Adam's Bridge

The Adam's Bridge (English Adam 's Bridge, Rama 's Bridge, Rama Setu ) is a 30 -kilometer-long chain of sand banks, coral reefs and islands between India and Sri Lanka.

Geography

The Adam's Bridge is located in the strait at the point where India and Sri Lanka are the closest. It runs from the Pamban, which is upstream of the southeast coast of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to Mannar Island, off the north west coast of Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka lies at the end of the island chain on the island of Mannar the place Talaimannar, on the island of Pamban on the Indian end are the pilgrim town of Rameswaram and the former, by a cyclone in 1964 destroyed Dhanushkodi place. The Adam's Bridge and Palk Strait separates the Palkbucht lying to the north of which lies in the south of the Gulf of Mannar. The border between India and Sri Lanka runs through one of the small islands. It will be the shortest land border between two states.

Name and mythology

The name Adam's Bridge is derived from a Muslim legend, according to Adam after his landing at the Adam 's Peak to be hiked about this " bridge " to Mecca.

In India, the Adam's Bridge is named after a Hindu myth known as Rama 's Bridge or Rama Setu (Sanskrit for " Rama's Bridge"). In the epic Ramayana, it is described as an army of monkeys under the leadership of Hanuman to build a bridge over which the hero Rama gets to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita there from the abduction by the demon king Ravana. Orthodox Hindus considered the presence of the chain of islands between India and Sri Lanka as "evidence" for the historicity of the events described in the Ramayana.

Channel project

The Adam's Bridge is not passable for seagoing vessels, only small fishing boats can use small passages. Smaller ocean-going vessels can use the Pamban passage between the island of Pamban and the Indian mainland. Larger ships traveling between India's west and east coasts have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka and thus have a greater detour. Therefore, since the end of the 18th century there were ideas to build a navigable channel through the Adam's Bridge to significantly shorten the sea route. More recently, the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project was indeed approved by the government in 2005, but met with fierce resistance, especially from Hindu circles. The project was brought before the Supreme Court of India, the final decision is still pending.