The Hindu religion teaches of the God-King Rama who had an army of friendly monkeys to build him a land bridge to Sri Lanka in order that he may rescue his wife. The remains of this bridge are said to be Ram's Bridge aka Rama's Bridge aka Adam's Bridge.
The bridge is a series of shoal's which geomorphologists say are the leftovers of a natural land bridge which existed as last as the last ice age.
The bridge is an impediment for ships trying to come from the west heading towards India's east coast. Even where the bridge is now submerged, the sea floor is shallow enough to prevent crossing. So the government is planning to dredge part of the bridge to create a "canal" which would allow for faster maritime travel.
Protests and a court case were launched to save Rama's Bridge on environmental and cultural reasons. The government responded with a report saying the bridge was natural and the religious element of the argument was pointless because Rama was probably not real. "And there was heck to pay." Devout Hindus in the region were shocked and angered by the government's statement. Opposition parties pointed out how the Sikh prime minister and non-Hindu, "cult" member president were treating the majority Hindu's culture. The outrage got so intense the government had to withdraw its statement.
The government in Delhi ignored the cultural importance of the bridge and they are paying for it. Geography matters in India.
2 comments:
Indian government should unearth this bridge and place it in Kanyakumari or at the Vivekandanda Rock Memorial and make it a tourist attraction.
I am sure UNESCO and the World Bank will be interested. By this way, every one will be more interested in HINDU CULTURE and government can build the shipping lane.
We have to repeat what UNESCO did during the construction of Aswan High Dam, a huge rockfill dam which captures the world’s longest river, the Nile River. Builders moved all the artifacts related to Egyptian civilization to higher ground before the dam was build.
Indian government should repeat what Egypt & UNESCO did.
The government shouldn't dig it up and put it on display, its a natural rock formation. If it's interfering with shipping, then just put a canal through it.
Heck, if everyone /really/ wants to 'respect the culture' then they can take the debris from digging the canal and put /that/ on land somewhere.
The government shouldn't back off economic interests like this over religious beliefs.
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