Bridge from India to Sri Lanka. Arguments in favor of natural origin. What the facts say

Why does a seemingly ordinary bridge cause so much interest and controversy? The fact is that his very education seems to researchers a little strange and unnatural. Detailed Analysis structure of the bridge showed that a low underwater "ridge" really arose unexpectedly. This "ridge" is a cluster of boulders measuring 1.5 by 2 meters, consisting of limestone, sand and coral. Moreover, these boulders lie on sea ​​sand, and the thickness of the sandy soil is from three to five meters, and only then does solid ground begin.

"Adam's Bridge" and "Rama's Bridge" are the same place

In fact, there was a sharp rise of the bottom from a depth of 12 meters to one meter, and, most interestingly, it was found that these land areas did not rise as a result of any geological processes.

The bridge seems to divide Indian Ocean into two different areas. On the northeast side is the restless Polksky Bay with periodic storms and cyclones. From the southwest - a very calm Manara Bay with the purest emerald water. Even the structure of the water in them is visually different. From the side of the Bay of Bengal, the water is due to a cloudy grayish suspension, from the side of the Bay of Manar, despite the waves, the water is transparent turquoise.

The bridge divides the Indian Ocean into two sections

According to the history of the Arabs, the bridge, which allegedly literally rose from the bottom, is the road along which Adam walked after being expelled from paradise. As proof of this, they cite the imprint of Adam's foot, left on the top of the mountain - "Adam's Peak". These names were officially recorded in 1804 by James Rennel. He was the first inspector of British India who preferred to give Christian names, without taking into account local historical variants that had existed for thousands of years.

The bridge stretched from an island in India to the coast of Sri Lanka

The building itself represents 30 km of small islands, shallow waters, and 9 of them are under the control of Sri Lanka, another 9 are under the control of India. It stretches from the island of Rameshwaram in India to the island of Mannar, the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Some researchers believe that this bridge several millennia ago was the largest sandy isthmus in the world, which then turned into a chain of shallows with a change in sea level.

A more detailed, but already more mythical story of the creation of the bridge is described in Indian culture, and more precisely in the Ramayana epic. Almost in the middle of the story, a description begins about how Ramachandra, the prince of the capital of the legendary kingdom of Koshala Ayodhya, begins to build this very bridge. According to an ancient epic, Rama's beloved was secretly kidnapped by the ruler of Lanka. However, getting to him to save his wife was not so easy. The obstacle was the ocean. Then, as often happens in such works, Ramachandra turned to the god of the ocean, who promised that whatever objects they threw into the sea, he would help them to stand. The answer became a solution and the construction of the so-called Rama Bridge began. It is said that the millionth army of the prince carried on their shoulders and heads, like toys, mountains and rocks.

According to Indian legend, the bridge was built in five days.

According to legend, the bridge was ready in five days. It was on this bridge that Rama and his allies reached Lanka and overthrew its ruler.

According to the legends, the bridge remained pedestrian until the end of the 15th century, and then it was destroyed. Pictures taken by NASA from space confirm the existence ancient building. You can also watch various documentaries on this topic. Today, the place where these events took place is revered as a sacred relic.

Along the bottom of the Polk Strait near Sri Lanka, a underwater bridge 50 km long. It happened in 2003. On the ancient geographical maps Ptolemy put such a structure connecting the mainland with the island. Today, this bridge passes under water at depths of up to 12 meters. The alternation of coral reefs and shoals is visually similar to long road up to 4 km wide in places. The Indians called the building "Rama's bridge". On the geographical maps of the Middle Ages, it is clearly marked. The bridge was mentioned in the manuscripts of Marco Polo, who reached China at one time. If we analyze the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, then it speaks of the construction of the “Nala bridge”.

There are legends ancient india that have come down to our time. Oral tales tell of giant (up to 8 meters tall) monkeys who built the bridge within five days. Stones and logs were taken as material for construction. Having organized themselves into an army, the monkeys moved from the mainland to the island of Ceylon. Their leaders (Rama and Lakshmana) were dragged on their shoulders. Hanuman commanded all the animals. The very monkey-like deity with a “broken jaw”, the hero of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the avatar of Shiva, born from the god of the wind, could fly, and possessed incredible strength.

