There have been many fossil records which reveal the existence of “hominid” species; i.e., species which were definitely not human but were more akin to apes. It is quite plausible that the divine celestials could have incarnated as one such “hominid” species. It is not improbable that such a species coexisted with humans millions of years ago during the period of Ramayana. The Neanderthals, for example, were not human but were a different species. Their scientific name is Homo neanderthalensis while human beings are known by the scientific name of Homo sapiens. The Neanderthals were very similar to human beings in their behaviour. When such beings have been shown to exist in prehistory, it is definitely not a scientific impossibility that the Vanaras existed. Moreover, it is wrong to compare the Vanaras with any of the hominid species. The explanation about the hominid species is only given here to help the readers understand that in prehistory similar beings have existed and hence it is not inconceivable that a superior race of Vanaras endowed with divine supernatural strength existed on our Earth.
The second reason for not accepting the existence of Vanaras is because of the belief in the theory of evolution. Anyone who believes in Darvin’s theory of evolution believes that humans evolved from apes. The scientific community who believes in evolution claims that each of the eight hominid evolved from one another until finally evolving into modern day human beings some 100,000 years ago. The interpretation of fossil records depends on the observation made by scientists. There is room for human error and even of purposeful manipulation of data to fit the existing scientific theories. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century, after the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species, many scientists found fossils containing intentionally cut/incised bones of animals. The supporters of Darwin’s theory claimed that the bones were broken by other carnivores despite finding stone tools in the same strata. Scientists carried out experiments with these stone tools and determined that a cut made by these stones on modern animal bones, replicated the cuts discovered in the fossilised bones. Despite all the proofs, this data was never included into the accepted list of evidence because the fossils were from the Pliocene era and according to Darwin’s theory, humans couldn’t have existed in the Pliocene period.
A nail had been found pounded into an ancient slab of Devonian sandstone estimated to be around 360 to 408 million years old in Scotland. Another piece of amazing evidence was the discovery of a gold thread embedded in a stone estimated to be around 320 to 360 million years old. In 1852, a metallic vase was discovered embedded in a Precambrian rock in Massachusetts. All the above discoveries and many more such discoveries not listed above disprove the theory that human beings evolved from hominid species only a hundred thousand years ago. Even paleoanthropologists agree that many fossil records prove the existence of beings resembling anatomically modern humans as far back as in Early Pleistocene and Pliocene. By examining the evidence obtained from fossil bones and artefacts it is very clear that humans have coexisted with other primates for tens of millions of years.
My advice to the younger generation is to take scientific theories with a pinch of salt. There have been many theories which have gained popularity only to be debunked later. If we start believing in science completely, then the existence of God or the fact that this Universe was created by His Divine Design will also lose credibility. Science cannot empirically prove the existence of God and neither is science the right tool to prove God. A person who wants to prove the existence of microbes must use a microscope. A magnifying glass cannot serve the purpose of a microscope. Likewise, Science with its limitation is like a magnifying glass and cannot be used to prove or disprove God. To study about God, we have to use the tool called “Vedas” which is like the microscope in the above example.
We do not know how the life on Earth was millions of years ago. From fossil records, we can gather that human beings did co-exist with apes or ape-like creatures millions of years ago but, we do not know the characteristics/capabilities of these ape-like creatures. We can only guess from the observations we have made. We shouldn’t constrain our thinking to what we know about modern apes. If Sage Valmiki has said that these ape-like beings i.e, the Vanaras could communicate with humans and were quite civilized, then we have to trust Sage Valmiki because, we didn’t live millions of years ago in Treta Yuga but, Sage Valmiki did.
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