Lord Rama - Legend or God

Lord Rama :
Hindus consider Lord Rama as seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Rama is the one who given more prominence to dharma and never crossed eternal laws. He was worshiped along with his wife Sita, brother Laxman and devotee Hanuman. He was legendary king ruled the place called Kosala with capital as Ayodhya. One of the greatest epic Ramayana written based on life of Lord Rama.

Cultural Belief's:

The story of Ramayana was narrated in Sanskrit language by Maharishi Valmiki hence it is called as Valmiki Ramayana. It has  24,000 verses, 500 sub chapters and 7 main chapters. Lord Rama was courageous and ideal man from childhood. He married Sita by breaking the bow of Lord Shiva. He went to forest with his wife and brother for the sake of his father request. He spent fourteen years exile with his wife and brother. He killed Ravana and others with help of tribes (vanara's) upon the kidnapping of his wife sita.

Interesting facts:

• At the age of 60years king dasarath conducted Putrakameshti Yaga(Fire ritual) for the birth of his son Rama.
• At the age of 15 Lord Rama went with Sage Vishwamitra and married Sita.
• At the age of 26 years Lord Rama went to exile.
• Lord Rama belongs to Suryavamsh or raghuvamsh dynasty and he is 64th ruler of Kosala kingdom.
• Lord Rama constructed Ramasetu (Adams Bridge) in 5 days with help of vanara's.
• Ravana was great scholar and musician. He studied Vedas and excellent player of instrument Veena.
• Laxman didn't sleep for 14 years of exile to kill ravana son Indrajeet.
• Laxman draws a powerful line called as Laxman Rekha to protect her sister-in-law sita.
• Lord Rama traveled all over India from Ayodhya to Rameshwaram and went to Srilanka.
• Lord Rama scarifies his life by taking jala Samadhi(water burial) in Sarayu river, when mother(earth) of sita taken back her upon her request.
• King Brihadbala who was the 28th descendant of Rama’s Son Kusha fought against pandavas in kurukshetra war. Legend Abhimanyu son of Arjuna killed Brihadbala.
• Sage Valmiki is a thief turned sage.His original name is Ratnakar.
• Kamba Ramayana written in Tamil language by Kamban based on Valmiki Ramayana in the eleventh century. Rama Charita Manas written in Hindi(Avadhi) by Tulsidas in the sixteenth century.
• According to Valmiki Ramayan Lord Rama is a legendary human being but Tulsidas narrated Lord Rama as God in Rama Charita Manas.

Scientific Reasons:

• As per Valmiki Ramayana, Lord Rama was born on lunar day-Navami of Chitra month and sage Valmiki given detailed list of planetary positions and zodiac constellations at the time of birth. When the details were fed by researchers in software called Planetarium  it was exactly matched with the details of planetary positions given by Sage Valmiki. Lord Rama born on the date January 10, 5114 BC at noon around 12-1PM. The same day was celebrated as SriRama Navami(birthday of Rama) festival every year all over India.
•  Researchers stated that Lord Rama went to forest on January 5, 5089 BC at the age of 25 and ravan was killed by Rama on December 4,5076 BC, after completion of 14 years of exile at the age of 39 years he returned Ayodhya on January 2, 5075 BC  based on planetary positions given in Valmiki Ramayana.
• Sage Vamilki explained a solar eclipse occurred during the war between Rama and Ravan which was very accurate and could be seen from the place called panchavati.
• In 1975 the Archaeological Survey of India conformed that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya and married Sita in Mithila which was now in Nepal.
• NASA revealed the ruins of bridge which was submerged in Palk Strait between Rameshwaram(in Tamilnadu) and Sri Lanka was manmade based on unique structure and composition by age.

Also check Lord Rama Festival 'Sri rama Navami' post.