Modern science is increasingly convinced that the myths and legends of the peoples of the world are echoes of the real events of antiquity. For example, a few years ago, NASA published images taken from space. They clearly show that the Indian subcontinent and the island of Sri Lanka are connected by a chain of sandbanks and coral islands. Local residents and many scientists believe that this is an artificial structure, the remains of a bridge built in time immemorial.
Along the way of Adam
Surprisingly, from India to the island of Sri Lanka can be walked - by sea like dry land. Russian film director Alexander Volkov proved this by his example, who shot the documentary "Rama's Bridge" in 2009. The fact is that between the southeastern coast of Hindustan and the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka there is a strange and geologically inexplicable rise in the seabed. It divides the Polk Strait in half, cutting off the murky gray waters of the Bay of Bengal from the purest emerald waters of the Mannar Bay. The width of this strip of shallow water is from one and a half to four kilometers, the length is about fifty. It bends in an arc from the Indian island of Pamban (Rameshwar) to the Sri Lankan island of Mannar. On the sides of this strip, the depth of the strait is 15-20 meters, and along the sandy shoals that connect 18 islets, you can walk somewhere waist-deep and sometimes knee-deep in water. On this path, there is only one serious obstacle - the Pambas passage between Rameshvar Island and Cape Ram nad. There is a very strong current here, which can carry a daredevil into the open sea. But an experienced swimmer is quite capable of swimming across the Pambas.
Once there was a real bridge linking India and Sri Lanka. It is marked on medieval Arabic maps. From time immemorial, there was a lively trade between the mainland and the island, and merchant caravans moved in both directions along the bridge. But in 1480, a strong earthquake and the huge tsunami caused by it destroyed the structure to the ground. They didn't even try to restore the bridge - it was too difficult a task …
But who built it? Muslims call it Adam's Bridge. According to Arab legends, Adam, expelled from paradise, descended to earth in Sri Lanka. On this island there is a peak of Adam, at the top of which the first man allegedly stood on one leg for a thousand years in atonement for original sin. At this place there was a trace of his foot - a depression in the stone measuring 1.62x0.76 meters. After serving his sentence, Adam crossed the bridge to the mainland.
However, Sinhalese Buddhists consider this imprint to be the footprint of the Buddha, who came to Sri Lanka from India over a bridge. They erected a small open temple over it. It is believed that the water accumulating in this depression has healing powers. In turn, the Hindus are sure that this is Vishnu's footprint, which is repeatedly mentioned in the Mahabharata. The followers of Shiva believe that this trail was left by the dancing god during the creation of the world. Christians are not inferior either, claiming that this is the footprint of St. Thomas, that is, the Apostle Thomas, who preached in India, where he also crossed the bridge from Sri Lanka.
Promotional video:
Thus, the Adam's Bridge is a shrine for different religions. True, neither Christians, nor Muslims, nor Buddhists know who and when actually built it. But the Hindus know this.
What the "Ramayana" told about
The events described in the Ramayana took place in the era of Treta-yuga, that is, about two million years ago. The demon lord Ravana, the evil and cruel ruler of Sri Lanka, kidnapped Sita, the wife of Rama, the legendary king of Ayodhya, the earthly incarnation of the god Vishnu. The ruler of the Rakshasas longed to make Sita his wife, but at the same time he could not force her to marry by force - a curse gravitated over Ravana, according to which instant death awaited him in the event of violence against a woman. He tried to win the beauty's favor with persuasion and threats, but she was adamant. And who would agree to become the wife of this ten-headed and ten-armed monster ?!
Rama, of course, could not tolerate such dishonor. He gathered an army of many millions, the striking force of which was an army of monkeys led by their king Hanuman, and moved south. Having reached the strait separating Hindustan and Sri Lanka, Rama wondered: how to cross this water barrier? Of course, he had at his disposal an air fleet of vimanas (flying machines like airplanes, or even space shuttles). In addition, he had Brahma's arrow - a formidable weapon similar, judging by its destructive power, to a cruise missile with a thermonuclear charge. However, air operations without ground support are generally ineffective. Therefore, Rama ordered the construction of a wide bridge across the strait, over which his great army could cross.
