Template:Bridge to Lanka

This episode from the Ramayana story depicts the building of causeway from the mainland (of India) to Langka (Sri Lanka). God Rama, heir to the Indian throne of Ayodhya, seeks to rescue his wife Sita, who has been abducted by the demon king Rawana and taken to his island fortress of Langka. While Rama raises the animal kingdom into an army, Hanoman, the White Monkey general, flies to Langka to find Sita. The army that finally sets her free, crosses the sea on a bridge built by warrior monkeys.

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Author Valmiki mentions a bridge crossing the ocean to unite India and Sri Lanka in the famous Indian epic Ramayana, which was written thousands of years ago. The nearly 24,000-verse epic poem tells the story of the godly prince Rama and his fight to save his kidnapped wife Sita from the evil king Ravana, who ruled Sri Lanka. The crown prince Rama was made to give up his claim to the throne and live in isolation for 14 years. Sita, his wife, was kidnapped by the evil demon king Ravana while he was in the forest and carried to Sri Lanka. Rama gathered an army of monkeys and led them to Sri Lanka, where a lengthy war started. Ravana was ultimately defeated, and Rama returned to his house with his wife to be crowned king.

Rama’s Bridge Rama Setu (Rama’s Bridge) was first mentioned in Valmiki’s Ramayana, a Hindu epic. The bridge is thought to have been constructed by Lord Rama's Vanara Sena on Nala's (who helped Rama to build a Bridge) orders so that Lord Rama could travel to Lanka and rescue his wife Sita. According to legend, the name of Lord Rama was written on the floating rocks, which made the pumice stones unsinkable. The bridge was then used by Rama's army to cross the sea and reach Sri Lanka. This bridge is also known as Adam’s Bridge and India Sri Lanka Bridge. Adam’s Bridge separates the Palk Strait (northeast) from the Gulf of Mannar in the southwest and is 48 kilometres (30 miles) long. Navigation is made more difficult because some of the areas are dry and the local seas are rarely deeper than one meter (3 feet). Until storms deepened the waterway in the 15th century, it was supposedly accessible on foot. Records from the Ramanathaswamy Temple claim that Adam's Bridge was above sea level before a cyclone destroyed it in 1480. You may still see a trace of a connecting strip between the two countries if you look at satellite images of this region today. In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Nala, a vanara (monkey), is credited as the bridge's engineer. The Rama Setu covers the ocean between Rameswaram (India) and Lanka, which is thought to be Sri Lanka today, allowing lord Rama's army to travel to Lanka. Another name for the bridge is Nala Setu or the bridge of Nala. The construction of the bridge is credited to both Nala and his twin brother Nila and another vanara. Rama Setu bridge connects India and Sri Lanka.

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In the great Indian epic of Ramayana, written several thousand years ago, the author Valmiki speaks of a bridge over the ocean that connects India and Sri Lanka. Rama, the crown prince, was forced to renounce his right to the throne and go into exile for fourteen years. During his stay in the forest, his wife Sita was kidnapped by the evil demon king Ravana and brought to Sri Lanka. Rama organized a massive army that led to Sri Lanka, unable to move troops across the ocean, was advised by the sea god to build a bridge over the water. Rama asks the Vanaras for help in building it, raising a road between the mainland and Lanka, building it with rocks and boulders, which are described as mountains. The construction project was said to have lasted five days and had a length of 100 leagues. The bridge, once completed, allowed Rama to transport his Vanara army across the ocean to Lanka, with the killing of Ravana and the liberation of Sita returning to India. The first signs of human habitation in Sri Lanka date back to around 1.75 million years ago: the Stone Age. The age of the bridge is equal to the archaeological estimates. According to Ramayana – the bridge was built in the third age of man or “treta yuga”. The treta yuga or third era of man was estimated 1.7 million years ago. So the time frame cited by Indian legend and scientific reality coincide closely. Located in the Palk strait, off the southeastern border of India, formed by sand banks, it is characterized by a long and narrow strip of land typically composed of sand, silt and small pebbles. Once this strip of land was believed to be a natural formation, however, images taken from a NASA satellite showed that this formation of land was a long broken bridge beneath the surface of the ocean. Now called “Adam’s Bridge”, it stretches 18 miles from mainland India to Sri Lanka.

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More Info:
Bridge to Lanka built by monkeys
Video 1: Could This Be The Legendary "Magic Bridge" Connecting India And Sri Lanka?
Video 2: 1,7 Million Year Old Bridge Built by the Gods - Rama Setu