Rameswaram (Ramanathaswamy Temple)

Overview

The Ramanathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva, located on Rameswaram Island in the state of Tamil Nadu at the southeastern tip of India. It is one of the four sites of the Char Dham, a pilgrimage across the four corners of India that many Hindus aspire to complete once in a lifetime. Pilgrims arrive year-round for ritual bathing and worship.

Present

The Ramanathaswamy Temple is an active Hindu temple with worship ceremonies held from early morning to night every day. Pilgrims arrive throughout the year to bathe in the temple's sacred wells and to worship in the sanctum. Rameswaram is also a place where Hindus perform rites for deceased ancestors, and many pilgrims combine these rites with their temple visit. The temple is administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the state government of Tamil Nadu. The annual night festival of Maha Shivaratri, held in honor of Shiva, draws the temple's largest crowds.

Religious Significance

The Ramanathaswamy Temple holds its significance in Hinduism through Rama, whom Hindus revere as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. According to the Ramayana, the Hindu epic recounting Rama's life, Rama built a bridge across the sea from near Rameswaram to the island of Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Hindu tradition holds that after his victory Rama worshipped Shiva here to atone for the killing of Ravana. Tradition recounts that Rama sent Hanuman, his monkey companion, to bring a lingam, the upright stone form in which Shiva is worshipped, from the Himalayas, and that Sita shaped a lingam from sand when Hanuman was delayed. Both are enshrined in the sanctum: the sand lingam, the Ramalingam, is the main deity, and the Vishvalingam brought by Hanuman is worshipped first. The temple is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, shrines where Hindu tradition holds that Shiva appeared as a column of light, and its place in the Char Dham pilgrimage reflects the belief that visiting all four sites brings the pilgrim closer to moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Bathing in the temple's twenty-two sacred wells is a central pilgrimage practice, believed to cleanse sins.

History & Structure

The Ramanathaswamy Temple is located on Rameswaram Island, which is separated from the Indian mainland by a narrow channel. Worship at the site is documented from at least the 7th and 8th centuries CE, when Tamil poet-saints composed devotional hymns to Shiva praising the shrine. The present stone temple was begun in the 12th century under the Pandya dynasty, the rulers of the southern Tamil country, and was expanded over the following centuries. Kings of the Jaffna kingdom in northern Sri Lanka contributed to the rebuilding of the sanctums, and the temple's long pillared corridors were added in the 17th and 18th centuries under the Setupati rulers of the nearby town of Ramanathapuram. Twenty-two wells, each named and used for ritual bathing, are located within the complex.

Additional Resources

• Book: The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms by George Michell (1977)