The idea that Rama lived 8,800 years ago is not supported by the majority of Hindus today, as the concept of how time is measured in India was changed around 1,500 years ago. The ancient Indians had an advanced calendar system, based on yugas (eras), that formed in to mahā-yugas (great-eras). The length of these yugas and mahā-yugas has been debated throughout the ages, and is today quite astronomical, however the Mahābhārata and the Laws of Manu, still retain the original value of the Yuga Cycle as 12,000 years. The renowned Sanskrit scholar and nationalist leader of India, Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak explained in his book The Arctic Home in the Vedas that:
Many other ancient cultures including the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks also used a 12,000 year Cycle of the Ages. The eminent Yogi astronomer and scholar Sri Yukteswar Giri stated in the book The Holy Science, that a complete Yuga Cycle takes 24,000 years, and includes an ascending cycle of 12,000 years when virtue gradually increases and a descending cycle of another 12,000 years, in which virtue gradually decreases. Yukteswar stated:

The Path of the Sun Through the Zodiac
The 24,000 year duration of the complete Yuga Cycle closely approximates the Great Year of 25,800 years,(3)NASA (1965) “Great Year” Aerospace Science and Technology Dictionary which is the period of one complete cycle of the equinoxes around the ecliptic. While several ancient cultures used calendars based on the 12,000 and 24,000 year Great-Era, the oldest surviving reference to the Great Year comes from Plato who described the concept in his book Timaeus around 2,375 years ago:
References
1. | ⇑ | Bâl Gangâdhar Tilak (1903) The Arctic Home in the Vedas |
2. | ⇑ | Sri Yukteswar (1894) The Holy Science, Page 11 |
3. | ⇑ | NASA (1965) “Great Year” Aerospace Science and Technology Dictionary |
4. | ⇑ | Plato (circa 375 BC) Timaeus, 39d |