On the day the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) organised a nation-wide agitation to save the mythical Ramar Sethu from destruction, the Union government has told the Supreme Court that there was no historical evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or the other characters of the Ramayana.

Submitting an affidavit before the apex court, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said, “The petitioners while seeking relief have primarily relied upon the contents of the Valmiki Ramayana, the Ramacharitamanas of Tulsidas and other mythological texts… which cannot be said to be historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters or the occurrence of the events, depicted therein.”

The formation known as Ramar Sethu or Adam’s Bridge is not a man-made structure, but rather a natural formation made up of sand bars which are possessed of their particular shape and form due to several millennia of wave action and sedimentation, said the affidavit filed by Director (Monuments) C Dorjee of the ASI.

Rejecting the claims of the petitioners including former Union minister Subramaniam Swamy, the affidavit said the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad also did a study and concluded that the Ramar Sethu was not a man-made structure.

“Whereas it is submitted that the ASI is aware of and duly respects the deep religious import bestowed upon these texts by the Hindu community across the globe, it is also submitted that the study of human history, which is the primary object of the ASI, like other sciences and fields of study, must be carried out in a scientific manner.”
The petitioners have sought direction from the court to the government declaring the Ramar Sethu or Adam’s bridge a protected monument.

 and it should not be demolished while constructing Sethusamudram canal between Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka for a smooth passage for ships.

The apex court will hear the petition on September 14.

Meanwhile, Surface Transport Minister T R Baalu said in Chennai that the NASA website had mentioned about “partially submerged giant tombolos forming Adam’s bridge, connecting Sri Lanka to India and how such tombolos usually indicate a constant sediment source and a strong unidirectional or bi-directional long shore current”.
Tombolo is a bar of sand connecting an island with another island of the mainland.

Mr Baalu said, “None of the studies and investigations conducted so far has produced any tangible scientific evidence of any man-made structure in the area.”