American Science Channel Claims Ram Setu From Ramayana Exists, Was A Man-Made Formation

Is Ram Setu from Ramayana real? This question millions of Indians have been asking for many years! As per Hindu beliefs, Ram Setu, or Rama’s Bridge, was made from a series of limestone rocks that bridge the gap between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The Ram Setu bridge is believed to be 30 km long and 3 km wide. Some people also believe that you could actually walk on Ram Setu up until 1480 AD before a great cyclone hit it and pushed the bridge below sea level and scattered the majority of the rocks.

However, there are numerous skeptics in India who believe that the Ram Setu was never built and was just a natural rock formation.

A Landsat 5 image of Ram Setu Bridge.USGS

Now an American science channel seems to have thrown more clarity on the Setu. The channel claimed that the ancient stories about the construction of a man-made bridge in Ramayana, could be true. In a promo, released on December 12, Discovery Communications-owned Science Channel said its explorers have found that bridge located in the international waters between India and Sri Lanka appears to be man-made.

The show has used satellite images from NASA and quotes scientists and geologists from Indiana University Northwest, University of Colorado Boulder, and Southern Oregon University. They say the 50-km stretch — between Pamban Island near Rameshwaram in India and Mannar Island off Sri Lanka — is man-made.

An aerial photograph of the Ram Setuimgur

The TV show says that the stone in the satellite image are sitting on a shoal or sandbar, and this sand bar may be natural but what is sitting on top of it is not, it says.

A painting depicting Vanaras building the Ram Setu.Travel Planet

“There are stone that have been brought from far and set on top of the sand bar in the island chain. How these stones got here is a mystery,” the show says.

Ram Setu has been in the centre of a controversy since the UPA-1 government in 2005 proposed the Sethusamudram shipping canal project that would have required dredging the area. The project was challenged by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy citing the mythological importance of the bridge.