Sri Rama underwent a series of  trials and tribulations to establish the Kingdom of Dharma. When Sita was abducted by Ravana, the search to locate His Queen and then rescue Her after defeating the demon, required Sri Rama to surmount a number of obstacles. 

The most dramatic of these attainments was the construction of the Nala Sethu bridge between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar.  

The description of the construction of the bridge in the Ramayana and its physical attributes constitutes key evidence of the reality of the occurance of the Epic.

Today there is a lot of debate on whether Nala Sethu is man made or  "nature" made. The intent behind the question is - if it is nature made, then the Ramayana may not have physically occured and so the entire scripture may be be only a figment of Veda Vyasa's imagination. 

This view is apparantly the 'educated' and 'scientific' view. 

Without going into the detail, some of the questions being raised relate to the length, breadth and the short time in which the construction was suposed to have been completed as well the absence of any 'modern' tools. Apparantly, the task could not have been accomplished even with the use of some of the "incredibly powerful" tools that we possess today!!!!

Also questioned is the capability to get thousands of Vanaras to work on an organized project of this nature!!!

On the flip side, those who support the belief that it was a 'Man Made" construction, point to the linear alignment of the bridge (which means it is laid in a straight line), its diffferent layers starting from wood at the bottom to provide the cushion effect, the boulders to provide the stregnth and the flat stones at the top to provide the walkway. 

There are two fundemental assumptions that both sides make.

The first is that we have the capability to know what happened 1.8 million years ago from what we see on the planet today in terms of geographic formations.  This is a ridiculous assumption, when you consider that even with all our so called advanced technology, there is no way to predict Earthquakes and the consequent destruction and extent of Tsunamis. Forget Man's limited understanding of nature.  Man is not even able to control the spread of war, crime, hatred, racism and casteism. 

The second assumption is that an Avatar of God, who appeared 1.8million years ago is subject to exactly the same physicl and mental constraints as the modern office going Man!!!!!

Both these are obviously ridiculous assumptions to even consider as the basis of any conclusions that we might attempt to come to.

The facts that we can all perceive through our senses are that the Ramayana scripted by Veda Vyasa does reference the bridge and was written before the emergence of modern man or the awareness of the existence of the bridge between Dhanushkodi and Thalaimannar.

How difficult would it have been for the Avatar of the creator, that created the entire universe to build a bridge within His creation?  Ramanyana makes it clear that Sri Rama invoked the power of the almighty to enable the construction of the bridge.  

Does man do anything on his own? Can man build anything on his own? The answer clearly is that man is not evolved enough to control his "own" body or mind.   How can he by his own will build anything? Obviously the answer is that Sri Rama, because of the purity of his qualities, was able to invoke the forces of nature to do his bidding.....or as the Ramayana says.....the lord of the ocean, advised and helped him to create/construct the Rama Sethu. Sri Rama on his way way back with Sita Devi, gives the supreme builder of the celestial bodies - Viswakarma the entire credit for the construction. 

The way to read, understand, and accept the ithihasas without any conflict in our minds is to consider the attributes of the characters and relate them to our own inner selves.

Sri Rama represents the ideal attributes of the perfect human being and the ideal ruler. He represents all the qualities that would be the objective of evolution of all mortal beings.

Extreme Selflessness, Brave and Courageous, Expert in Defence Skills, Highly Respectful of Elders, Epitome of Virtuosity, Provides for Protection of Subjects, Never backs off from discharge of Karma, never projects Himself - are some of the jewels on His eternal Crown. Once we attain this level of evolution and gain complete control of one's own inner self, (physical) nature becomes subservient to the ATMA that lies within and does not present itself as an obstacle any longer. 

When we look at Sri Rama's attributes this way, His existence transcends that of a being bound in flesh and blood.  Sri Rama then becomes timeless and without a beginning or an end.

These attributes represent the Ultimate TRUTH.  REALITY and TRUTH are not time bound. They are permenant and know no demise as long as Consciousness exists. Consciousness permeates all perception, has no boundaries in space or time. Eternity and Infinity, sans any boundaries define the configuration of consciousness. 

Ravanna, on the other hand, highly learned in the shastras and highly skilled in the sciences, was also highly self-centered, had no virtues, always thought only about his enrichment at the destruction and cost of others, believed and relished worldly desires and had no loyalties or respect towards any other being. 

The attributes of Sri Rama are within us.  Unfortunately, so are the attributes of Ravana. The inner conflict that we experience day in and day out within ourselves is the battle of RAMAYANA. 

We attain evolution when we assign dominance to the attributes of Sri Rama and minimize or destroy the impact of the attributes of Ravana over the Universe of our mind. 

Ayodhya represents the governing capital of the ideal ruler to whom the Empire of the Mind Belongs. 

The ideal attributes of Sri Rama and the undesirable attributes of Ravana are seperated by an ocean of ignorance, fear, insecurity, limitations,  obstacles and self imposed constraints.

The Rama Sethu was built  by invoking all the forces at the command of virtuousness and Honesty to overcome these obstacles in the ocean of the mind and consciousness, defeat the negative aspects and set in motion the forces of evolution.