No Evidence To Prove Existence Of Lord Rama, Indian Government Tells Supreme Court

In the midst of a political controversy over the Sethu Samudram project, the Federal authorities at New Delhi on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that there was no historical evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or the other characters in the Ramayana.

In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the Archaeological Survey of India rejected the claim of the existence of the 'Ram Sethu' bridge in the area where the project was under construction. (Fundamentalist Hindu group, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists claimed that the Sethu Samudram project would destroy the mythical 'Ram Sethu' linking India and Sri Lanka.)

The multi-billion rupee project proposes to provide a shorter sea route from Rameshwaram in India to Sri Lanka.

Referring to the Ramayana, the affidavit said there is no "historical record" to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the character, or the occurrences of the events, depicted therein.

(VHP International President Ashok Singhal disagreed with the view that Ram Sethu was not a structure built by human beings but a natural formation and maintained there was enough historical evidence even in government Administration reports, and Department of Earth Science's report to show that it was a man-made structure.

Claiming that the government had 'fallen prey' to America's "conspiracy" to make the Palk Strait, now shared only by India and Sri Lanka, international waters, he said the site had more than 360,000 tonnes of thorium that could be used for making power for another 100 years for the entire country) (PTI)
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