Jayasree Saranathan: Sacred samudra snaanam in Setusamudram near Rama Setu

There is a mention of sethu bhanda in Brihad Parashara Hora sastra (BPHS), a popular astrological treatise done by sage Parashara, the father of Ved Vyasa.

"Chapter. 83. Effects of Curses in the Previous Birth

From verses 34-50.

"A person will be without a male issue, as a result of curse of the mother, if at birth Chandra (moon),……..

…..For release from this curse and to beget a male issue the person concerned should take bath in the sea with bridge of rocks between India and Lanka, recite one Lakh Gayatri Mantras, give in charity things, connected with evil Grahas, feed Brahmins and go round a Pipal tree 1008 times"

Samdra snaan is the propitiatory act for release from mother's curse. Even Rama did that as he had a curse from mother in the avatara of Parashurama (he killed mother).

He made use of that curse in Ramavathara which was executed through mother Kaikeyi. He could come out of that curse only after samudra snaan in Rameshwaram. After that only he could get back his wife and kingdom and could beget children. The Sethu apparently is a bund to stop the waters at Rameswaram so that mankind in the coming ages can get relief from curse. Rama's utterance of the greatness of the bund reveals this.

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Related article:-

Lord John Sinclair Pentland (1860 – 1925) was Governor of Madras from 1912 to 1919. He visited Rameshwaram in 1914 when Sir Alexander Tottenham (1873-1946) was the District Collector of Ramanathapuram. Lord Pentland was so overwhelmed by what he saw in Rameshwaram that he wrote as follows to Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy of India:

"'For me Rameshwaram, very much like India as a whole is the real world. We English men live in a mad house of abstractions. Vital life in Rameshwaram has not yet withdrawn into the capsule of the head. It is the whole body that lives. No wonder the English man feels dreamlike: the complete life of Rameshwaram is something of which he merely dreams.... I did not see an English man in India who really lived there. They are all living in England , that is, in a sort of bottle filled with English air.... History can be events or memory of events.... along the Bay of Bengal the Madras Presidency runs, with the well-governed city of Madras at its centre and the sublime and glorious temples of Tanjore, Tiruchi, Madurai and Rameshwaram adorning its Southern boundaries. And then Adam's Bridge- a reef of sunken islands' beckons us across the Palk Straits to Ceylon , where civilisation flourished more than 2000 years ago....Linga stones may be seen in many places on the highways in my Presidency. Hindus break upon them the coconuts which they are about to offer in sacrifice. Usually the phallic ritual is simple and becoming; it consists in anointing the stone with consecrated water or oil, and decorating it with leaves. At the Rameshwaram temple, the Linga stone is daily washed with Ganga water, which is afterwards sold to the pious, as holy water or mesmerized water has been sold in Europe . All these are a little part of my beloved Presidency - indeed my favourite India . Right from the dawn of history, India is extraordinarily continuous in time. In space, on the other hand, it is extraordinarily discontinuous....from early times in India , it is ethnology, philology, and archaeology that give and will give us some notions of the truth. From archaeology much can be expected. I would earnestly request you to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake an extensive and intensive survey of Rameshwaram and its beautiful environs, particularly with reference to the historic and primordial Adam's Bridge'.

S Badrinarayanan, former director of Geological Survey of India and a member of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) says the Adam's Bridge was not a natural formation.

Vanara Sena Rama Setu Sculpture at
The Prambanan Temple in

Indonesia

He has opined that:

"Coral reefs are formed only on hard surfaces. But during the study we found that the formation at Adam's Bridge is nothing but boulders of coral reefs. When we drilled for investigation, we found that there was loose sand two to three meters below the reefs. Hard rocks were found several meters below the sand. Such a natural formation is impossible. Unless somebody has transported them and dumped them there, those reefs could not have come there. Some boulders were so light that they could float on water. Apparently, whoever has done it, has identified light (but strong) boulders to make it easy for transportation. Since they are strong, they can withstand a lot of weight. It should be preserved as a national monument."

Jayasree Saranathan

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Sacred samudra snaanam in Setusamudram near Rama Setu

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