"Difficult To Pinpoint But...": Centre On 'Ram Setu' Query In Parliament

Union Minister Jitendra Singh was answering a question by BJP MP Kartikeya Sharma, who asked whether the government plans to conduct a scientific assessment of India's past and mentioned the 'Ram Setu'.

A bridge between India and Sri Lanka, described in the Indian epic Ramayana that has fomented a debate about whether it is mythology or history, can't be "accurately" proved to have existed, the government said in parliament on Thursday. However, "there is some kind of an indication, direct or indirect, that those structures have existed", it added.

"As far as the question... concerning the Ram Setu, we have certain limitations in discovering that because the history dates back to more than 18,000 years and if you go by history, that bridge was about 56 kilometres long," Minister of State for Space Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

"Yes, to some extent, through space technology we have been able to discover pieces and islands, some kind of limestone shoals, which of course, can't be accurately said to be remnants or parts of a bridge," Mr Singh said.

"But they do have a certain amount of continuity in location through which some surmises can be drawn," the minister said.