Rameshwaram: Dham Created by Lord Ram

About Rameshwaram

It is said that Rameshwaram represents to South what Kashi denotes to the North. The name means ‘Lord of Ram’, denoting Shiva who is the deity presiding in the temple of Rameshwaram. It is a revered temple for Hindus as Rameshwaram is considered one of the ‘Char Dham’ and also one of 12 Jyotirlinga. The story that is attached to this temple is just as interesting as its architecture is intriguing.

Story Of Rameshwaram

Let us first begin with the legend behind the Rameshwaram Temple. During the Treta-Yug, after Lord Ram came back victorious from Lanka, he was advised by knowledgable sages to perform a yagna. This yagna would be to pray for the peace of all who were slain during the war. Along with this, Ram had also taken over the sin of Brahma-hatya (murdering a brahman) by killing Ravan and penance need to be done for the same. The Ayodhya-king was then advised to make a temple of Shiva at Gandhamadhanam (ancient name of the land) to atone for the sins. Ram then instructed Hanuman to bring him a deity, the Shiv-ling. Hanuman instantly flew away to get his Lord the requested Shiva-ling. However, it took Hanuman a long time to return and the mahurta or blessed time was passing. Ram then asked Sita to make a small Shiv-ling from the sand on the beach and they proceeded to do the rituals. When Hanuman came back, he was deeply hurt that the Shiv-ling brought by him was not used for the rituals. To appease Hanuman, Ram said that anyone who enters the temple will first have to pray to the lingam brought by Hanuman, known as the Vishwalingam which was placed in the vicinity of the shrine. Within it the lingam made by Sita was placed which came to be known as the Ramalingam.

The temple’s legend is as noteworthy as its stupendous built and beautiful architectural design. The temple vicinity is spread in 15 acres. It has breathtaking shrines of Visalakshi, Mahaganapathi, Nandi amongst others. It has the longest corridors across the world. The dimensions of the inner corridor are around 224 feet each side from east to west and 352 on either side of north to south with a total length of 3850 feet. The most wondrous structure is that of the 22 Teerthams that are present in the praangan of the temple. Teerthams means holy water and in Rameshwaram there are 22 wells which are considered sacred within the premises of the temple. It believed that Lord Ram released 22 arrows from his quiver summoning the water of 22 holy places of India. Interestingly the water of these 22 wells is fresh and the rest of the wells have sea water in them. Pilgrims take bath in these sacred water bodies and then proceed to worship the 2 lingams. Worshipping Lord Shiv here is said to balance out many sins and bring the pilgrim closer to moksha.