A bridge-like man-made structure stretches to the island of Rameswar and breaks off there. Further, at Cape Ramnad, an underwater firmament reappears. There is a strong current in the strait, but there is a passage for ships with a small displacement. Large ships go around Sri Lanka, making an 800 km arc. An attempt to make a shipping channel for big ships was not crowned with success. A sudden storm prevented, the equipment began to fail. Superstitious Indians said that it was Hanuman, the monkey king, who got angry. The two bays could not be connected by a shipping channel. In one of them (Polk) hurricanes often rage, and in the second (Manar) the water is emerald green and calm most of the months of the year.

The age of the "Rama's bridge" is disputed among scholars. It is determined from tens of thousands to millions of years. The structure of the structure has been studied in detail. The bridge is made of limestone boulders measuring one and a half by two and a half meters. Beneath the boulders is a sand mound 3 to 5 meters thick. different places lying on a stone base. The width of the bridge of several kilometers was definitely needed by giant creatures for crossings. If indeed there were once giant monkeys, then the construction of the bridge by them is not in doubt. Today, the ancient Indian shrine is still intact, otherwise it is also called "Adam's Bridge". A string of shoals, similar to a solid crossing, is clearly visible from outer space in the form of a slightly curved line. It can also be seen from aircraft. It runs along ferry crossing through which railroad cars and trains are transported.

Adam's Bridge or Rama's Bridge is a 48 km long chain of shallow water and coral islets connecting India with the island of Sri Lanka ( former name— Ceylon). Indians today and earlier consider the Adam's bridge to be an artificial structure. It was built by Rama in ancient times, for local residents the bridge is revered as a sacred place.

In the area of ​​Adam's Bridge between the islets, there is an amazing rise in the seabed from a depth of 10–12 to 1–0.5 meters. Thus, the bridge can be walked on foot, being waist-deep in water. unusual bridge has a length of 30 kilometers. It stretched from the island of Rameswaram (translated as the place of God Rama) to southwest coast India to the island of Mannar off the coast of Sri Lanka.

18 km southeast of Rameswaram on a sandy spit in ancient times was the city of Dhanushkodi. It was completely destroyed by a cyclone in 1964. After the rampage of the elements, only one temple remained intact. It was near him that the enemies of Rama surrendered to him. According to some reports, in the area of ​​​​the sandy spit at the bottom lies another temple, about which information has not reached our times. From this place begins Adam's bridge (or Rama's bridge).

Disputes about the history of the Adam's bridge

The debate about whether the bridge was artificial or natural flared up in full force in 2001. Then the government of India decided to destroy the Adam's bridge and make the Strait of Polk navigable. This would save about 30 hours of sailing around the islands (about 400 km.).

The navigable canal was proposed to be built here back in 1850 by the English commander Taylor. In 1955, Jevaharlal Nehru wanted to implement the same plan. However sacred places it was unethical to destroy your people, therefore Supreme Court India stated that there is no historical evidence of the construction of the ancient bridge by Rama. The Ramayana, although a sacred book for the Indians, was not taken into account.

Assistance from the international community

On March 27, 2007, a group of civil society organizations from around the world launched the SaveRamSethu (Save Rama's Bridge) campaign to save the Adam's Bridge. March 27 is considered Rama's birthday. For the people of India, the Rama Bridge is the real proof of their ancient history and culture, and destruction and construction would touch the feelings of millions of believers.

Opponents of the canal's construction said that if the Adam's Bridge were to be destroyed, it would affect the entire ecosystem of the area. To the northeast of the bridge is the dangerous Polksky Bay with cyclones and storms. In the southwest is the calm Manara Bay with crystal clean water. The Adam's Bridge separates these two completely different bays and softens the severe effects of the elements.

According to scientists, the 2004 tsunami that hit India and claimed thousands of lives was seriously weakened by the Rama Bridge. Otherwise, there would have been much more victims. The SaveRamSethu petition was supported by thousands of people.

The defenders of the Adam's Bridge proposed another option for constructing a shipping canal without destroying ancient building. You can dig it sandbar near the Indian village of Mandapam. Whether the arguments of environmentalists will be heard by the Indian authorities is not known. However, in 2007 the Madras high court issued a decision stating that Adam's Bridge is man-made structure.

Evidence of the reality of the construction of an ancient bridge

Photographs taken in the early 2000s by NASA added to the heat of the controversy. The photo clearly shows the real bridge, although NASA officials said that it is not correct to judge the age and origin of the chain of islands from the pictures. The Indian newspaper HindustanTimes was not embarrassed and reported that NASA images prove the reality of Indian legends.

