Ram Setu: What we know about this ancient epic bridge as of now
We are sure you know the story of Ramayana and how Sita was forcefully taken hostage by the demon king Ravana. The story of and how Lord Rama travels all the way to Lanka with the help of an army of monkeys (vanar sena) to save his beloved wife. But do you know how they reached Lanka? Well, the folklore is that they built a connecting bridge called Rama Setu. So where is this bridge? Does it still exist? Let’s find out more about it.
Rama Setu from Ramayana
The ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana mentions a bridge constructed by Lord Rama with the help of an army of monkeys led by Lord Hanumana to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from Ravana. In popular belief, Lanka is equated to present-day Sri Lanka and the bridge mentioned in the epic is taken as the Rama Setu bridge by Hindu devotees.
What has been proven about the Ram Setu from geological and scientific research till now is that it still exists as a 48 km long structure made of natural limestone shoals. It separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast) and connects Pamban, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka. The sea around this structure is very shallow, ranging from three feet to 30 feet deep. Several scientific reports state that the bridge was completely above sea level till 1480 but was damaged by a cyclone that hit the area. And therefore, till the 15th century, it was completely passable on foot until the channel deepened.
Adam’s bridge: The biblical connection
There is another story surrounding this bridge. Some sources refer to a mountain in Sri Lanka as Adam's Peak, the location where biblical Adam supposedly fell on earth. The sources describe Adam to be reaching India from Sri Lanka via this bridge after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This has led to the naming of this bridge as Adam's Bridge. Therefore, the structure holds significant importance in Abrahamic religions too!
The Sethusamudaram project
Wait, the story doesn’t just end here since the location of the bridge is also of strategic interest. It connects India and Sri Lanka and offers the shortest possible shipping route which could decrease both the travel time as well as the fuel bill, according to the shipping companies. In fact, as early as the 19th century, the British had plans to dredge this channel to enable big ships to travel between the east and west coasts. While those plans never materialised, the project was revived again in free India as the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. This project aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Strait and is expected to cut over 400 km (nearly 30 hours of shipping time) off the voyage around the island of Sri Lanka. However, that requires dredging through the Rama Setu.
Therefore, the proposal has been continuously opposed by groups on religious grounds who believe in the connection between the structure and the Ramayana. Environmentalists too are against the project. According to them, it could destroy the natural reefs, which have existed for thousands of years. Consequently, there has long been a debate over whether the Ram Setu is a man-made structure or a natural formation.
Man-made or natural?
Confused, as to how to prove if the bridge is man-made or natural formation? Well, it is difficult but not impossible. There still exist many uncertainties regarding the nature and origin of the bridge because comprehensive field studies determining the date of the bridge have not been undertaken yet. If some geologists and archaeologists are to be believed, the rocks of the bridge are over 7000 years old and were brought here from some other place.
The government had approved an underwater exploration a couple of years back, to study the structure and determine the age of the Rama Setu and its formation. This ongoing study would help in understanding if the structure was created during the Ramayana period. In fact, the recent Indian movie ‘Ram Setu’, revolves around an archaeologist trying to find if the Ram Setu bridge is a natural formation or a man-made one.