The History Of Rameswaram And Nearby Places.
Rameswaram, a small town in Pamban Island is a famous shiva temple and one of the Dwadasa (12) Jyothirlingas . Rameshwaram has been separated from main land India by sea waters.
The city of Rameshwaram is in the shape of a Conch. The place is considered very auspicious and no agriculture, pottery is done here. The main diety here is Lord Shiva and his consort Godess Parvathavardhini who is on the right side of Lord Shiva. There is a Sri chakra established in the temple. The Abhishekam is conducted from the water brought from Koti Theerthamu.
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| The city of Rameshwaram is in the shape of a Conch. |
The Pamban Bridge: The connection between Rameswaram and the mainland India is only through Pamban bridge. It is India's first sea bridge with 2 kms distance from mainland India to Rameswaram.
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| The Pamban bridge opens up in the middle to allow the boats pass through. |
The history of Rameshwaram links back to the epic Ramayana period of Tretayuga. The demon king Ravanasura took away Sita the wife of Lord Rama. Lord Rama along with Brother Lakhsmana, Hanuman and other Vanaras went to Lanka to bring back Sita. Rama killed Ravanasura and came back to Rameswaram along with Sita. In order to wash away the sin of Brahmahathyapatham because of killing Ravana, he wanted to establish Shivalinga. So Lord Rama sent Hanuman to bring Shivalinga from Kailasam. But as it was becoming late and the auspicious time to establish Shivalinga is approaching Sita made a Shiva linga with the sand. Later when Hanuman was back he was disappointed to see the established Shivalinga. Lord SriRama pacified Hanuman and told that both Shivlinga are established here side by side. The first pooja will be held to Hanuman Shivlinga and then to Sita Shivlinga.
The Shivlinga brought by Hanuman is called Vishwalingam and made by Sita is called Rama lingam. As said by Lord Rama the Pooja is conducted first to Vishwanatha and Visalkakshi. There is a spatika linga established by Vibhishana, the brother Demon king Ravana and Rama's Baktha.
The temple architecture is beautiful depicting the Dravidian style. There are three corridors in the temple. The main consort is in the first corridor which is the oldest one and in the second corridor there are shivalingas and Ganpathi statue and the third corridor is the said to be the largest temple corridor in the world.
Initially the shivalinga was in a small hut. Later it has been developed and constructed by different people. The main temple has been constructed by Parakrma Bahu of the Sinhala King. And the remaining construction has been done by the well known people of Ramanthapuram called Sethupathis.
22 Auspicious Ponds
From 100meters to the temple there is sea and there are 22auspicious ponds where people take a holy dip.
1.Mahalakshmi Theerthamu, 2.Savithri Theerthamu, 3.Gayathri , 4.Saraswathi, 5.Sethu Madhava, 6.Gandhamadhana, 7.Kavacha, 8.Gavaya, 9.Nala, 10.Neela, 11.Shankha, 12.Chakra, 13.Brahmahathyapathaka, 14. Surya, 15.Chandra, 16. Ganga, 17. Yamuna, 18.Gaya, 19.Shiva, 20.Stayamrutha, 21.Sarva, 22. Koti Theerthamu.
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| Gandhamadhana Mountain |
Gandhamadana Mountain: The Gandhamadhana Mountain is situated 1 1/2 miles from Rameswaram. The Srirama Padmulu (Srirama Feet) were there on the temple mountain. From the top of the hill we can see the Srirameswara town and some places of Island.
Sri Kodanda Rama Swamy Temple: This is situated 5 miles from Rameswaram. This is the place where Vibhishana, the brother of Demon king Ravana surrendered himself to Lord Rama with his sincere devotion towards Lord Rama called as Vibhishana Saranagathi an important part of epic Ramayana and this is the place where Vibhishana Pattabhishekam ( ascension to king Lanka) is performed after killing Ravana. The temple has idols of Lord Rama, Sita, Lakhmana and Vibhishana.
Jata Theerthamu: After killing Ravana Rama and Laksmana washed their hair (Jata) to perform Pooja to Shivalinga.
Devipatnamu: There is a small village on the coast of the sea called Ramanathapuramu. Here in this coast Lord Srirama established 9 pillars nd those are the Navagrahas. People complete their Rameswaram Yatra after visiting Ramalinga Vilas Bunglaw which was given by Lord Srirama to Sethupathi.
Sethu Madhava Temple: This is one of the Pancha Madhava temples ( see this page for Kunti Madhava temple
There is a temple of Lord Vishnu called Sethu Madhava temple. Once there lived a king called SundaraPandyan. He performed Yagna for Lord Vishnu. Pleased with his Yagna Lord Vishnu sent Lakshmi Devi as an orphan baby. The king once found a baby girl in the garden. He adopted her as her daughter. One day Lord Vishnu disguised as an old Brahmin man holding Ganga water in his hand came to the palace and held the hand of the Kings daughter. The king got angry and jailed the old man. During the night he got a dream of Lord Vishnu holding his daughters hand. The king realised his mistake and asked Lord Vishnu to forgive him. Lord Vishnu blessed the king and said that he will be there as Sri Sethu Madhava. The idol is of beautiful white marble so it is also called as Swetha Madhava. There is a sacred pond and Sethu Madhava Theerthamu near the temple.
Dhanushkoti: This is a small place which is 20 kms from Rameswaram. This is the place of the confluence of Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. This place is considered as sacred place. Dhanushkoti got its name from Lord Rama Bow Arrow. Danush (Bow) and koti (tip of the Arrow). This is the place where Lord Rama has used his bow and arrow at the sea land Hanuman and other Vanaras built the bridge on the sea to go to Lanka. This place got hit by a big cyclone in 1964. Now this is a small village with very few people living there. This shares the land border of India and Srilanka with worlds smallest length of 45 meters.
A very famous, attractive and interesting place to visit in South India, which is a place having a history of mythological Ramayana.
Happy Piligrimage.
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