The surviving part of Rama's bridge (or Adam's bridge)

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) conducted a study on the structure of the Adam's Bridge. Soil samples were thoroughly studied, for which 100 wells were drilled in the area of ​​the bridge. Conducted a magnetic scan. The study revealed that the underwater ridge that forms the bridge with a width of 1.6 to 4 kilometers could not have arisen naturally.

Research results

The underwater ridge is an accumulation of stones, sand and corals. .Boulders measuring 1.5x2.5 meters are mostly regular in shape, made of limestone. This embankment lies on sea sand, 3 to 5 meters thick. and only after it begins solid ground. It is the presence of sand below the boulders that indicates the man-made appearance of the Adam's bridge, since they are clearly laid on top of the sandy soil.

Scientists have found that this section of the earth platform did not rise as a result of any geological processes and is a dam. In the wells, the researchers found a homogeneous material - limestone. The ordered nature of the masonry also speaks of man-made origin bridge. Someone brought the boulders and laid them in the dam.

The opinions of scientists differed in determining the age and in the method of origin of the bridge. History has proven time and time again that the truth often lies behind it. After all, Heinrich Schliemann believed Homer and found ancient Troy, contrary to the opinion of most scientists.

History of the ancient bridge

Rama's bridge (RamasetuSetu or Setubandha) is also translated from Sanskrit as an artificial embankment. In ancient texts and in the Ramayana mystical building is referred to as the Sacred Causeway and as the bridge of Nala, and in one version of the Ramayana, this Sacred Causeway is mentioned throughout a whole chapter. The mention of the construction of the Rama bridge is also found in the Indian sacred books - Puranas and in the Mahabharata.

In the atlas of Schwarzberg (on p. 38) of the period 1290-1390 AD, on the map of India, Adam's bridge is referred to as Setubandha (Artificial embankment). For many centuries ancient bridge was well known to travelers and geographers. Even the great Marco Polo described the Adam's Bridge in his book IL MILIONE.

According to information from vintage maps, until 1480, the Rama bridge was pedestrian and people walked along it from India to Sri Lanka, which is confirmed ancient map Ptolemy. Later, Adam's Bridge was destroyed by tsunamis and earthquakes. As a result, the bridge sank about 1 meter under the water, and in one place the bridge even formed a gap, which now can only be overcome by swimming.

The locals have always called the ancient structure Rama's bridge. The British, who captured India, told about another name for the bridge. Adam's Bridge is the name given to the bridge by Muslims. According to Arabic legends, when Adam was expelled from paradise, God settled him on the island of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). On the shallows of the bridge, Adam was able to cross to the mainland, heading towards Eve.

Higher power intervention?

Despite the protests of the population and the public, the Sethusamudram firm decided to start work on the construction of the future canal. However, for reasons unknown, a number of dredging dredgers were returned due to breakage. Also, the teeth of the construction buckets were broken. Unexpectedly for that time of year, a strong storm came up and scattered the ships, preventing the builders from working. According to believing Hindus, this is Hanuman, the Monkey King, who protected his creation from destruction.

Watch the documentary "Rama's Bridge"

Part 1

According to ancient maps, the bridge was pedestrian until the end of the 15th century, then it was destroyed by an earthquake. At present, these shoals in some places act as small islands, in some places they are hidden under water by 1.0 - 1.25 m. It turns out that from India to Sri Lanka you can walk on foot! 40 km waist-deep in water, but theoretically - you can!

Here it is, Rama's Bridge. A picture from space. On the left - the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, on the right - Sri Lanka.

The bridge is a chain of huge regular-shaped stones, lying in an orderly manner not on solid ground, but on sand 3-5 meters thick. Also, geologists have established that in this place there was no uplift of the earth's crust. These facts speak in favor of the version of artificial nature object.

In addition, this chain of shallows in 2004 softened the destructive power of the tsunami. If not for her, there could have been much more victims, scientists say.

On the Arab medieval maps, it is marked as a real bridge rising above the water, along which anyone could cross from India to Ceylon. The situation changed in 1480, when, as a result of a strong earthquake and the strongest storm that followed, the bridge sank and was partially destroyed. However, the Portuguese and the British still marked it on the maps as an artificial structure, dam or bridge.

