RAMESWARAM GEOGRAPHY
Rameswaram is located at 9.28°N 79.3°E.
It has an average elevation of 10 metres (32 feet). The island is
spread across an area of 61.8 square kilometres and is in the shape of a conch.
74% of the area has sandy soil due to the presence of sea and it has many
islands surrounding it, the Palk Strait in the north west and Gulf of Mannar in the
south East.[
The Ramanathaswamy Temple occupies major area of Rameswaram. The beach of
Rameswaram is featured with no waves at all – the sea waves rise to a maximum
height of 3 cm and the view looks like a very big river. Rameswaram has
dry tropical climate with low humidity,
with average monthly rainfall of 75.73 mm,[
mostly from North East monsoon from October to January. The highest ever
temperature recorded at Pamban station was 37 °C and the lowest was 17 °C.
Adam's Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals, between
Rameswaram and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka.
Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection
between India and Sri Lanka.
The bridge is 18 miles (30 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar
(South West) from the Palk Strait (North East). It was reportedly passable on
foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. The temple
records record that Rama’s Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke
in a cyclone in 1480 CE.
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
mythology, which he used to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the demon
king Ravana.
The Ramayana attributes the building of this bridge to Rama in verse
2-22-76, naming it 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 CE, available at the Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library show this area as
Ramancoil, a colloquial form of the Tamil Raman Kovil (or Rama's
Temple).
Many other maps in Schwartzberg's historical atlas
and other sources such as travel texts by Marco Polo
call this area by various names such as Sethubandha and Sethubandha
Rameswaram.
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