This just proves that there are too many idiots on social media who do not know the facts when they open their mouth to comment on something. This particular comment in the Facebook post is one such example where one is talking Edmund Hillary who had climbed the Mount Everest and not the politician Hillary Clinton.
Before we go further, let’s get the definition of facts:-
- something that actually exists; reality; truth:
- something known to exist or to have happened:
- a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true:
- something said to be true or supposed to have happened:
In these days where information at one’s fingertips, there is no excuse for not taking the time to double-check and get the facts right. And if one had made a mistake and it has been pointed out with the right facts, one should be matured enough to accept and make the necessary changes to their facts.
The Fact on Facebook
Actually, this was not noticeable when I first saw it but then again, I started to ponder the long term implications. Considering that this is a Facebook page of a major newspaper and these are remarked as facts, will the viewers only be served with this one side of the view of Adam’s Bridge? Will legends be facts?
Religious view aside, what about the scientific view? After all, a long time ago, between China and India was used to be a huge sea and when continents collided, it formed the Himalayas. So it is possible that the bridge between India and Sri Lanka could be a nature formed as well.
Adam’s Bridge From Religion Point of View
Until the 15th century, Sri Lanka was a peninsula, not an island.
By India’s official count, Adam’s Bridge consists of 103 tiny reefs and sandbanks that curve gracefully toward the northwestern tip of Sri Lanka. At low tide, many emerge from the waves, and the annals of a nearby temple say that the chain was an unbroken causeway until it was breached by a fierce tropical storm in 1480.
For Muslims, Adam’s Bridge is a giant’s causeway.
The bridge took its name from an Islamic tradition that the Garden of Eden was located in Sri Lanka. Sri Pada, a Sri Lankan mountain with a footprint-shaped mark at its peak, is often called Adam’s Peak, and is identified with the place where the first man fell to Earth after his expulsion from Eden.
(In several Muslim hadiths, Adam is described as standing 60 cubits tall—over 90 feet!—which explains his giant footprint.) Adam’s Bridge, then, was the path he took as he journeyed to mainland Asia.
For Hindus, the bridge was built by a monkey army.
In the sixth book of the Ramayana, the god Rama and his monkey companions engineer a floating bridge to the kingdom of Lanka, so Rama can rescue his beloved Sita from the demon-king Ravana.
As a result, Indians call Adam’s Bridge “Rama Sethu”—Rama’s Bridge. The Indian end of Rama Sethu, near the town of Rameswaram, is one of the holiest places in Hinduism and a popular pilgrimage site.
(Source)
Adam’s Bridge From Scientific Point of View
Ram Setu, or Adam’s Bridge, consists of corals on top of shoals, or a sand bar.
According to a scientific paper published by Indian geologist N. Ramanujan, Adam’s Bridge is a chain of shoals between Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar constructed by sedimentation.
Both the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar were part of the same basin, but gradually separated due to thinning of the earth’s crust. This led to the development of a ridge, which augmented the growth of corals in the area. These corals then kept trapping sand. Thus, the sand is younger than the corals, but that is because the corals trapped the sand after their formation.
It can be expected that the Ram Setu episode of What On Earth? will conclude with similar scientific theories.
(Source)
Final Thoughts
It is fine to admit that there are several different views on certain facts depending on who is viewing the facts. Muslims would view it as something related to their religion. Same goes to Hindus. A scientist with imperial measures will view it differently as well and may even disregard the religious element on this.
However, it is wrong to confine the facts based on only 1 specific view and totally disregard the more well-known views and scientific findings as incorrect or irrelevant. That will limit the viewer’s appreciation of the subject matter.
Facts should not be made from mere legends, myths or beliefs but rather from strong evidence, observations and experimentations. The facts based on this will remain as such until another can prove otherwise. It is better to have raw facts than a twisted one.