Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram

Deity

Ramanathaswamy (Jyotirlinga) and Parvathavardhini, with twenty-two theerthams

Where

Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu · 9.29N 79.32E

Usual hours

4 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 9.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Sani Ketu

Visited for

A Jyotirlinga and one of the Char Dham, installed by Rama to be free of a killing. The twenty-two wells and Agni theertham bath, and tarpanam on the shore, make it the first temple named for pitru dosham.

The sthala purana has it that Rama, having killed Ravana, wished to worship Sivan to be free of the killing of a brahmin, and sent Hanuman to Kailasam for a linga. The hour fixed for the installation came before Hanuman returned, so Sita is said to have made a linga out of the sand, and that one was installed.

When Hanuman came back with his linga he was hurt, and the sthala purana has it that Rama ordered the linga Hanuman brought to be worshipped first, before the one made of sand. Both stand in the sanctum today and both are worshipped in that order — Viswalingam first, Ramalingam after.

Rameswaram is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, one of the four Char Dham, and a Tevaram Paadal Petra Sthalam: few temples stand in all three lists.

The third prakaram corridor, with its long double rows of carved pillars, is usually described as the longest temple corridor in India. It was built under the Sethupathi rulers of Ramanathapuram, who held this coast, and the work runs over more than a century.

The corridors are the thing to see. The pillars are carved individually and the floor runs level for a very long way, so the perspective closes to a point at both ends.

Twenty-two theerthams — wells — are inside the temple, and the customary bath is a pot of water drawn over the head at each in turn, after a dip in the sea at Agni theertham on the east side.

The two lingas stand in the sanctum. The Sethumadhava shrine, the Parvathavardhini shrine and the Nandi are in the inner courts.

Maha Sivaratri and the Aarudra day are the largest Saiva days. Rama Navami and the Vasanthotsavam are kept for the Ramayana connection.

Thai Amavasai, Aadi Amavasai and Mahalaya amavasai bring families for tarpanam on the shore, and the Agni theertham beach is full from before dawn on those mornings.

Also called

Ramanathaswamy Temple, Sethu

Period

Older core, with the great corridors built under the Sethupathi rulers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Reaching it

Rameswaram is on Pamban island, reached from the mainland across the Pamban road and rail bridges. It is about 165 km from Madurai and 55 km from Ramanathapuram, and has its own railway station.

• Adi Jagannatha Perumal Temple, Thiruppullani 46.1 km · Vaishnava
• Nagapooshani Amman Temple, Nainativu 61.5 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Ketheeswaram Temple, Mannar 74.3 km · Saiva
• Nallur Kandaswamy Temple 89.1 km · Murugan
• Athmanathaswamy Temple, Avudaiyarkoil 93.1 km · Saiva
• Naguleswaram Temple, Keerimalai 95 km · Saiva

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

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