In
order to attain Moksha it is believed that the visit to Rameshwaram
is mandatory. Rameshwaram is also popularly referred to as
the 'Benaras of the south'. Rameshwaram is significant for
the Hindus as a pilgrimage to Benaras is incomplete without
a Pilgrimage to Rameshwaram. The presiding deity is the Linga
Of Sri Ranganatha, which happens to be one of the twelve Jyotirlingas
of India. Sri Lanka is at a distance of 24 kilometers from
Rameshwaram. In fact the entire area of Rameshwaram is associated
with various incidents from the Ramayana. Rameshwaram happens
to one of the most visited pilgrim sites in India. According
to the Hindu mythology i.e. the story of Ramayana Lord Rama
performed thanksgiving rituals to Lord Rama after the battle
at Sri Lanka and his triumph over the demon king Ravana. Owing
to this Rameshwaram attracts Vaishnavites (worshippers of
Lord Vishnu) and Saivites (worshippers of Lord Shiva) alike.
At the town's core is the Ramanathaswamy Temple, one of the
most important temples in southern India. Rameswaram is on
an island in the Gulf of Mannar, connected to the mainland
at Mandapam by rail, and by one of India's engineering wonders,
the Indira Gandhi Bridge. Ramnathswamy temple was built in
the 17th century. Situated close to the sea on the eastern
side of the island, this temple is famous for its 1200 gigantic
granite columns. The 54 metre tall gopuram (gate-tower), 1220
metres of magnificent corridors and the flamboyant columns
embellish and render fame to the temple. The great temple
of Sri Ramanatha is connected by tradition with Keshi. A pilgrimage
to Kasi is not considered complete without a pilgrimage to
Rameswaram. In olden days groups of pilgrims, many of them
quite old, walked huge distance to the two temples, taking
months and years, and some failing to survive the rigours
and dangers of such incredibly long journeys. Men and women
know this cost might be exacted of them, but they paid it
cheerfully.
To help the pilgrims walking incredible distances, philanthropists
used to construct rest houses at intervals along the way.
The last of them before Rameswaram was Thangachimadam, a few
kilometres away on the island. Modern means of transport have
made these resthouses superfluous. But in their time they
were most useful, even vital. The Sethupathis of Ramanathapuram,
of which district Rameswaram is an administrative part were
called the guardians of the Sethu", the bridge which,
according to tradition, was built for Sri Rama to cross over
into Sri Lanka when He set out to recover Sita. The Rameswaram
pilgrimage has long been a tradition in South India, particularly
in Tamil Nadu, and has passed into folklore. Many kings of
old period themselves on having planted columns of victory
in Rameswaram. Krishna III the Rashtrakuta, in the tenth century,
the Hoysala, Vishnuvardhana, in the twelfth. It was a king
of Sri Lanka who according to inscriptions, built the sanctum
of the temple. The temple, which has over the centuries grown
into its present gigantic dimensions, stands on the eastern
shore of an island, which is shaped like a conch, which Lord
Vishnu bears in one of His bands. No field is ploughed or
oil pressed anywhere in the island. A magnificent railway
bridge, over a kilometre long and constructed at the beginning
of the twentieth century, connected it with the mainland.
The temple 264m east to west and 200m north to south, and
with three prakaras, two big gopuras and two more unfinished
ones, faces east, a few metres from the sea. It contains two
Lingas under worship. These are innumerable other shrines
and twenty-two "tirthas", or sacred bathing places.
