Rameshwaram - One of the holiest places for Hindus

Not being a very religious person, I checked for any interesting places while I decided to join few others to visit Rameshwaram, that is a well known and one of the holiest places in India. The famous Ramaswamy temple here in Tamil Nadu state of India has one of the biggest corridors in the world with 1219 m in length and over 4000 pillars which was constructed in Dravidian style of architechture. This is one of the famous Hindu chardham temples and others include Badrinath in Uttarakhand, Puri in Odisha and Dwarka in Gujarath.

According to the legend, after killing Ravana in Sri Lanka, Lord Rama had to get rid of his karma for having killed the demon Ravana in battle. Although Ravana was an evil being and had to be killed, in accordance with the karmic rules of the universe, killing someone has its own consequences and Rama needed to atone for his actions. 


Lord Rama directed Hanuman to bring a sivalingam to pray from Kailash, however since it was delayed shivalinga made of sand by Seetha was used for his prayers. Hanuman returned and supposed to have tried to remove the one created by Seetha number of times, but failed. Lord Rama pacified Hanuman and hence one can find both of shivalingas here and both are worshiped by the devotees.

 Holy Teerth:

There are 22 thirthas or the holy water bodies within the temple premises. Each water body has a name depicting many mythological stories. Every year, thousands of pilgrims come to Rameswaram from all over to wash away their unwanted negative karmas by bathing in the sea of Rameswaram followed by a bath at the 22 temple wells of the main temple.Bathing from these tanks/wells is a ritual and considered holy. 

Few of them are  Rama teerth, Sita Kund, Jata Teerth, Lakshman Teerth, Kapi Teerthas, Brahmakund, Galawa teerth, Mangala teerth, Kodandaram teerth, Pandav teerth etc., The waters at all these places is sweet and has a taste of its own. 

History about the different theerthams:

• Mahalakshmi Theertham: Yudhistra took bath and got rich and famous as well.

• Savithri Theertham: Kashyapa got rid of his curse after holy dip in this theertham. Whoever takes holy dip in this theertham would get rid of all the curses. King Kasibar got rid of his curse.

• Sethu Madhava Theertham: Whoever takes holy dip in this water would be blessed by Mahalakshmi, their purified of impure thoughts.

• Gandhamadana Theertham: One will get rid of their penury

• Kavatcha Theertham: One protected from torture at hell.

• Gavaya Theertham: One will be blessed to be under Kalpa Vriksha tree.

• Nala Theertham: One will be able to take blessing of Lord Surya and reach heaven.

• Brahmahathi Vimochana Theertham: Will be absolved of many sins like killing a Brahmin, consumption of intoxicated drinks etc

• Sooriya Theertham: Attain the ability to receive knowledge of the past present and the future.

• Ganga Theertham: Gananasuruthi Rajah attained wisdom.

• Siva Theertham: absolving of Brahmahathi sins

• Sarva Theertham: Sutharishna got rid of his blindness (from birth), illness and old age and then he prospered.

• Kodi Theertham: Lord Krishna got rid of his sin of killing his uncle, Kamsa.

Sethu Karai:

Sethu Karai, 22 km before the island of Rameswaram from where Lord Rama is said to have built a Floating Stone Bridge Rama sethu from Rameswaram that further continued to Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram till Talaimannar in Sri Lanka as mentioned in the great epic Ramayana. We still can witness in a temple where floating stone is kept. 

Kothandaramaswamy Temple:

This beautiful road leading to this temple had sea on either sides and the dead end in the sea to the right stood this temple called Kothandaraswamy temple. This was yet another interesting story of Vibhishana, the younger brother of Ravana who had asked Rama and his army for refuge. According to the mythhology after the abduction of Sita, Vibhishana advised Ravana to return her to Rama. However, Ravana did not listen to the advice, which led to Vibhishana fleeing from Lanka and joining Rama's army. When Vibhishana surrendered to Rama, the vanara army urged Rama not to accept Vibhishana believing him to be a spy. However, Rama accepted Vibhishana under the insistence of Hanuman stating that it is his duty to protect the ones surrendered to him. It is also said that after the slaying of Ravana, Rama performed the "Pattabhishekam" (ascension to king of Lanka) for Vibhishana at this place. The story is depicted in painting across the walls inside the shrine.

Villondi thirtham:

Villoondi Theertham literally translates to 'buried bow', is located around 7 kilometres from the main temple on the way to Pamban. It is believed to be the place where Rama quenched the thirst of Sita by dipping the bow into the sea water.Other major holy bodies are Hanuman Theertham, Sugreeva Theertham and Lakshmana Theertham.

Dhanushkodi:

Dhanushkodi is the southernmost tip of the island and houses the Kothandaramaswamy Temple dedicated to Rama.

Though Dhanushkodi was washed away during the 1964 cyclone, the temple alone remained intact. It is 18 km way from the centre of the town and can be reached by road. A popular belief is that, Dhanushkodi is where Vibishana, a brother of Ravana surrendered before Rama in the epic Ramayana.

Pambam Bridge:

Pambam Bridge was the first Sea Bridge of India and the second longest Sea bridge of India, where one can witness both Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.

Also, one must not miss watching the sunset from a parallel bridge to watch this amazing Pambam bridge that is about 2.3 Km on the sea connecting Rameshwaram on Pambam Island to the mainland India. It is a cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait and has a double-leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under the bridge.

With the colorful sea background, boats and the sunset changing the colors of overall landscape and train passing the bridge with few pea hens made a splendid scene to watch and something that cannot skip one’s memory.

Dr.Abdul Kalam:

A small town that hardly had good schools gave us one of the best scientists and humblest President of India ‘Abdul Kalam’. 

We were fortunate to visit the ‘House of Kalam’ that had a small Museum about this great personality and all about his achievements in display.

On the way we also had a chance to see the school where he studied.

2 days is sufficient and there is a TTDC hotel and other hotels as well to stay as well. There is no direct trains from Bangalore. However, sufficient number of sleeper buses are easier to commute as it is a overnight one.