Rama's army included two chiefs, Nala and Nila. In their youth, they committed sacrilege, stealing holy relics from the hermitage and throwing them into the river. Then the sages put a curse on them, and since then any objects that the leaders threw into the water did not go to the bottom and remained in place, no matter how fast the current was. Nala and Nila became the main builders. Monkeys and mighty warriors brought them huge stones, centuries-old trees, torn out by their roots, and all this was covered with whole hills of earth, rammed, but at the same time remained on the surface of the sea. A large beautiful bridge, which has no equal in the whole world, was built in just five days.
Rama's multimillion army crossed to the other side and met in mortal combat with the myriad Rakshasa hordes. Many glorious warriors fell on both sides. Rama entered into a duel with Ravana. They fought for a long time, their forces were equal, and yet Rama defeated the enemy, hitting him with the arrow of Brahma. He freed Sita and they returned home.
Rama ruled in Ayodhya for 11 thousand years, and at that time the entire planet was an era of perfect happiness, peace, prosperity, justice, known as Rama-rajya. And the bridge built by Rama served people for almost two million years.
Monument of worldwide importance
For many years, scientists have been debating whether the Rama Bridge is a natural formation or a man-made structure. But this debate flared up especially sharply in 2001, when the Indian government decided to destroy part of the bridge in order to build a navigable canal here. The fact is that only small coasters can pass to Pambas, and ocean-going dry cargo ships, tankers and liners are forced to sail around Sri Lanka, and this is an extra 400 kilometers, or 30 hours of travel. And although the priests and believing Hindus sharply opposed the destruction of the national shrine, the Setus-Mudram corporation nevertheless began construction work on the site of the future canal. But soon some of the equipment was forced to return to the port due to numerous breakdowns. In particular, excavator buckets broke their teeth on the boulders of the bridge. And then a violent storm that broke out unexpectedlycontrary to forecasts of weather forecasters, scattered the ships. The Hindus immediately declared that it was Rama who was guarding his creation.
At the urging of the Rama Bridge activists, supported by a significant proportion of the population, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) conducted studies of the structure of the bridge. 100 wells were drilled here, soil samples from which were carefully studied. Conducted a magnetic and bathymetric scan. As a result of the research, it was concluded that a low underwater ridge (bridge) with a width of 1.6 to 4 kilometers is an anomaly, since it suddenly appears from the side of the Bay of Bengal. The ridge is a cluster of boulders measuring 1.5 × 2.5 meters and regular shape. These boulders lie on sea sand, the thickness of which is from three to five meters, and only then does the solid ground begin. Such a structure could not have arisen naturally. It is clear that the stones were placed on the sand cushion during the construction of the bridge.
As a result, the Madras High Court ruled in 2007 that the Rama Bridge was a man-made structure.
But when was it built? Here the opinions of researchers differ greatly. For example, the Indian professor Rama-sami from Bharatidasan University in Tiruchi believes that the Rama Bridge is no more than 3,500 years old. Sri Lankan archaeologists admit that this structure already existed 1-2 million years ago. And some researchers suggest that this artifact is even older, determining its age to 17 million years.
However, all supporters of the artificial origin of the bridge agree that it was built by an unknown highly developed civilization. It is possible that the bridge is a witness to the events described in the Ramayana. There is a version that this literary monument is a mythologized chronicle of the ancient war that broke out between the Aryans who colonized the north of Hindustan and the Lemurians who lived in the south of the peninsula and Sri Lanka.
In addition, there is a hypothesis that Rama, on the instructions of the gods, created a dam to regulate the bioclimate on our planet. After all, somewhere here a world system of currents is being born, including the Gulf Stream. It is scary to imagine what kind of cataclysms await us if this thermoregulation system is disrupted. And the best way out of this situation is to declare the Rama Bridge a UNESCO World Heritage Site.