In the dharmic month of Kartik on the 15th day, Hindus around the world will be preparing to celebrate the enchanting festival of Divali. For generations we have all come to love and understand the meaning of Divali, the symbolism of Divali, the metaphors of Divali, and the epic sacred narrative behind Divali based on the events found in the Ramayana but there is one thing typically missing from the local and global Hindu narrative of Divali: an archaeological and historical account of the events and places in the Ramayana.
Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, I studied all of the history I could find on western civilization and on Hindu history. Today, I am a Classical archaeologist (Greek and Roman) and I’ve travelled, studied, excavated and researched ancient sites across the world. However, during Divali it always felt like the pundits would simply tell the account of Divali. Therefore, Lord Rama, the other characters and Ayodhya remained firmly fixed in the realm of “Hindu Mythology.” They never called it mythology but one doesn’t have to say that when you are constantly turning Divali into a symbol and a metaphor. I had studied many accounts of ancient Greece and Rome and one could point to actual physical sites based on their epics. The site of Troy and the Trojan War in the Greek Illiad does exist in today’s Hisarlik, Canakkale Province in Western Turkey. I have stepped through the entrance of the actual Oracle of Delphi in Northern Greece where generations of Greek Gods, heroes and conquerors have visited themselves. There are countless documentaries linking cities and artefacts to places mentioned in the Bible such as Bethlehem, Jericho, Canaan, Mount Sinai, Megiddo and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
As a teenager, when I read the Ramayana my mind was filled with wonder but, I had one single thought about its historical reality. Do these places exist? Does Ayodhya exist? Does Kishkinda exist? Does the Ghodavari River exist? The answer is, yes it does, they all do. There are hundreds of sites linked to the Ramayana, Mahabharata and other sacred narratives dotting the landscaped of India and South Asia. Many places in the Ramayana include Kishkinda, the birthplace of Hanuman which I saw from the site of the ruined Vijayanagara Empire; Dandak Forest, where Ram and Sita were exiled; Chitrakoot, where Bharat asked Lord Rama to return to Ayodhya; Lepakshi, where Jatayu fell; Panchavati, where Lord Rama would bathe and Lakshman drew the Lakshman-rekha to protect Princess Sita; Ashok Vatika, where Ravana kept Sita in Lanka; Mithila, where Sita was born in her Kingdom of Janaka. Then there is the grandest site of them all, Ayodhya, the famous capital city of Lord Rama’s Koshala Kingdom which many Hindus now know of its existence and Ram Janmabhumi, the birthplace of Lord Rama. A site now famous because Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Ram Mandir there this year.
Image taken from indianyug.com
Unfortunately, there seems to be a complete and utter disconnect with the global Hindu diaspora and their sacred places of pilgrimage and belief in terms of history, historicity and historical sites. Most Hindus cannot link the actual places and events with their religious beliefs and recorded sites in the scriptures.
To top it all of, the climate of India is such that archaeological artefacts thousands of years old do not remain intact in the tropical and wet regions unlike the sands of Egypt that have continued to preserve every inch of their impressive Pharaonic Civilization. I would not go looking for Rama’s palace or his bow or his clothing from the palace in Ayodhya, pottery maybe if it was fired clay. But, we have seen the birthplace of Rama does exist, and so does the birthplace of Krishna and his city in Dwarka.
Yet, when I searched the Ramayana I realized there was one monument that could have possibly survived the thousands of years, the bridge that Lord Rama had built. If it was there, it could be found. In 2016, I journeyed to South India and I began to ask around. Even in India, nobody talks about it unlike the tons of tour guides leading you to the Acropolis in Greece, the Forum Romanum in Rome or even the Taj Mahal in India.
Lord Rama’s bridge that he built with his Vanara army does exist stretching from India to the island of Sri Lanka. The site is not well maintained by the Indian government and it’s a rickety ride to get to the spot where you can look out over the sea where the bridge exists underwater. It can be seen better from the air or space. Instead of a museum and properly built center there is a makeshift tent where the murtis (images) of Lord Rama, Lakshman and Sita are found near the ocean. However, inside the dilapidated tent is a specimen of one of the floating shells used to build the bridge and it is in incredible site to behold. You can pick it up and touch it with your hands.
Historians have put forward that there is a real possibility this bridge is a man-made structure and can be connected to the story in the Ramayana. The site is so incredibly old there is an argument about whether is a natural formation through sedimentation and other geological processes or a manmade structure but findings reveal something unbelievable. The “bridge” is located near the Palk Strait off the Southeastern Shores in India, between Pamban Island, or Rameswaram Island from the state of Tamil Nadu, India connecting all the way to Mannar Island off Northwestern Sri Lanka. It consists of a chain of limestone shoals and extends for about 18 miles, 29km, from India to Sri Lanka.
According to the Ramayana, Lord Rama with the help of his Vanara Sena, his Vanara army, built this bridge over five days under the instructions of the architects and brothers, Nal and Neer. Lord Rama then marched his troops across into Lanka to rescue princess Sita from the adharmic King Ravana. The Geological Survey of India drilled more than 6m below sea level into the structure and found a layer of sandstone and other material such as coral and boulder rock. A few meters below that they found a layer of sand and then harder rock formations followed the previous layer. Divers further explored the area and concluded that the rocks were not typical marine formations and were believed to have come from either side of the causeway. The expedition lead also concluded that there was ancient quarrying in the area and perhaps the structure was really man made using such materials.
Ram Setu was first mentioned in the Ramayana of Valmiki written in Sanskrit. It is also documented in the writings of Ibn Khordadbeh’s book “Roads and Kingdoms,” written in 850 CE known as Set Bandhai or the Bridge of the Sea. A Professor of Historical Archaeology from Southern Oregon University makes the claim that rocks have been found to be 7000 years old lying over a substratum of sand only 4000 years old. Basically, this means, as the Professor believes, that the older lying rock have come from afar and have been placed on top of the lower sand substratum.
The Ramayana mentions that the stones used to built this bridge are able to float. Under the makeshift tent at the site, I was able to hold one of these floating stones in my hand. They are lily white and large like coral and they do float in water. You can test it on site with the water provided in a large basin-like structure.
Shubh Divali
Jai Shri Ram
Nisha Ramracha (Archaaeologist/Historian/Adventurer).
