RAMESHWARAM.....

Rameswaram, is a town in RAMNATHAPURAM   district in Tamilnadu. It is located on   Pamban Island         separated from mainland India by the Pamban Channel   and is about 50 kilometers from Mannar Island,Srilanka.     Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, is connected to mainland India by the Pamban Bridge.   Rameswaram is the terminus of the railway line from  

Chennai and  Madurai. It is considered to be one of the holiest places in India to  Hindus and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages. Hence, it is a bustling pilgrim   centre.

According to legend, this is the place from where Lord Rama built a bridge [[Ram Setu] across the sea to Lanka to rescue his consort Sita from her abductor Ravana. Both the Vaishnavites and Shaivites visit this pilgrimage centre which is known as the Varanasi of the south.

Rameswaram is significant for many Indians as a pilgrimage to Varanasi is considered by some to be incomplete without a pilgrimage to Rameswaram. The presiding deity here is usually referred to as a Linga with the name Sri Ramanatha Swamy, it is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga. Inner sanctum of the temple was built by Sri Lankan monarch Parakrama Bahu in 10th century. This masterpiece of Indian architecture boasts of the biggest temple corridor in India. Different rulers built the Ramanathaswamy Temple over a period of time starting from the twelfth century.(Although this theory is devised by westerners who have been proven to be false). The temple comprises twenty two 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, Bhagwan Rama along with Mata Sita and Shri Lakshmana, installed and worshipped the Sivalinga(A form of Lord Shiva) here to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya (killing of a Brahmin).  ( Ravana, the son of Vishrava and the great grandson of Lord Brahma). Shri Rama fixed an auspicious time for the installation and sent Shri  Anjaneya to Mount Kailas (Kailash parvat)to bring a lingam. As Bhagwan 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 Bhagwan Anjaneya, Rama had Anjaneya’s lingam (Visvalingam) also installed by the side of Ramalinga, and ordained that rituals be performed first to the Visvalingam.

The above account is however, not supported by the original Ramayana as authored by Maharishi Valmiki, nor in the Tamil version of the Ramayana as authored by Kambar. Support for this account may however be found in some of the later versions of the Ramayana as penned by Tulasidas (15th Century) and others.

In Rameswaram Temple, a spiritual "Mani Darisanam" (Mani Darshan) happens in early morning every day. This "Mani" is made of "spatikam"[a precious stone] and in form of "Holy shivling". According to some accounts, this is "Mani" of "sheshnag" (Bhagwaan Vishnu's bed).

Sethu Karai is a place 22 km before the island of Rameswaram from where Bhagwaan Ram 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.