The length of the bridge is almost 50 kilometers, its width varies from about 1.5 to 4 kilometers, the depth of the seabed around the structure is 10-12 meters. Most of it is hidden by water, sometimes at a depth of more than a meter. So even now it is quite possible to walk along it from beginning to end, either wandering along the stone canvas knee-deep in water, or going deeper to the waist and more.

In general, there are many questions, of course, many. One such issue is the age of the bridge. Based on the legends, some Hindu theologians say that Rama's bridge is a million years old, others give a more modest age - 20 thousand years. Western researchers-alternatives put forward a really radical version - 17 million years. Even Indian academic science condescended to solving the problem and offered its own version - 3500 years, obviously linking construction with the Aryan conquest of India. However, with many ambiguities, it is obvious that the Rama Bridge is indeed an artificial, man-made structure. The studies conducted by GSI, I dare to believe, have convincingly proved this.

Hindus even believe that this is really a man-made bridge, built in ancient times on the orders of Emperor Rama by an army of monkeys led by Hanuman. According to the Ramayana, Nala, the son of the legendary divine architect Vishwakarman, supervised the construction, and Rama's troops crossed over this bridge to Sri Lanka to fight with its ruler, the demon Ravana, who kidnapped Rama's beloved Sita.

Legends say that it was built by monkey warriors who were of gigantic growth. And we even tried to illustrate in the film that the height of these giants was - you won't believe it - 8 meters! But, looking at this bridge, you involuntarily begin to believe in it - there is no point in building such a width for you and me. But for people who are eight meters tall, and at the same time have some kind of weapons, there probably appears a logic in the width of this bridge.

All this material is taken from the net, but here are my own thoughts about the creation and destruction of the bridge.

They created it, most likely, using the relief of the very bottom - an underwater sandy spit, an isthmus connecting the island to the mainland, which they began to "raise" - to strengthen with sand and stone .. My version is also an island and was connected to the mainland earlier, by a natural isthmus, but then the isthmus began to go under water, and they began to support it in such a way so as not to lose the footpath.

About destruction. As indicated in the top, the bridge functioned until the 15th century, 1480 is considered the moment of the destruction of the bridge. The cause is said to be an earthquake. But is it? If we connect all this with the world events of that time, then what do we know about him? We will only rely on the study of maps and not on official writings .. Let's take famous map Ptolemy 1168 (its reconstruction in 1495) and try to understand - what was happening on the planet for almost 300 years before the bridge was destroyed?

Part 2

Here is the section that interests us - there is India, there is Sri Lanka, and the bridge is safe and sound, everything is as it should be ..

The only thing is that the outlines of the island are circled with a black contour line, it paints over the junction of the "bridge" to the island, it seems that the bridge is "not completely" ..

And now let's see what is happening in Africa, Arabia and Central Asia .. At that time it was still quite normal to live there.

Look - Africa .. Cities, rivers, lakes .. Exactly the same is happening until the 15th century

Look - cities, rivers, big lakes, right in the middle of the desert .. That Sahara, which is now, is not yet .. There are also no ancient pyramids with pharaohs (and such an event should, cartographers simply had to note) Where are the pyramids with pharaohs? Instead of pharaohs and pyramids - temples with crosses. See for yourself .. Are you sure that we have real knowledge of the history of our world ...?

Or here is an even later map, 15th century. Consider the abundance of reservoirs, rivers, cities, and other events on the map. There are many of them, opposite the modern map ..

Look, seeker, from now on all this is given to the desert .. And who tells us that the sands in Africa are millions of years old - the favorite age of official historians .. They have their own appetites there .. Only 500 years ago, the earth was like a Garden of Eden! Look - Arabian Peninsula- and there are so many events on the map! Rivers, mountains, vegetation, settlements.. Where did it all go? Well, just now, by geological standards, a second ago .. And then - ONE .. And no ..

Conclusion .. And the conclusion is that the destruction of the Rama bridge happened at about the same time as the world cataclysm, one of the ends of the world, of which there were plenty in the past millennium .. At least three - four or even five times ..

Africa, Arabia were covered with sand, middle Asia-a solid strip .. What caused it - there are many assumptions about this .. One of them is that a large asteroid fell and passed tangentially, breaking the isthmus between South America and Antarctica .. The resulting wave circled the planet several times .. All this can be found on the net, on KONT, in LJ blogs ..

