Opinion | How India's 'Other' Ram Setu, Pamban Bridge, Might Never Have Existed

Legend has it that Ram Setu-better known officially as Adam's Bridge-is said to have been built by Lord Ram's army, comprising commander Hanuman and the chief architect Nala. The enchanted structure lies between Dhanushkodi in India's Tamil Nadu and Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka's Mannar Island. The epic chapter in the Valmiki Ramayan about the construction of the bridge has inspired generations of artists, cultural thinkers, and institution builders. Fascinatingly, the 19th-century British colonial administration was also inspired by the ancient lore as it mulled over the possibility of bridging India and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon).

In Hind Swaraj (1909), Mahatma Gandhi referred to the farseeing ancestors who had built the 'Shetbandhai' (Ram Setu/Adam's Bridge) near Rameswaram to create faraway pilgrimage routes so as to instil patriotism by encouraging people to learn more about the Indic geography since ancient times. Five years later, in 1914, the same colonial administration that had banned Gandhiji's book heaped praises on a monument of their construction, very close to Ram Setu. In February 1914, the Pamban Bridge was inaugurated with great pomp. During the inaugural speeches, the Governor of Madras, the Governor of Ceylon, and the Managing Director of the South Indian Railway Company paid lavish tributes to Valmiki Ramayan and its hero, Lord Ram, priding themselves in building the 'second' Ram Setu.

On October 2 - Gandhiji's birth anniversary - when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the newly reconstructed Pamban Bridge, history will come full circle. But as we look to the future of the Pamban Bridge, a deep dive into its past is also in order, lest we forget that the bridge might not even have been built at all.