“...Popular beliefs and traditions about the Ramayan and Ram Sethu have an antiquity of at least 1,500 years in the country” and of “400-500 years” in Tamil Nadu, the affidavit says. “the legend of Ram, in literature, philosophy and in religious sentiment occupies a significant place in the psyche of a larger segment of Indian society, and indeed, extends beyond our boundaries to a number of other countries.”

It adds: “The Ramlila, which is an oral and cultural tradition, has found place, as a proclamation of 2005, in a UNESCO list of 90 outstanding examples of the world’s intangible cultural heritage. Several events associated with the legend are celebrated as festivals and even declared as gazetted holidays. The ideal of Ram Rajya, espoused by Mahatma Gandhi, is a value system to strive for.”

Contrast this with the earlier statement in the affidavit that touched off a controversy and forced the Government to backtrack: “...contents of the Valmiki Ramayana, the Ramcharitamanas by Tulsidas and other mythological texts, which admittedly form an important part of ancient Indian literature... cannot be said to be historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters, or the occurrence of the events, depicted therein.”

On the issue of the Sethu being an “ancient monument” based on “available archaeologically relevant scientific data”, the ASI has washed its hands of saying it had not undertaken any archaeological investigation to decide on it.

On the findings of the Geological Survey of India, the Space Application Centre and the National Institute of Ocean Technology that the formation was not a man-made structure, the affidavit says: “...the related disciplines are not within the purview of the ASI and as such the ASI does not have the required expertise either to support or contradict the conclusions derived at.”

... contd.