The island of Rameshwaram, spread out over 56 km of gentle sand dunes, embellished with casuarina trees and stark palms, is a sacred place for Hindus since, according to the Ramayana, this is where Rama worshipped Lord Shiva to absolve himself of the sin of killing Ravana. A dip into the sacred waters of the Agnitheertham, which was calmed by Rama, is a must for Hindus.
Rameshwaram is significant for the Hindus
as a pilgrimage to Benaras is incomplete
without a Pilgrimage to Rameshwaram.
Rameshwaram is also popularly referred
to as the 'Banaras of the south'. In order
to attain Moksha it is believed that the
visit to Rameshwaram is mandatory.
Rameshwaram is significant for the Hindus as a pilgrimage to Benaras is incomplete without a Pilgrimage to Rameshwaram. The presiding deity here is in the form of a Linga with the name Sri Ramanatha Swamy, it also happens to be one of the twelve Jyotirlingas.
The masterpiece of Dravidian architecture boasts of the largest temple corridor in India. Different rulers built the Ramanatha Swamy Temple over a period of time starting from the 12th century. The temple comprises forty wells where the taste of the water of each well is different from the other.
The grandest part of the temple is the 1219 m pillared corridor consisting of 3.6 m high granite pillars, richly carved and well proportioned. The perspective presented by these pillars run uninterruptedly to a length of nearly 230 m.
According to the Puranas, upon the advice of Rishis (sages), Rama along with Sita and Lakshmana, installed and worshipped the Sivalinga here to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya (killing of a Brahmin) (Ravana was a Brahmin the great grandson of Brahma).[citation needed] Rama fixed an auspicious time for the installation and sent Anjaneya to Mount Kailas to bring a lingam. As Anjaneya could not return in time, Sita herself made a linga of sand. When Anjaneya returned with a linga from Mount Kailas the rituals had been over. To comfort the disappointed Anjaneya, Rama had Anjaneya's lingam (Visvalingam) also installed by the side of Ramalinga, and ordained that rituals be performed first to the Visvalingam.
In Rameshwaram Temple, a spiritual "Mani Darshan" happens in early morning everyday. This "Mani" is made of "sphatik"[a precious stone] and in form of "Holy shivling". according to ved this is "Mani" of "sheshnag".
Sethu Karai is a place 22 km before the island of Rameshwaram from where God Ram built a Floating Stone Bridge "Ramasethu" till Rameshwaram that further continued from Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram till Talaimannar in Sri Lanka as mentioned in the great Hindu epic RAMAYAN. The ruins of the Ramasethu are submerged under the sea as shot from Gemini 1 satellite of NASA in 2004.
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