I was doing the Sapta Sarga Parayanam and came across this very interesting mathematics, which i thought I should write down .. Who ever did this calculations.. Hats off.... This blog has nothing to do with the Sundarakanda or its meanings etc. This blog is purely about how to do the Parayanam and the calculations behind it...
Valmiki Ramayana's Sundarakandam has 68 chapters, which are called Sarga. so there are 68 Sarga in Sundarakanda. Saptha Sarga Parayanam means, you do 7 Sarga a day, without getting up in the middle or taking breaks. Now here goes the calculations and how many days and other statistics regarding the Parayanam.
- Reading 7 chapters a day means in 9 days you read 63 Chapters.
- On the 10th day you are left with 5 chapters. Since you are supposed to read 7 chapters a day , you read first 2 chapters again...
- Effectively you are now in the second round of the Sundarakandam.
- In the second round, because you already took off first two chapters, you are left with 66 chapters to finish..
- Reading 7 chapters a day means in 9 days you read 63 Chapters.
- On the 10th day you are left with 3 chapters. Since you are supposed to read 7 chapters a day , you read first 4 chapters again...
- Effectively you are now in the Third round of the Sundarakandam.
So on and so forth.. in this way of you do this, then you will end up doing 7 rounds of Sundarakandam parayanam and will end up in exactly 68 days... The following table shows how.
Round | Total Chapters | Chapters Reading Stats | Total Num of Days |
1 | 68 | 9 Days : 63 chapters | 10 |
| | 10th day : 5 | |
| | Read First 2 again to make 7 | |
2 | 68-2 = 66 | 9 Days : 63 chapters | 10 |
| | 10th day : 3 | |
| | Read First 4 again to make 7 | |
3 | 68-4 = 64 | 9 Days : 63 chapters | 10 |
| | 10th day : 1 | |
| | Read First 6 again to make 7 | |
4 | 68-6 = 62 | 8 Days : 56 chapters | 9 |
| | 10th day : 6 | |
| | Read First 1 again to make 7 | |
5 | 68-1 = 67 | 9 Days : 63 chapters | 10 |
| | 10th day : 4 | |
| | Read First 3 again to make 7 | |
6 | 68-3 = 65 | 9 Days : 63 chapters | 10 |
| | 10th day : 2 | |
| | Read First 5 again to make 7 | |
7 | 68-5 = 63 | 9 Days : 63 chapters | 9 |
Total number of days to finish the sapta sarga parayanam | | | 68 |
So the interesting Calculation I was talking to you about was:
Total Chapters = 68.
If you do one chapter a day then it takes 68 days.
If you do 7 chapters per day then also it takes 68 days, but with 7 Chapters, you would have finished the Sundarakandam 7 Times. I found this very interesting..
So with 7 Chapters per day on a multiple of 7 you would finish 7 times in 68days..
----------------- ***--------------------***------------------***------------------