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Story of Rama Nama On Stones Used To Build The Bridge To Lanka In The Ramayana

Ram Sethu is the bridge built by the Vanara Sena (Monkey Army) for Sri Ram to crossover to Lanka to rescue Sita from Ravana. The stones used to build the bridge floats on water. The stones also had Rama Nama written over them. The story how Rama Nama came to be written on the stone is associated with Hanuman.

The building of the bridge occurs in the ninth chapter of the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana.



According to the instructions from Nala and Nila, the monkeys in the army hurried to collect the materials needed for the bridge. As promised by the God of the Seas, the stones did not sink. The stones were floating like logs.

But the stones did not fall in line to form a bridge instead they dispersed in the waters. Nala tried hard to keep the stones together to form a bridge but all his attempts failed.

The Vanara Sena found it impossible to join the stones together.

Then Hanuman proposed to write ‘Ra’ one stone and ‘ma’ on another stone.

As Rama Nama is the greatest of all mantras, the stones did not disperse. They stood together.

Vanarasena thus wrote Ra and Ma on alternate stones and they stood together forming the bridge.

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Story of Panchmukhi Hanuman – Why Did Hanuman Appear With Five Faces?