#098 - Ramayana distance Unit of a Yojana could have been 200 feet

4-42-19

Book 4 - Book of Kishkindha City
Chapter 42 - Sarga 42
Verse 19 - slooka 19


Kot`im tatra samudree tu
kaanchaniim shata yojanam
durdarshaam Paariyaatrasya
gataa drakshyatha vaanaraaha.

CONTEXT
Who said this : Sugriiva , the Vaanara King.
To whom said : the Vaanaras led by Susheen`a (Sugriiva's father-in-law) , going in the western direction in search of Sita.
Sugriiva was describing the areas and places where Vaanaras have to search.

GIST
Oh Vaanaras! You will see on going there (after passing through the Mount GoldenHill (Hemagiri)) , a golden peak called 'Paariyaatra'. It is hundred 'yojanas' high. It is difficult to look at, owing to excess glow.

Note: 'Koti' here does not mean one crore or 10 million. 'Koti' here means a mountain peak. There is a God by name 'Kot`iiswara' in Southern India, at Kotappakonda in Guntur District of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Kotiiswara means the Lord of the Mountain Peak and not the Lord of 10 million.

COMMENTS
*The commonly understood length of the legendary unit 'yojana' = 8 miles approx. or 15 km. If that unit of measurement is accepted the Paariyaatra hill must have been 1500 km. high. Assuming that the average height of a mountain peak in the NorthWestern India i.e. Kandahar in Afghanistan , is 20,000 ft., a yojana should come to just 200 ft.


*Now compare these 100 yojanas with the 100 yojanas of the Ocean which the Southern Emissary , Hanuman was said to have leaped with great vigor? Did Hanuman leap 1500 kms. or 20,000 ft.? This distance of 20,000 ft. works out to approx. five km., which will be nothing but the width of a river. A Deccan river like Godavari with boulders strewn all around in the river bed, it may not be difficult for any person to leap or swim.

*You can also see my post on Rama Setu (Rama's bridge). It was impractical to expect Rama to build a bridge 1500 kms. long. He might have built a bridge of 5 kms. across some Central Indian or Deccan River. Ravana's fort might have been in a River Island. For example, you can see one such type of fort in the River Krishna, near Beechupalli, Mahaboobnagar District, Andhra Pradesh, on the National Highway No. 7 between Hyderabad and Kurnool.

*We have to think practically, if we were to believe that Ramayana had historical origins and that it had taken place in real life. The monkeys can be tribals, and not the real monkey animals.