#SriLanka wasn't always an island. Most people today know Sri Lanka as a gorgeous island in Indian Ocean. However, most do know that it wasn't always an island. In 1480 a cyclone destroyed a strip of land, called Rama Setu, that connected it to #India (1/9 - read all)
2.Ram Setu or Rama’s Bridge is a causeway created across the sea connecting Pamban Island in Tamil Nadu to Mannar Island in Sri Lanka
3.The bridge is 50 km long and separates the Gulf of Mannar from the Palk Strait. Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea around the area is very shallow, being only 1 to 10 meters (3 to 30 ft) deep.
4.The bridge was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. Temple records suggest that Adam’s Bridge or Ram Setu was completely above sea level till 1480 when it was broken by a cyclone that hit the area
5.The bridge was first mentioned in Valmiki’s Ramayana, a #Hindu epic and is believed to be the bridge built by Lord Rama’s Vanara Sena (monkey army) with instructions from Nala to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana.
6.Ram Setu is taken as the only archaeological and historical evidence of Ramayana.
7. Scientific studies reveal that the bridge is made of limestone shoals and is a linear sequence of coral reefs. It is made of floating rocks that are found scattered across Rameswaram and scientific theories suggest that some volcanic rocks do float on water.
8.The bridge is under the water now but the water is shallow in this part of the sea making navigation impossible and the ships have to take another roundabout route to reach Sri Lanka.
9.Oceanography research suggests that the bridge is 7000 years old which tally with the carbon dating of beaches near Dhanushkodi and Mannar island with the supposed date of Ramayana.
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The lady who Designed the PARAM VIR CHAKRA, #IndianArmy's highest gallantry award, Savitri Khanolkar, was a Swiss national whose real name was Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros, married to an Indian Army officer, Vikram Ramji Khanolkar 1/n ( please read all)
In 1929, she met Vikram Khanolkar, a young Indian Army cadet undergoing training at Sandhurst who had come to Switzerland for a break. She was still a teenager then; however, both fell in love although Vikram was much older than her. She came to India in 1932 and married Vikram
After marriage, she changed her name to Savitri. In spite of her European background, she quickly adapted to Indian culture and traditions. She became a vegetarian, learnt to speak fluent Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit. And also learnt Indian music, dance and painting.