04-12-2007, 11:16 PM
Interesting. The translations in other languages also say the same things:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->That beautiful and lovely bridge constructed by Nala across the ocean the abode of alligators, shone brightly like a milky way of stars in the sky.
The celestials and Gandharvas, the heavenly musicians saw Nala's bridge, having a width of ten yojanas and a length of hundred yojanas and which was very difficult to be built.
That colossal bridge, which was broad, well-constructed, glorious, well postured and held together firmly, looked beautiful like a separating straight line in the ocean.
Thereafter, Sugriva on his part spoke to Rama, the truly brave man as follows: "O, valiant man! This ocean, the abode of alligators, is indeed vast. You ascend the shoulder of Hanuman and let Lakshmana ascend the shoulder of Angada. These monkeys can hold both of you while flying in the sky."
Rama the glorious and righteous man, wielding a bow along with Lakshmana together with Sugriva, went in front of that army.
Some monkeys went along the middle of the bridge. Some others went along the sides. Some others were jumping into water. Some others marched forward on the path. Some monkeys entered the sky and aviated like Garuda the eagle.
The highly terrific sound of the ocean was covered up by the great sounds of the terrific monkeys who were crossing the sea. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So:
1. The bridge was 100 yojanas long, and 10 yojanas wide, and looked like a straight line parting the sea.
IOW, Aspect Ratio of 10. If it was 22 miles long, it had to be 2.2 miles wide.
2. It was built in 5 days. I don't see where they sat around chewing the cud (or whatever vanaras chew) and arguing about this way or that, or Environmental Impact Statements, or what would happen the next time the tsunami came.
Instead, they decided what had to be done to take care of security imperatives, and to complete the mission of rescuing Sita and destroying the terrorist Ravana and his gang who had enslaved Lanka.
3. It was built for a very specific mission: take an army across. Like a Bailey bridge built to get tanks across rivers in East Pakistan during the liberation of Bangladesh.
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Where does it say that nothing is ever to be done to that "bridge"? I note that Sri Rama and Lakshmana did NOT walk upon this bridge. They rode on the shoulders of Vanara X and Vanara Y. IOW, as the above says, they went IN THE AIR.
So it is the AIR above the Setu that is truly holy, is it not? I asume that the 1435,000,000,000 cyclones that have blown there since then, have dispersed the specific air molecules from there, so that many are now over Pakistan.
and some over Antarctica.
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In the many thousands of years since then, the land has gone down by many 50 feet, and/or the sea has come up by that much. Look at the temples under the sea bottom off Mahabalipuram and Dwaraka. The rise in sea level, and/or drop in land level is about 50 feet.
This is why even the middle spine of the Vanara Sena Sethu (VSS) is now 6 to 9 feet under sea level, even at low tide.
The SSC project only aims to scrape off the top of this spine, to achieve a TOTAL DEPTH of 36 feet. So, technically, the bottom of the SSC canal is still going to be some 8 feet above the mean level of the Sethu itself.
Thus the hype about the Canal "destroying" the Sethu is just that - hype.
Sorry, but there it is. I know, facts, logic, all p-sec anti-Hindu concepts according to some.
But note that the ancients had their heads screwed on straight. They did a massive logistics project brilliantly. So why should modern Hindus choose instead to go with the idle, lazy cud-chewing folks who just want to obstruct? THIS is what Hinduism has sunk to?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->That beautiful and lovely bridge constructed by Nala across the ocean the abode of alligators, shone brightly like a milky way of stars in the sky.
The celestials and Gandharvas, the heavenly musicians saw Nala's bridge, having a width of ten yojanas and a length of hundred yojanas and which was very difficult to be built.
That colossal bridge, which was broad, well-constructed, glorious, well postured and held together firmly, looked beautiful like a separating straight line in the ocean.
Thereafter, Sugriva on his part spoke to Rama, the truly brave man as follows: "O, valiant man! This ocean, the abode of alligators, is indeed vast. You ascend the shoulder of Hanuman and let Lakshmana ascend the shoulder of Angada. These monkeys can hold both of you while flying in the sky."
Rama the glorious and righteous man, wielding a bow along with Lakshmana together with Sugriva, went in front of that army.
Some monkeys went along the middle of the bridge. Some others went along the sides. Some others were jumping into water. Some others marched forward on the path. Some monkeys entered the sky and aviated like Garuda the eagle.
The highly terrific sound of the ocean was covered up by the great sounds of the terrific monkeys who were crossing the sea. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So:
1. The bridge was 100 yojanas long, and 10 yojanas wide, and looked like a straight line parting the sea.
IOW, Aspect Ratio of 10. If it was 22 miles long, it had to be 2.2 miles wide.
2. It was built in 5 days. I don't see where they sat around chewing the cud (or whatever vanaras chew) and arguing about this way or that, or Environmental Impact Statements, or what would happen the next time the tsunami came.
Instead, they decided what had to be done to take care of security imperatives, and to complete the mission of rescuing Sita and destroying the terrorist Ravana and his gang who had enslaved Lanka.
3. It was built for a very specific mission: take an army across. Like a Bailey bridge built to get tanks across rivers in East Pakistan during the liberation of Bangladesh.
********************************************************************
Where does it say that nothing is ever to be done to that "bridge"? I note that Sri Rama and Lakshmana did NOT walk upon this bridge. They rode on the shoulders of Vanara X and Vanara Y. IOW, as the above says, they went IN THE AIR.
So it is the AIR above the Setu that is truly holy, is it not? I asume that the 1435,000,000,000 cyclones that have blown there since then, have dispersed the specific air molecules from there, so that many are now over Pakistan.
and some over Antarctica.
*****************************************************************
In the many thousands of years since then, the land has gone down by many 50 feet, and/or the sea has come up by that much. Look at the temples under the sea bottom off Mahabalipuram and Dwaraka. The rise in sea level, and/or drop in land level is about 50 feet.
This is why even the middle spine of the Vanara Sena Sethu (VSS) is now 6 to 9 feet under sea level, even at low tide.
The SSC project only aims to scrape off the top of this spine, to achieve a TOTAL DEPTH of 36 feet. So, technically, the bottom of the SSC canal is still going to be some 8 feet above the mean level of the Sethu itself.
Thus the hype about the Canal "destroying" the Sethu is just that - hype.
Sorry, but there it is. I know, facts, logic, all p-sec anti-Hindu concepts according to some.
But note that the ancients had their heads screwed on straight. They did a massive logistics project brilliantly. So why should modern Hindus choose instead to go with the idle, lazy cud-chewing folks who just want to obstruct? THIS is what Hinduism has sunk to?