The legacy of a winged monkey army

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2007:

 

 

The legacy of a winged monkey army

 

CHENNAI--The Central Bureau of Investigation raid on the Blue

Cross of India came about two weeks after chief executive Chinny

Krishna prominently criticized a government plan to breach Ram Sethu,

or Adam's Bridge, an underwater rock formation linking India to Sri

Lanka.

Krishna wondered after the September 28, 2007 raid whether

the intense political controversy over breaching Ram Sethu might have

been involved, but ANIMAL PEOPLE found no hint that it was.

Krishna pointed out, as many others have, that Ram Sethu

helped to break the force of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Promoted by the Congress Party, which presently heads the

Indian federal government, the breach would cut about 30 hours and

considerable fuel use from the itineraries of coastal cargo vessels.

But it would also considerably alter the aquatic ecology of the

strait between India and Sri Lanka, and would be considered an act

of sacrilege by many Hindus. Controversy over the proposal

reportedly could be a factor in forcing the Congress government to

call early elections.

Tradition holds that Ram Sethhu was built by the Lord Rama

and his army of winged monkeys in Vedic times, en route to rescue

Lord Rama's wife from a Sri Lankan kidnapper, as related in the epic

Ramayana.

While Ram Sethu may have begun as a chain of natural

limestone shoals, as the Congress government contends, it has been

above sea level at various times in recorded history, was

historically the main avenue for migration of land animals from India

to Sri Lanka, and there is archaeological evidence that it was

reinforced at some point by a walled, paved causeway.

Breaching Ram Sethu, discussed for decades, has been

opposed by former federal environment minister and minister for

animal welfare Maneka Gandhi throughout her political career. Mrs.

Gandhi, who founded People for Animals in 1984, has long been

closely allied with Chinny Krishna and the Blue Cross.

Originally elected to the Indian Parliament as a member of

the Congress Party, Mrs. Gandhi later served as an independent

member, and is now a member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya

Janata Party.

The BJP fiercely opposes breaching Ram Sethu, and has

regained political momentum from the issue after losing badly in the

most recent Indian national election.

Chinny Krishna's comments about Ram Sethu may carry

particular influence because of his prominence as one of the

engineers of the Indian space program, which traces symbolic origin

to Rama's winged monkey army, and because his wife Nanditha Krishna

is a prominent Hindu scholar and art historian.

 

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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