NASA satellite photo of Rama's Bridge—oblique, Sri Lanka to the left

Rama's Bridge seen from above the Mannar island, Sri Lanka.

Rama's Bridge as seen from the air

Image:Rama's bridge map.png Map of Rama's Bridge and environs

Rama's Bridge, also called Nala's Bridge and Adam's Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m) deep. This seriously hinders navigation. It was reportedly passable on foot as late as the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. (citation required). A ferry service linking the island and port of Rameswaram in India with Talaimannar in Sri Lanka has been suspended for some time due to the fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist LTTE; the Pamban Bridge links Rameswaram island with mainland India. Image File history File links NASA_satellite_photo_of_Rama's_Bridge. ... Image File history File links NASA_satellite_photo_of_Rama's_Bridge. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 283 KB) Image of the Adams Bridge taken by me while flying from Hyderabad, India to Colombo, Sri Lanka. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 283 KB) Image of the Adams Bridge taken by me while flying from Hyderabad, India to Colombo, Sri Lanka. ... NASA Images discover Ancient Bridge between India and Sri Lanka. ... NASA Images discover Ancient Bridge between India and Sri Lanka. ... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Look up Shoal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... km redirects here. ... The Gulf of Mannar is an arm of the Indian Ocean, lying between the southern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka at a width of between 160 and 200 km (100 to 125 mi). ... The Palk Strait is a 40-85 mi (64-137 km) wide strait that lies between Indias Tamil Nadu state and the island nation of Sri Lanka. ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... The Pride of Rotterdam, One of the P&O Ferriess Flagships operating the Hull-Rotterdam Route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. ... This article is about temple town. ... The Pamban Bridge also called Indira Gandhi Bridge lies on the Indian end of the Palk Strait that connects Rameswaram island to mainland India. ...

History

The name Rama's Bridge originate in Hindu belief. According to the Hindu epic Ramayana (Chapter 66, The Great Causeway [1]), the bridge was constructed at Rama's request by his allies. The bridge was supported on floating sand rocks but the gods were said to have later anchored the rocks to the sea bed, thus creating the present chain of rocky shoals. It was said to have helped Rama to reach Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king (Asura) called Ravana, who was then the ruler of Lanka. Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ... The (Devanāgarī: ) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and is an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). ... Lord Sri Rama (center) with wife Sita, brother Lakshmana and devotee Hanuman. ... Sita Devi SITA ... // In Hinduism In Hindu mythology, the Asura (Sanskrit: असुर) are a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes misleadingly referred to as demons. ... A depiction of Ravana, Hindu rakshasa King of Lanka In Hindu mythology, Ravana (Devanagari: रावण, IAST ; sometimes transliterated Raavana and as Ravan) is the principal antagonist of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. ...

Some Hindu groups claim that the bridge is evidence that events narrated in the Ramayana epic actually took place and cite NASA's imagery of it as proof of their claims. NASA has distanced itself from such claims: For other uses, see NASA (disambiguation). ...

"The images [...] may be ours, but their interpretation is certainly not ours. [...] Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit cannot provide direct information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and certainly cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing any of the patterns seen."

Archaeology

Archaeological studies of the bridge are ongoing, and some archaeologists claim to have found evidence suggesting that the bridge is man-made. For instance, some researchers from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, announced that the "bridge" is only 3,500 years old. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Bharathidasan University is a university in the city of Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu state, India. ... Tiruchirapalli (also spelled Tiruchchirappalli, commonly known as Tiruchi or Trichy, formerly known as Trichinopoly under British rule) is a city situated on the banks of the Kaveri river, centrally located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ...

Sea levels rose about 10 or 20 metres in the 6th millennium BCE to reach levels similar to today, so in 6000 BCE the bridge would have been an isthmus situated above sea level. As such, it almost certainly would have been a viable route for humans to have reached Sri Lanka by dry land.. For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ... During the 6th millennium BC, agriculture spreads from the Balkans to Italy and Eastern Europe and from Mesopotamia to Egypt. ... The Isthmus of Panama connects North and South America. ...

Infrastructure development

Recently the Government of India has approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project that aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Strait. The plan is to dredge the shallow ocean floor near the Dhanushkodi end of the Rama's bridge to create enough leeway allowing ships to pass through the channel instead of having to go around the island of Sri Lanka. It is expected to save nearly 30 hours' shipping time by cutting over 400 km off the voyage. However, efforts to conserve the heritage of the bridge has been initiated under the Ram Karmabhoomi movement. The Government of India (Hindi: Bharat Sarkar), officially referred to as the Union Government, and commonly as Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories, collectively called the Republic of India. ... The proposed canal The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project proposes linking the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka by creating a shipping canal through the shallow sea sometimes called Setu Samudram, and through the island chain of Ramas Bridge. ... Dhanushkodi was a city at the southern tip of the Rameswaram island, at the eastern coast of the Tamil Nadu state of India. ... Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft. ... Ram Karmabhoomi is the area composing of Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi, Ramas Bridge, also known as Adams Bridge where the Hindu deity Rama is believed to have conducted his fight against Ravana to rescue Sita. ...

See also

• Atlantis
• Kumari Kandam
• Lemuria
• Krishna
• Hanuman
• Ramayana

Atlantis (Greek: , Island of Atlas) is the name of an island first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical lost land variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. ... Krishna with Radharani, 18th C Rajasthani painting Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari, in IAST ), according to various Hindu traditions, is the eighth avatar of Vishnu. ... Hanuman tearing his chest open to reveal that Rama and Sita are literally in his heart In the Hindu faith, Hanuman (Sanskrit: हनुमत् Hanumat; nominative singular हनुमान् Hanumān), known also as Anjaneya, is one of the most important personalities in the epic, the Ramayana. ... The (Devanāgarī: ) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and is an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). ...

External links

• The Ram Karmabhoomi Issue
• Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project
• Rama's bridge in Google Maps

Coordinates: 9°05′38″N, 79°32′48″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...