It is possible that the destruction of the bridge and the covering of half of the planet with sand were caused by the same event...

How it looked before

Or like this

And this is how it looks now

Returning to the topic of the bridge, I will add that already in our time they wanted to destroy the bridge, to make a passage for ships - to save the time that they have to spend to go around Ceylon. Naturally, this service would not be free - you would have to pay money for such savings, to the great joy of the cunning organizers of sacrilege ..

In general, everything was settled, agreed upon, and despite the protests of the general public, they collected equipment - they stood on the roads on two ships, began to prepare for dismantling work, but ... That same night a storm came up and the ships sank .. Moreover, the storm in the area are uncharacteristic for this time of year, according to the newspapers. So the Rama Bridge remained intact. You will involuntarily think about it .. About this and also about many other things, in documentary"Rama's Bridge"

Adam's Bridge is the name given to the bridge between India and Sri Lanka, which existed several centuries ago. It is also called Rama's bridge.
The Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana Valmiki talks about the Setubandhanam bridge - a bridge across the ocean connecting India and Sri Lanka. The epic attributes the construction of the bridge to Rama's monkey army, who assisted him in his war against Ravana, in order to win back his wife Sita.
According to the legendary epic, not so long ago there was a bridge between Sri Lanka connecting the island of Ramswaram at southeast coast Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island off the northwest coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land link between India and Sri Lanka, made from a chain of limestone shoals surrounded by shallow sea depth from 1 to 10 meters.
Rameshwaram temple records suggest that Rama's bridge was completely above sea level until it was destroyed by a cyclone in 1480 AD. The bridge and the surrounding sea were first mentioned in Western worlds in the "historical works of the 9th century" by Ibn Khordadbe in his "Book of Roads and Kingdoms", written in 850 AD.
On the very early map, which was prepared by a British cartographer in 1804 in relation to the Abrahamic myth, the bridge was named Adam's Bridge. Adam was believed to have used the bridge to reach the mountain, which the British identified as Adam's Peak, where he stood on one foot for 1,000 years.

There are still many different versions about the nature and origin of this structure even today. In the 19th century, there were two common theories that explained the formation of structure. According to the first theory, it was believed that it was formed in the process of accretion and the growth of the earth. At the same time, another theory suggested that the bridge was formed by separating Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland. Also, studies have variously described the bridge as a chain of coral reefs, ridges formed in the region due to the thinning of the earth's crust, and sand bar or a series of barrier islands. The age of the bridge was also not exactly known. Various scholars suggest that it is from 125,000 to 3,500 years, which, by the way, is the time of the Ramayana.
A team from the Center for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharatidasan University, led by Prof. S.M. Ramasami argued in 2003 that the Adam's Bridge between Sri Lanka and India is 3,500 years old, and "since the carbon dating of the beaches roughly matches those of the Ramayana, its relationship to the epic needs to be explored." However, it should be noted that the 3,500 year old age of the bridge is based on studies done on the corals that are part of this bridge. That is, in fact, the bridge under the corals could have been formed hundreds of thousands of years earlier.

The former director of the Geological Survey of India, S. Badrinarayan, argues that such a natural formation would be impossible. He justifies his version by the presence of a loose layer of sand under the corals. Badrinarayana believes that because corals usually form over rocks and not over layers of sand. Therefore, he believes that it is indeed possible that this bridge is related to the Legend of Rama and the Hindu belief that the bridge was created by Sri Rama and Sri Lakshman with the assistance of Hanuman and the army of monkeys.
Hindus regard the Adam Bridge as sacred and refuse the Indian government's proposal to dredging the bridge to create a shipping canal known as Setusamudram.
In 2001, the Government of India approved the multi-million dollar Setusamudram Ship Canal Project, which aims to create a ship canal across the Palm Strait by dredging the shallow ocean floor near Dhanushkodi. It is expected that the canal will shorten the route for ships that have to sail around the island of Sri Lanka by about 400 km.
By the way, the version of many Sri Lankans about the bridge between Sri Lanka and India is also interesting. This version of the construction of the Adam's bridge is the exact opposite of the version of the Hindus from India. Many Sri Lankans believe that the bridge was built by Ravan himself, using floating stones, stones made from weightless corals. The Sri Lankans believe that the bridge was a folding structure made by Ravana in order to cross the sea and reach India if necessary.