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Adam's Bridge (Tamil: '), also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu (Tamil: ', Sanskrit: '),〔also spelled ''Rama Setu'', ''Ram Sethu'', ''Ramasethu'' and variants.〕 is a chain of 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 this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka. The bridge is long〔Length taken from Google Earth〕 and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only deep in places, which hinders navigation.〔〔(Map of the area )〕〔(Map of the area2 )〕 It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel: temple records seem to say that Adam’s Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480. ==Name== The bridge was first mentioned in the ancient Indian Sanskrit epic ''Ramayana'' of Valmiki. The name ''Rama's Bridge'' or ''Rama Setu'' (Sanskrit; ''setu'': bridge) refers to the bridge built by the Vanara (ape men) army of Rama in Hindu theology with instructions from Nala, which he used to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the Rakshasa king, Ravana.〔 The ''Ramayana'' attributes the building of this bridge to Rama in verse 2-22-76, naming it as ''Setubandhanam'', a name that persists until today.〔(Valmiki Ramayan calls mythological bridge built by Lord Rama as Setubandhanam )〕 The sea separating India and Sri Lanka is called Sethusamudram meaning "Sea of the Bridge". Maps prepared by a Dutch cartographer in 1747, available at the Thanjavur Saraswathi Mahal Library show this area as ''Ramancoil'', a colloquial form of the Tamil ''Raman Kovil'' (or Rama's Temple).〔(Jayalalitha quotes literary evidence for Ramar bridge )〕 Another map of Mughal India prepared by J. Rennel in 1788 retrieved from the same library called this area as "the area of the Rama Temple", referring to the temple dedicated to Rama at Rameswaram.〔(Protests against shipping canal hot up )〕 Many other maps in Schwartzberg's historical atlas〔(Schwartzberg Atlas )〕〔(Schwartzberg Atlas )〕 and other sources such as travel texts by Marco Polo call this area by various names such as ''Sethubandha'' and ''Sethubandha Rameswaram''.〔(Special Story )〕〔(News Today – An English evening daily published from Chennai )〕〔(Scrap the shipping channel project )〕〔Marco Polo (1854) (The travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian ); Marco polo's travel book calls the Adam's Bridge area Ramar bridge〕 The western world first encountered it in "historical works in the 9th century" by Ibn Khordadbeh in his ''Book of Roads and Kingdoms'' (), referring to it is ''Set Bandhai'' or "Bridge of the Sea".〔Horatio John Suckling, Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical, Statistical, London (1876), p. 76.〕 Later, Alberuni described it. The earliest map that calls this area by the name ''Adam's bridge'' was prepared by a British cartographer in 1804.〔〔〔(Ramar Sethu, a world heritage centre? )〕 Some early Islamic sources refer to a mountain in Sri Lanka as Adam's Peak, where Adam supposedly fell to earth, and describes Adam as crossing from Sri Lanka to India on what became known as Adam's Bridge. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Adam's Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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