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        During the last tsunami in December 2004, the Ramar Bridge, also known as Adams Bridge in the Palk Bay acted as a natural barrier preventing the direct devastation of the entire South Indian coastline, south and southwest of Nagapattinam. Thus the Ramar Bridge, traditionally and popularly also known as Ramasethu, played a key role in protecting the coastline in South India against the unforeseen ravages of the tsunami in December, 2004.

        The implementation of the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) will operationally involve the breaking and dismantling of the Ramar Bridge for creating a 300-meter wide canal. This in turn will suck the next, impending, tsunami waves directly into the South Indian coastline. The spread of the massive displacement of waters displaced by the Tsunami 'plate tectonics' of 2004 was such that it doused the Southern Tamilnadu coastline, circling the entire Sri Lanka Island and moving partially into Kerala and towards the Ramar bridge. This circling around Sri Lanka occurred because the Ramar Bridge acted as a natural shoal barrier preventing the inflow of waters. If the Sethusamudram Canal is dug through the bridge, it will act as the channel for the waters to flow directly into the entire Southern India coastline beyond Dhanushkodi and into the coastline of Kerala right into the Konkan region. The resultant devastation will be incalculable. Keeping this aspect in mind, Dr. Tad S. Murty, an acknowledged international authority on the 'Tsunamis' has clearly indicated that creating the Sethusamudram Canal as per the existing alignment will only lead to unprecedented disasters during the next Tsunami which can happen at any time. Dr. Murthy is Chief Editor of the reputed International Tsunami Journal 'Science of Tsunami Hazards' for over two decades. To quote his exact words of warning in this context: 'I like this (Sethusamudram) project, but there is a flaw. The entrance to the channel should be re-oriented towards the eastern side. Otherwise, there is a chance that it may create a deepwater route for another devastating tsunami. This may cause huge destruction in Kerala.' Taking note of this ominous warning, Government of India should immediately stop the construction of the project till this technical point raised by Dr Tad S Murty is carefully considered by a team of experts drawn from all the concerned technical fields, including the whole gamut of Earth Sciences.

Against this background, it will be clear how the Ramar bridge (Ramasethu) had acted as a 'a high wall' and, in fact, saved most of the coastline west and northwest of Dhanushkoti from total devastation during Tsunami 2004. There are clear indications that the environmental clearance was given to the SSCP without taking into account the following fundamental engineering and cost-benefit factors:         1 Effect of a tsunami-type of event on the SSCP. All the scientists are unanimous in their view that a recurrence of tsunamis cannot be ruled out.         2 Locations for dumping the dredged sand

Map of Rama's Bridge (Adms Bridge) and environs

        3 Costs of continuous dredging given the continuous sea currents which tend to create the shoals through the never-ending natural accretion process, again and again rebuilding the Ramar bridge, and thus making the SSCP, apart from being financially unviable, inoperable for most of the time.

        4 There has been no market study of the numbers and types of vessels which will navigate through the channel and the freight rates expected to be paid by these vessels for being tugged through the proposed Canal.

        In the interest of safety of the lives of the coastal people, it is prudent to stop the project work until the fundamental factors are re-studied and re-evaluated. It is also essential to involve National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in this exercise and create a Marine Archaeological Unit to study the archaeology of the Ramar Bridge and Kizhakkarai where a S'ankha Industry has been flourishing for centuries. It will be a tragedy of incalculable proportion to the cultural traditions of India, if this age-old industry were to be devastated by the SSCP.

        The possibility of choosing alternative strategies with little or no impact on the Ramar Bridge should also be re-studied, taking into account the satellite images made available by NASA. To quote the beautiful words of the eminent Cultural Historian Dr S Kalyanaraman in this context: 'The received narratives of the submergence of Kumarikandam should be a pointer to the imperative of careful studies before embarking on projects which hurt the cultural sentiments of the people who are inheritors of a glorious sea-faring, maritime, riverine civilization continuum'.

