Үндістан мен Шри-Ланка арасындағы тас шоқтар тізбегі

Chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka

Adam's Bridge, also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu, is a chain of natural limestone shoals between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the south eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the north western coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that the bridge was formerly a land connection between India and Sri Lanka. The feature is long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some regions of the bridge are dry, and the sea in the area rarely exceeds in depth, making it quite difficult for boats to pass over it. The name Adam's Bridge appeared probably around the time of Al Biruni (c. 1030). The ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana (8th century BCE–3rd century CE) mentions a bridge constructed by the god Rama to reach the island Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from Ravana. In popular belief, Lanka is equated to present day Sri Lanka and the bridge is described as "Rama's Setu".

Due to lowered sea levels during the Last Glacial Period (115,000 11,700 years Before Present) where sea levels reached a maximum of below present values, the entirety of the relatively shallow Palk Strait (which reaches a maximum depth of only ) was exposed as dry land connecting the mainland Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. Following the rise to present sea levels during the Holocene, by around 7,000 years ago, the strait became submerged, including the region of Adam's Bridge/Rama Setu. The islands of Adam's Bridge became emergent again following sea level falls in the region from around 5,000 years ago to the present. The bridge starts as a chain of shoals from the Dhanushkodi tip of India's Pamban Island. It ends at Sri Lanka's Mannar Island. Pamban Island is accessed from the Indian mainland by the long Pamban Bridge. Mannar Island is connected to mainland Sri Lanka by a causeway. The lack of comprehensive field studies explains many of the uncertainties regarding the nature and origin of Adam's Bridge. It mostly consists of a series of parallel ledges of sandstone and conglomerates that are hard at the surface and grow coarse and soft as they descend to sandy banks. One study tentatively concludes that there is insufficient evidence to indicate eustatic emergence and that the raised reef in southern India probably results from a local uplift.

In the vicinity of Adam's Bridge/Rama Setu, the water is typically only deep. Eminent British geographer Major James Rennell, who surveyed the region as a young officer in the late 18th century, suggested that a "navigable passage could be maintained by dredging the strait of Ramisseram ". However, little notice was given to his proposal, perhaps because it came from "so young and unknown an officer", and the idea was only revived 60 years later. In 1823, Sir Arthur Cotton (then an ensign) was assigned to survey the Pamban channel, which separates the Indian mainland from the island of Rameswaram and forms the first link of Adam's Bridge. Geological evidence indicates that a land connection bridged this in the past, and some Ramanathaswamy Temple records suggest that violent storms broke the link in 1480. Cotton suggested that the channel could be dredged to enable passage of ships, but nothing was done until 1828, when Major Sim directed the blasting and removal of some rocks. A more detailed marine survey of Adam's Bridge was undertaken in 1837 by lieutenants F. T. Powell, Ethersey, Grieve, and Christopher, along with draughtsman Felix Jones, and operations to dredge the channel were recommenced the next year. However, these and subsequent efforts in the 19th century did not succeed in keeping the passage navigable for any vessels except those with a light draft. The Sethusamudram project committee in 1956 also strongly recommended to the Union government to use land passages instead of cutting Adam's Bridge because of the several advantages of land passage. In 2005, the government of India approved a multi million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. This project aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Strait by dredging the shallow ocean floor near Dhanushkodi. The channel is expected to cut over (nearly 30 hours of shipping time) off the voyage around the island of Sri Lanka. This proposed channel's current alignment requires dredging through Adam's Bridge. Indian political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) and some Hindu organisations oppose dredging through the shoal on religious grounds. The contention is that Adam's Bridge is identified popularly as the causeway described in the Ramayana. The political parties and organisations suggest alternate alignment for the channel that avoids damage to Adam's Bridge. The then state and central governments opposed such changes, with the Union Shipping Minister T. R Baalu, who belongs to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a strong supporter of the project maintaining that the current proposal was economically viable and environmentally sustainable and that there were no other alternatives. Opposition to dredging through this causeway also stems from concerns over its impact on the area's ecology and marine wealth, potential loss of thorium deposits in the area and increased risk of damage due to tsunamis. Some organisations oppose this project on economic and environmental grounds and claim that proper scientific studies were not conducted before undertaking this project.

The ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, in the Yuddhakanda, mentions a bridge constructed by the god Rama with aid from an army of Vanaras (monkeys or forest dwellers) to reach the island Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from Ravana. In popular belief, Lanka is equated to present day Sri Lanka. some Sanskrit sources of the first millennium emphasise on the distinction. In extant historical sources, the equation between the two islands appears for the first time only in the Kasakudi Copper Plates of Nandivarman II (r. late 8th century) pertaining to the conquest of Sri Lanka by one of his ancestors; as Ramayana took a life of its own under the succeeding Cholas, the identification profferred, justifying their imperial ambitions to invade the island.

Muslim tradition holds that Adam's Bridge was crossed by Adam following his expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Religious beliefs that the geological structure was constructed by Rama have caused some controversy as believers reject the natural provenance of Adam's Bridge. S. Badrinarayanan, a former director of the Geological Survey of India, a spokesman for the Indian government in a 2008 court case, the Madras High Court, and an episode from the Science Channel series What on Earth? have claimed that the structure is man made. In the What on Earth? episode, those claiming that Adam's Bridge was constructed based their arguments on vague speculation, false implications, and the point that – as with many geological formations – not every detail of its formation has been incontrovertibly settled. Indian Geologist C. P. Rajendran described the ensuing media controversy as an "abhorrent" example of the "post truth era, where debates are largely focused on appeals to emotions rather than factual realities". NASA said that its satellite photos had been egregiously misinterpreted to make this point during the protests against Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. NASA noted: "The images reproduced on the websites may well be ours, but their interpretation is certainly not ours. Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit cannot provide direct information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and certainly, cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing any of the patterns seen." A report from the Archaeological Survey of India found no evidence for the structure being anything but a natural formation. The Archaeological Survey of India and the government of India informed the Supreme Court of India in a 2007 affidavit that there was no historical proof of the bridge being built by Rama. In 2017 the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) announced a pilot study into the origins of the structure, but went on to shelve it. In 2007, the Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority sought to promote religious tourism from Hindu pilgrims in India by including the phenomenon as one of the points on its "Ramayana Trail", celebrating the legend of Prince Rama. Some Sri Lankan historians have condemned the undertaking as "a gross distortion of Sri Lankan history". The idea of Rama Setu as a sacred symbol to be appropriated for political purposes strengthened in the aftermath of protests against the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project.