Adam’s Bridge (Rama Bridge)

The attraction is related to the countries:Sri LankaIndia

Adam’s Bridge – a legacy of ancient civilizations?

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Adam’s Bridge or Rama’s Bridge is a chain of coral islands mixed with shallow water, where the depth reaches 0.5-1.5 meters, which connects Sri Lanka and the southern coast of India. The bridge is 48 kilometers long. It used to be a pedestrian route that connected the island to the mainland until the 15th century. However, later, due to earthquakes and typhoon, the bridge partially collapsed and went under water. The existence of the footpath is attested to by many travelers, including Marco Polo.

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Video: Adam’s Bridge

General Information

According to legend, Adam’s Bridge is a path that the gods used to walk on. The Indian epic Ramayana tells us that the monkey god Hanuman used it to save Rama’s beloved bride, Sita, from the Lankan demon king Ravana.

But there was never actually a bridge at this site, passengers were carried by the Glasgow-built ferry “Ramanujam”. It was used to travel from Talaimannar, on the northern tip of Mannar Island, to the Indian port of Ramevsharam. But in 1984, due to the civil war, communication between Sri Lanka and India stopped. If the peace process continues, the ferry service may be restored.

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Artificial or natural?

There is no consensus on whether this bridge is artificial or a natural formation. There are disputes between scientists. However, it is reliably known that the land here arose not because of the movements of the Earth’s crust. That is, this “bridge” appeared not because of geological processes. And in general, the formation of such a strip of land in this place is not natural.

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The structure of the bridge was also investigated. For this purpose, wells were drilled in different places and samples were taken from them. It turned out that at the bottom of the bridge is sand, and already on top of it were as if laid boulders almost the correct shape, having the size of 1.5×2.5 meters, on top of the mound of soil. The sand below the boulders just may indicate that the bridge is artificial. What is interesting is that many of the boulders are very light and even float in the water.

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Satellite images also indicate that the bridge was a full-fledged and pedestrianized bridge, and thus may very well be an artificial formation, its clear structure is very visible in the images. But most importantly, the construction of the bridge is recounted in the Ramayana. Let this work can not be called scientific, but it has long been proven that many phenomena described in ancient religious books took place. Which means that Adam’s Bridge could really have been built several millennia ago.

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National Treasure

The people of India are very reverent about Adam’s Bridge, which in India is called Rama’s Bridge, because the Ramayana describes that it was Rama who built the bridge with the help of his assistants. The name Adam’s Bridge was given by Muslims, who believed that it was the bridge that Adam, who was expelled from Paradise, walked across on his way to Eve. Indians consider the bridge as their national treasure, tourists are also interested in it, near the beginning of the bridge in India you can take a tour and walk along the ancient path to Sri Lanka.

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However, Adam’s Bridge may be destroyed. For a very long time now, the issue of making the Polk Strait, where the Rama Bridge is located, navigable has been raised. However, to do this, the bridge would have to be destroyed, but it would allow ships to navigate more freely in these waters, saving up to 30 hours of time spent sailing around the islands. Similar ideas were expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru, but he did not dare to destroy a national treasure. The debate erupted again in 2007 when the government announced its plan, while claiming that the bridge was a natural formation and thus had no cultural value.

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However, the local people, who cherish the Rama Bridge as one of the real proofs of the veracity of the Ramayana scriptures and proof of the country’s ancient history, came out in defense of the bridge. A special organization was even formed.

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Legend of the construction of the Rama Bridge

On ancient Indian maps, the bridge is never mentioned as a natural formation, it is found as an “artificial embankment”. The story of its construction, as described in the Ramayana, is also interesting. It says that Ravana, the demon king of Sri Lanka, stole Rama’s beloved Sita, so Rama, Hanuman and Sugriva decided to go to war against the demon. To do so, they had to cross to the island and ferry the army of monkeys they were leading.

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After asking the Ocean God for advice, they learned that they needed to build a bridge. The two chiefs, Nala and Nila, who were in the army, were to throw pieces of rocks into the sea, which after their touch became light and did not sink in the ocean (remember the boulders floating in the water found at Rama’s bridge), and also remained in that place. That is, because of this, the bridge could not be moved, it was made to stand for millennia, which is basically what happened. The warriors were lined up in one line and passed stones to each other, and Nila and Nala threw them into the water. The bridge was built for 5 divine days or 5 human years. Then the army moved to the island and freed Sita.

In 2009, a Russian documentary called “Rama’s Bridge” was made, which investigated whether it was really artificial or still natural. At the end, it was concluded that Rama’s Bridge is most likely artificial and is one of the achievements of an ancient civilization that lived several millennia ago in India.

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