Rameshwarm Visit

I recently visited Rameshwaram & Madurai with family. By road the travel is about 650 Kms from Chennai. Route is part of Golden Quadrilateral and as lot of work is presently in progress, the ride is quite bumpy. However, one can realise the benefits of Atal Bihari Vajapayees vision, as the speed, ease & comfort of drive on the completed part was a pleasant experience.

Despite of all the "Ramsetu" controversy, the island temple town goes quietly about its business. People are simple and down to earth. The serene beauty all around and holy atmosphere takes one to different world. With little bit of knowledge about Hindu mythology - Ramayana to be specific - generally helps to co relate things.

Apart from main Shiva temple, the island has few other places of tourist interests. Dhaushkodi is the place from where Lord Rama's bridge to Lanka started, Ram Kunda(lake), Laxman Kund, Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple, Bibhishan temple, etc., and other places help tourists and devotees to relive the story of Ramayana epic.

The main Shiva temple (Ramnathswamy) is one of the biggest temple I have ever seen. It has twenty two kundas( wells) inside the temple and also has world's biggest corridor. The height, pillars, art work, distance between the pillars, the engineering and architecture is amazing. Ramnathswamy temple was built in the 17th century. Situated close to the sea on the eastern side of the island, this temple is famous for its 1200 gigantic granite columns. The 54 metre tall gopuram (gate-tower), 1220 metres of magnificent corridors and the flamboyant columns embellish and render fame to the temple. The water in each of the 22 sacred wells in the temple tastes different, and has distinctly different temperatures.

At Panchmukhi Hanuman temple we saw those floating stones/rocks which were supposedly used by Lord Rama's forces to build a bridge to Lanka. These are coral rock formations, which have pockets of air inside them, due to which irrespective of their size they float on the water. Also the distance from Dhanushkodi to Lanka is shortest and the sea bed shallowest. (As per NASA it is the sea ridge, which is called "Adams' Bridge")

As usual ITDC does little here too for the development of tourism and for the help of tourists and devotees. No centres for registered guides, no prepaid autos, no tourist information centres. 07 Kms route to Dhanushkodi is through sea sand and only private buses go there which are

stuffed with tourists and not at all comfortable. However, hotels are not that costly and auto wallas are reasonable.

However, serenity and peace of mind derived from the visit this island is great