perspective

There is no doubt that the Mahabharatha happened 5000 years ago in the dwapara before this kaliyuga. But dating Ramayana has always been the enchanting question of all scientific investigations on Ramayana. When did Ramayana happen?. This question was posed to me on several occasions during my Harikatha. In my research I found that Rupa Goswami in his laghu bhagavathamritha had mentioned that Ramayana happened in the 24th Mahayuga of the present Manvanthara.
For, those of you who are not familiar with the yuga cycles of vedic calendar here is a brief introduction. A day of brahma consists of 14 manvantaras. Each manvantara has 72 mahayugas. A mahayuga is the combination of the four yugas(sathya, thretha, dwapara and Kali). Kali yuga consists of 432000 years. Dwapara twice the times of kali, thretha thrice and Sathya four times. Hence, a mahayuga lasts for 4.3 millions years approximately. We are currently in the 28th mahayuga of the 7th manvanthara which is Vaivaswatha manvantara. If the Ramayana had happened in the 24th mahayuga according to Srila Rupa Goswami, the dates of Ramayana are pushed as far back as 17 million years nearly(considering the fact that Rama appeared almost at the beginning millennias of the threthayuga of the 24th mahayuga.
However, there is no established scientific evidence to prove this. Some organizations presented out of place artifacts and fossils to establish the evidence of human beings along with dinosaurs. Although all such evidences were mere hoaxes and failed to pass any scientific tests; they were also brushed aside as debunked theories. I certainly agree that there is no physical evidence yet to prove the existence of mankind beyond a million years. Except the Vedas declare it with out any doubt. The statements in Vedas are suffice for its ardent believers but not for the scientific and academic community. It is understandable and very right on the part of any scientist and academic person to demand scientific data to backup any assumption or theory.
Although in this document, I am not trying to impress the scientific crowd with a stunning discovery but I will try to present a recent finding on which I happened to stumble upon. All the statements I am listing below are facts and accepted by scientific community with out a blink.
The distance between sun and earth when divided by the diameter of the sun is equal to approximately 107.5 ~ 108. ….statement1
The distance between moon and earth when divided by the diameter of the moon is equal to approximately 110.(as of distances measured today)…..statement2
Similar statements were made by sage Yagnavalkya in his astronomical treaty.
Let us see what Sage Yagnavalkya offered to us.
The distance between sun and earth when divided by the diameter of the sun is equal to approximately 108…..statement3
The distance between moon and earth when divided by the diameter of the moon is eual to approximately 108. (as of distances measured during yagnavalkyas time)…statement4

The ratios (related to the sun) calculated by Yagnavalkya and modern astronomers are almost equal. but the ratios related to the moon differ by a quite large number. The moon should have been closer to earth during the time of sage Yagnavalkya. I am not making a statement here, even science says that moon is moving away from earth by 38mm every year. Based on this, I calculated the distance of moon during Yagnavalkyas time from statements 2 and 4 listed above. Looks like the moon was 8992 km closer to earth than he is today. From this it is evident that for the moon to move 8992 km at the rate of 38mm every year it would have taken 23.66 million years.

Now, how will that help to establish that Ramayana happened 17 million years ago. Sage Yagnavalkya lived during the times of Janaka also. There are marked references that state Janaka invited Yagnavalkya to his court and felicitated him as the best among all Bramhagnanis. Did Yagnavalkya lived for so long, it is no surprise that some Bramha Rishis and great sages lived for millions of years. Sage Vasishta also lived for almost 7 manvantaras which is incomprehensible to our perception because of our modern day experiences. Yagnavalkyas existence during 23 million years ago and his interaction with Janaka can open up the possibility of pushing the date of Ramayana to 17million years ago as stated by Srila Rupa Goswami.

Vijaykrishna.