Case file · Folklore / legend
Rama Setu (Adam's Bridge)
In the Ramayana, Rama's army of monkeys builds a bridge to Lanka; the chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka is revered as that bridge (epic date approximate).
300 BCE · 9.12, 79.52 · status: legend
The account
A 2002 NASA satellite image went viral as 'proof' of a man-made bridge, and religious opposition halted the Sethusamudram shipping canal project after 2007.
The sceptical view
NASA said its images show nothing about origin. Geologists describe the shoals as natural sand and coral ridges formed by currents and sea-level change.