By IANS
Chennai : American space agency NASA has said that the structure of sand bars and rocks situated in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, known as Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge in maps, is a natural phenomenon and not a man-made structure.
This was announced Saturday by N.K. Raghupathy, CEO, Sethusamudram Corp Ltd, at a press conference here when he revealed the contents of an email received in this regard from NASA's Johnson Space Centre. A few days back, the company sent an email to NASA to know whether Ram Setu was a made-made structure.
"This evidence contradicts claims that said it (Ram Setu) was created out of human activity," Raghupathy told reporters.
"The chain of small islets connecting India and Sri Lanka are real geographical features that have been mapped for centuries. Chains of islands form a variety of natural geological processes, and their occurrence is not evidence of any human activity," Raghupathy said quoting the email.
Hindu activists have been attempting to save the structure by indicating that it was a bridge built by the monkey army that assisted Lord Ram when he attempted to rescue his wife Sita thousands of years ago.
This disclosure sourced to NASA is a clear setback for those seeking the retention of the structure on the basis of Hindu religious sentiments and beliefs.
Saffron activists had cited NASA's satellite images of Adam's Bridge as "evidence" to prove the ancient causeway's existence.
Answering questions, Raghupathy said that his revelations were attempts to draw the people's attention to NASA's official findings.
NASA had sought to distance itself from being appended to the campaign by stating, "the image may be ours, but the interpretation is certainly not ours".
"My sharing of this communication with the media is without prejudice to the contentions made in yet to be disposed off litigation concerning the Ram Setu controversy in the Supreme Court," Raghupathy added.