1747 Netherlands map

I am shocked by the reply which the Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni gave in Parliament recently on the issue of this avoidable destruction of the Ramar (Ramasethu) Bridge. She said: 'there are no archaeological studies which confirmed the existence of a Ramasethu Bridge between India and Sri Lanka in ancient times. .... The Government has no plans for any preservation imperative in this regard'.         I fully endorse the brilliant words of Radha Rajan, a fearless journalist with soaring idealism linked to ardent nationalism, in this context: 'Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni has only confirmed the anti-Hindu bias of the UPA government. I would have been surprised only if she had not said this. It is the accepted custom and tradition of anti-Hindu Indian polity to ignore or humiliate Hindu religious sensibilities. Ambika Soni and her party President are both non-Hindus who cannot be expected to respect Hindu sentiments in this regard or venerate a traditional Hindu belief or custom. Partnered in their plans to fulfill the Sethusamudram project is of course the genetically anti-Hindu Dravidian Chief Minister of Tamilnadu. Caught in a pincer between non-Hindu and anti-Hindu polity, the Hindus of India, whether on Ramjanmabhumi, Srirangam temple, arrest of Pujya Kanchi Acharya or the Ramar Sethu, repeatedly have their noses rubbed in the dirt. Nowhere in the world, except in India, will you find a country's polity being driven by ideologies inimical to the majority populace'.

        In India's decadent and immoral public life in general and politics in particular today, this is an age of classical ignorance - more particularly of Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma. I am not therefore surprised that the mighty Government of India is also steeped in Himalayan ignorance about many fundamental historical facts about the Ramar Bridge. Enough irrefutable cartographic evidence, which can stand the severest judicial scrutiny in any court of law, is available about the existence of the 'Ramar Bridge' (Ramasethu).

        Ramancoil has been shown on a 1747 map made in Netherlands. Malabar_Bowen map prepared by Netherlands given below shows Ramancoil.:

        We also have the 1788 edition of the map called Map of Hindoostan or the Mughal Empire, which is available in Sarasvati Mahal Library, Thanjavur. This map is based on explorations by an Australian Botanical Explorer called Joseph Parks. On this map, The bridge linking Ramancoil and Talaimannar (Ceylon, then Sri Lanka) is called Ramar Bridge.

        A map of India titled as a map of Hindoostan or the Moghul Empire from the latest authorities inscribed to Sir Joseph Banks Bart President of Royal Society, was produced by James Rennel, a pioneer in map making, on 1 January 1788. James Rennell (1742-1830), was the First Surveyor General of the East India Company. He is sometimes also referred to as 'the father of Indian geography'. The original print of the map (112c.m x 106c.m) is available in the Saraswati Mahal Library in Thanjavur. The 1788 edition of this map which is open to scrutiny calls it the RAMAR BRIDGE. But in the 1804 version of the map, the same Rennel calls it the Adam's Bridge. This renaming can only be viewed as a motivated action by a Colonial and Imperialist Administrator.

        Further the space images recently taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. This recently discovered bridge currently named as Adam & laqno's Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long. To quote the words of NASA: 'The bridge&laqno's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge&laqno's age is also almost equivalent'. NASA, unlike Ambika Soni or Karunanidhi, is not influenced by either non-Hindu or anti-Hindu vote bank politics of India.

        The Ramar Bridge has withstood the onslaught of centuries and seen the rise and fall of mighty global empires from the dawn of history. I would like to invite the kind attention of the Supreme Court of India to the following words of Annie Besant (1847-1933): 'Make no mistake, without Hinduism, India has no future. Hinduism is a soil into which India's roots are stuck and torn out of that she will inevitably wither as a tree torn out from its place. And if Hindus do not maintain Hinduism, who shall save it? If India's own children do not cling to her faith who shall guard it? India alone can save India and India and Hinduism are one'. Against this background, I would make a fervent appeal to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India to treat this article as a Public Interest Litigation Petition and to stay the implementation of the SSCP by issuing notices to all concerned.