Obviously Rameswaram Island. One of the epic, Ramayana is centered around it.
Known Facts and Unknown History,
Rameshwaram is unique in many respects. It is one of the must visit place in one’s life. I site 12 special reasons
1.Rameshwaram is an island.
2. The temple and the town are considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shivas and Vaishnavas. Why?
Ram built a bridge from here across the sea to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from her abductor Ravan. The Ramanathaswamy Temple, dedicated to Shiva, is at the centre of the town and is closely associated with Rama.
3.Rameshwaram along with the Ramanathaswamy temple is one of the holiest Char Dham (four divine) sites comprising Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka.
4.Rameshwaram is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Pilgrimage place.
5.Rameshwaram is also one of the Panch Madhava Kshetras.
i)Varanasi (Kasi)- Bindu Madhava;
ii)Prayagh Raj - Veni Madhava
iii)Pitapuram - Kunti Madhava
iv)Rameshwaram - Sethu Madhava
v)Thiruvananthapuram - Sundara Madhava
6.For locals, their pilgrimage to Kasi for performing rituals to their ancestors, is incomplete without visiting Rameshwaram.
Unknown History:
7.A.The Temple is an architectural Marvel. Historically, the island is a transit point to ceylon and temple had ups and downs.
7B.Appar, Sundarar and Sambhandar sang the glory of Shiva in Tevaram during 7th Century.
7C.Contribution of Chozhas:
Rameswaram temple’s sanctum sanctorum was built with the help of Parakrama Bahu I, the ruler of Sri Lanka from 1153-1188 AD. He obviously travelled with his soldiers, craftsChhmen, technicians, worshippers and pilgrims on the land route, Adam’s Bridge between Mannar and Rameswaram. Parakrama Bahu, the all powerful king of Sri Lanka, was also considered a sage. He named his royal palace ‘Palace of God Indira’.
Further, being a Shiva Baktha, a 11th Century temple known as Vanam Madevi Iswaram, named after Rajaraja I, the Chola conqueror, who established his capital at Polonnaruwa, was preserved here during Parakrama Bahu’s reign. Other Hindu temples were also cared for. One of his wives had the name Subhadra.
7D.Islamic Invasion:
Invaded by Malik Kafur, a General of Alauddin Khilji in 14th Century and he erected a mosque.
7E. Vijayanagara Kingdom and Reconstruction:
Later conquered by Vijayanagara Kingdom within 14th century.
Similarly, Jayaweera, King of Jaffna (1380-1410) and his dynasty till 1624, organised black granite stones to make pillars and other ornamentation on site near Trincomalee and then transported them by ship to Rameswaram temple. How many ships would have had to be commissioned and how many skilled artisans would have had to be employed and how many people would have been needed to create and load and unload all this work, including 1212 pillars, is mind boggling.
The Jaffna kingdoms (1215-1624) contributed to Rameswaram for 400 years and were known as Setukavalar, meaning custodians of the temple. Setu was used in their coins as well as their inscriptions.
7F.Sethupatis:
Vijayanagara Empire installed Pandya Dynasty to rule marked the beginning of Polygar Sethupatis dedicated their entire clan to protect this architectural marvel.
We bow to their commitment and sacrifice to this architectural marvel and not only Rameshwaram, each and every land in the Ramanathapuram Districts have the story to tell about Ramayana.
7G.Kachcha Theevu:
It is very disheartening, that after indepenence in 1974, one of the Islands belong to these kings, called Katchathivu was gifted away to Sri Lanka against the sentiments of Tamils. What we are doing, and what is the value of these kings sacrifice?
8.Ramanathaswamy temple is known for its longest corridor among all Hindu temples in India.
The famed thousand pillared corridor of Rameswaram Temple.
The long corridor stretches as stories from Ramayana are painted in every wall here. There are many legends here, but the one that is most often reinforced is how Rama prayed to his Lord, Shiva to absolve him of any sins committed during the war. In the first inner corridor, devotees offer worship to the venerated white Sphatika Lingam. Sphatika Lingam Darshan is offered to the pilgrims during early morning hours i.e., morning between 5 and 6 am. It is a great experience.
9.The Ramanathaswamy temple stands tall as devotees make their way to cleanse themselves with a sacred bath at the 22 wells or teerthams that surround it. Even today, it is believed that the tanks around the temple have a perennial source of water.
Rameshwaram, has close to 64 theerthams and while some of them are in the form of wells, others are like ponds, tanks and one of them, the Agni Theertham is the sea itself. They are located in forests, in temples, inside towns, on the highways and on mud roads and in the middle of the ocean. It is like following in the footsteps of Rama’s journey as every drop of water has a story to narrate. While some of these teerthams are named after Rama, Lakshmana, Seetha, Hanuman, Sugriva, the others will transports you into a different world.
10.Agni Theertham, No Waves.Because of absence of anystrong currents or any river venting out into nearby sea salinity of sea is relatively high and uniform across Rameshwaramso the waves too are less usually salinity gradient owes for Waves or violent water movements.
11.The Pamban Railway Bridge is also called as Cantilever Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge. It was named after the German engineer Scherzer, who built the Pamban viaduct. The Scherzer roll and lift span are activated by using the principle of spurs and gears to gain a large amount of mechanical advantage.
12.The scenic view of the coastal region during mansoon months are enjoyable.
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