<P> The western world first encountered it in "historical works in the 9th century" by Ibn Khordadbeh in his Book of Roads and Kingdoms (c. 850), referring to it is Set Bandhai or "Bridge of the Sea". Later, Alberuni described it . The earliest map that calls this area by the name Adam's bridge was prepared by a British cartographer in 1804 . Some early Islamic sources refer to a mountain in Sri Lanka as Adam's Peak, where Adam supposedly fell to earth and describes Adam as crossing from Sri Lanka to India on what became known as Adam's Bridge . </P> <P> The bridge starts as a chain of shoals from the Dhanushkodi tip of India's Pamban Island and ends at Sri Lanka's Mannar Island . Pamban Island is semi-connected to the Indian mainland by 2 km long Pamban Bridge . Mannar Island is connected to mainland Sri Lanka by a causeway . The border between India and Sri Lanka is said to pass across one of the shoals constituting one of the shortest land borders in the world . Ramasetu and neighbouring areas like Rameswaram, Dhanushkodi, Devipattinam and Thirupullani are mentioned in the context of various legends in Ramayana . </P> <P> Pamban Island (Tamil Nadu, India) with its small port of Rameswaram is about 2 km from mainland India . The Pamban Bridge crossing the Pamban channel links Pamban Island with mainland India . It refers to both: a road bridge and a cantilever railway bridge . Small boats would go below the 2,065 - metre - long (6,775 ft) road bridge, and the railway bridge would open up . </P> <P> The problem in navigation exists because big ships cannot travel in the shallow waters of the Pamban channel . Dredging in this channel would cost more than dredging a channel in the Rama Setu area, where the waters are comparatively deep and less earth would have to be dredged . Hence, in 2005, the Government of India approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project that aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Bay cutting across Rama Setu . Various organizations have opposed the project based on religious, economic and environmental grounds and have sought the implementation of one of the alternative alignments considered during the earlier stages of the discussion . </P>

Who said history is the bridge which connects the past with present