Sri Ramnath Swami temple, Rameshwaram

हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिए कृप्या नीचे दिए हुए लिंक को क्लिक करें. 

Rameshwaram is traditionally one of the 4 sacred pilgrim places of Hindus. These 4 places (called

 “Char Dham” in Hindi meaning 4 abodes or seats) are located on 4 different sides of the country. Jagannath Puri in the east and Dwarka in the west. Badrinath in the north and Rameshwaram in the south. Being a Hindu, although not inclined to  karmkand much, I am very happy to be able to have come and get a darshan at Rameshwaram. It is a Shiva temple and seeped in mythology. Actually not only the temple, the entire island is connected with Sri Ram’s legend. To the best of my knowledge there is no other place which has so many connections to Sri Ram's life.

Supposedly after constructing a bridge-RamSetu- Sri Ram launched his attack on Ravan’s Lanka from this island and  returned with Sita to the same place where her chastity was tested by fire (agni pariksha). 

There is another mythological story connected to the temple. There are 12 jyotirlingas in India. The "Jyotirling" shrines are temples where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. 
The twelve jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Shrishailam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Uttrakhand, Bhimashankar at Pune in Maharashtra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Tryambakeshwar at Nashik in Maharashtra, Vaidyanath Temple at Deoghar in^[7] Jharkhand , Aundha Nagnath at Aundha in Hingoli District in Maharashtra, Rameshwar at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Grushneshwar at Ellora near Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.

  Apart from spiritual factor, it's a good tourist place too. It's located on Pamban island about 2 kilometer off the mainland India in between the Palk bay and Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka. Bay of Bengal here is beautiful. Waters clean and blue-green. 

The 2 km long Pamban rail bridge, (the white one in the photo), the only bridge over sea in India till 2010 when Bandra Worli link came up in Mumbai, would have been nothing short of miracle more than 100 years ago in 1914. Now there is bow shaped road bridge too connecting the island with the main land.

Construction of the temple began in12th century and was carried on by rulers of different dynasties till17th century. Its huge and very impressive. Especially its corridors must be among longest in the world.

Suggestion to TTDC-Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corporation- Please maintain the temple approach road better. BTW I am refering to the east gate.  Generally vehicles are not allowed on this stretch-which is very good-so people have to walk  about 5-600 metres. On the left side is sea. In India there are many who get to see the sea rarely. But here in stead of enjoying the sea view, and in the mornings, bonus view of sun rising from the bay of Bengal, they have to concentrate on the ground lest they should step on all kind of animal feces littered through out. The garbage dumping place overflowing and cow and goat rummaging for food. There are many foreigners too among visitors and the irony won't be lost on them. Here we are making such an issue about gau mata and gau raksha (cow protection) and we can't even feed them properly. They have to rummage the garbage! I witnessed a small group of people just sitting around. One woman, as is custom down South, had adorned her hair with a beautiful string of flowers. Suddenly a goat decided that that was a good snack to have. It went and put its mouth to the flowers to eat. The woman literally jumped to see some one was literally trying to chew her head off.

The temple can do with more signs and directions. There are supposedly 22 wells (tirthams) where the pilgrims are supposed to take bath. But no clear directions or signage where to start or find them and how to go about. It is a very old and huge place. Some of these small things will make the spiritual experience more cherished. And even those who come for site seeing will be more impressed. Major portion of walking into and within the temple is wet and at places almost slushi. It might be because the devotees take a holi dip in the Agni tirtham (sea) before entering the temple, and continue bathing in rest of the tirthams before finally paying obeisance to the Deity. But surely things can be organized so that the entire way doesn't become wet and slippery.

Our ancestors  built such grand temples in times when there were no technological facilities. With the knowledge and technology at our disposal today, we can express our gratitude by maintaining them well. Also, its our sacred duty that we preserve and leave our precious heritage for future generations to take pride in and enjoy. 

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