Among the most famous shiva temples Badrinath is in the North, Puri Jagannath is in the East, Dwaraka is in the West and Rameswaram is in the South.
Here Ramanatha Swamy is known as Ramalinga, Rameshwara, or Ramanatha.
Ramanatha Swami Temple the 7th Jyotirlingam is in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu was built in the 17th century and is situated close to the sea. There are 1200 gigantic granite columns in this temple. The 54 metres tall gopuram, 1220 metres of majestic corridors and the energetic columns embellish and render popularity to the temple. There are 22 sacred wells in the temple all tastes different.
Rameswaram is an Island. It has been divided by narrow sea from the primary land. The Rail bridge constructed up on the narrow sea connects the Pamban Railway station and Mandapam Railway station. The Road Bridge was an additional attraction constructed on the sea to connect Pamban and Mandapam.
History: The temple and the island Rameswaram got this name because, Lord Rama worshiped Lord Shiva to redeem the dosha, the God of Gods here on return from Sri Lanka. According to legends, after killing Ravanasura the king of Srilanka, Lord Rama returned to india with his wife Goddess Seetha, brother Lakshmana and Hanuman, they first stepped on the shores of Rameswaram. To redeem the dosha of killing Ravanasura who is a brahmin, Lord Rama wanted to offer prayers to Lord Shiva as advised by Rishi Agathiya. As there was no temple in the island Lord rama asked anjeneya to bring Shiva Lingam from mount kailas.
Sri Anjeneya didn’t returned on time, So Goddess Seetha herself made a Lingam with the sea sand and worshiped Lord Shiva. When Anjenaya returns with the lingam and knows the pooja was already preformed, he got angry and try to remove the Lingam from the sand but he could not able to remove it. To quell the anger of Hanuman, Lord Rama installed the Lingam on the side of Ramalinga (seetha’s Lingam) and named as Viswalingam and said the first pooja will be performed to Viswalingam which was brought by Anjeneya Swamy.
The spectacular eastern tower which has nine levels(floors) and 126 feet in height was built by Alar family of Devakottai with Thiruppani funds in between 1897 and 1904. They renovated the Sanctum Sanctorum and the prakaram(inner most corridor) by replacing the lime stones by black granite with sufficient provision for light and ventilation in between 1907 and 1925 and also made arrangements to perform Ashtabandana Kumbabishekam in 1925 and on 22-2-1947. Ashtabandana Maha Kumbabishegam the third time was performed on 5-2-1975.
World Famous Third Corridor :
Outer Wing – East West – 690 feet
North-South – 435 feet
Innerwing – East_West – 649 feet
North-South – 395 feet
Total number of pillars – 1212
Height of Corridor – 22 feet 7 ½ inch
Contact Details of Ramanatha Swami Temple :
The Joint Commissioner / Executive Officer
Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy Temple
Ramanathapuram, District,
Rameswaram – 623 526.
Phone No. : 04573 – 221223
Fax : 04573 – 223230
E-Mail ID : lordramnath2012@gmail.com
Mr. S.Selvaraj M.A., B.L.,
Joint Commissioner / Executive Officer
Raja N.Kumaran Sethupathi
Takkar
Travel Information to Ramanathaswamy Temple:
By Air:-
The nearest airport is at Madurai which is 163 km from Rameshwaram.
By Train / Rail:-
Rameshwaram is connected by rail with Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Thanjavur and other cities. The two kilometers stretch of Indira Gandhi Bridge connects the island of Rameshwaram to the mainland of Mandapan.
By Road:-
The city is well connected to Madurai, Kanyakumari, Chennai and Trichy. It is also connected to Pondicherry and Thanjavur via Madurai.
Local Transportation:-
While traveling in the township by hairing jeeps, auto rickshaws and also cycle rickshaw.