Wanderlust Tales : Rameswaram,Tamil Nadu
Rameswaram – a tiny town located
on the Pamban island separated by the mainland India by the Pamban channel is
about 50 kilometers from the Mannar island in Sri Lanka.
It is located in the tip of the Indian peninsula.
The Pamban bridge and the Annai Indira Gandhi bridge connect Rameswaram to the country.
The details about our drive from Bangalore to Madurai can be read in the below post:
https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2016/09/travelogue-road-trip-to-madurai.html
The road is not pleasant one to drive through, major reasons being the pot holes and rough patches on the road.
Shocking of it all is the absence of the street lamps - it is too risky to drive relying on the lights from the other cars - during the time we were here, it dawned pretty early and by 1730-ish itself it was getting dark.
Google maps guide you thoroughly - just one place it ditched us when we started onward to Rameswaram from Madurai. The road suggested to be taken was closed with some ongoing construction work - and the re-routing with the Google Map became a pain, literally.
I am glad the locals helped us through in the busy streets of Madurai, and finally we hit the NH - which didn't seem much like the NH.
Once you
enter Rameswaram, after crossing the Annai Indira Gandhi bridge, there is a
Municipal toll of Rs.100/- collected per vehicle. I must say quite a toll for
entering the town. And surprisingly government buses are charged a toll of Rs.8/-. Irony!!
The place is secular in every form - in spite Rameswaram being a part of the CHAAR DHAM, on the way to the temple we spotted a Gurudwara and a church as well. Well managed I must say. 😊
You can spot the golden yellow top of the Ramanathaswamy temple from quite a distance. As you enter the temple, it is hard not to notice the heavenly magnificent architecture of the long corridors. These long corridors are the pathway to reach the main temple. It is sad that they don’t allow any camera or phone inside the temple.
The pathways
are carved with multi colored statues of lions on the numerous pillars
standing over the corridors – it signifies the great effort that must have gone
into putting such carvings in place.
At the beginning of the long passage, there are quite few shops setup selling rudrakhsa, various kinds of stones, shells, jewelry, statues of deities and various other puja items. The temple with it's vibrant colors - seemed very lively.
So before you enter the temple -
It is super crazy to get a glance of the lingam. The queue is immense – although they facilitate special darshan tokens – but it highly impossible to find the right queue to follow.
Practically, we were lost inside trying to find the right queue for our special darshan token – everyone would just say the other side and we were in for a round robin.
It gets heavily hot inside due to over filling of the pilgrims inside – and the staff was a intolerable, getting rude with the pilgrims. Come on, the faith of the pilgrims has to be respected – hurling and bad mouthing just triggers more anger in such a holy place.
Considering the belief the people of the country carry – there should be little more effort made for organizing queues, arranging proper information at the information desk and training the staff to help people who don’t understand the local language.
Before you make your way to the main temple – you can see there are about few wells where people are flocking around to get a splash of the holy water. It was a mad rush, but we managed to have ourselves splashed with the holy water.
The temple is located at a distance of about 2-3 kms from the Pamban bridge. There is a parking lot available at a distance of 1km from the temple – but it is not an ardent task to find a spot for your car.
On the way back from we also saw the APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial - it was bustling with people.
I had the chance only of a quick glance. The throng of people signified the fan following the man drew even with his simplicity. Kudos!!
Few pictures I picked from Google images to showcase the beauty of the interiors of the Ramanathanswamy temple, just look at the architecture :
Meenakshi Amman Temple :
Pamban bridge : https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2016/12/wanderlust-tales-pamban-bridge_3.html
Pamban beach : http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2016/12/wanderlust-tales-pamban-beach-park.html
Cheers to life!!
~Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!
P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me, except the last ONE.
Only the historical information in the post have been collected from various sources in Google.
It is located in the tip of the Indian peninsula.
The Pamban bridge and the Annai Indira Gandhi bridge connect Rameswaram to the country.
HOW TO GET HERE:
The drive from Madurai took us about three to four hours given the traffic, heavy vehicles on the road, rains and the bad conditions of the road.
RAMESWARAM:
Rameswaram
is a part of the CHAAR DHAAM pilgrimage – deemed as one of the holiest places in
the country. It is traditionally believed to be the “Benaras of the South” - strongly believed, all your sins get absolved here – which is why it is popularly
known as the Parihara Sthala.
The theories
suggests that it was from here that Rama started building a bridge across the
sea to Sri Lanka to rescue his beloved wife Sita from Ravana.
Rameswaram
literally means “Lord of Rama” – who is the presiding deity in the
Ramanathaswamy temple. Legend has it, after killing Ravana Lord Rama returned
with his consort Goddess Sita to India first stepping on the shores of
Rameswaram. To free himself of the "dosha" of killing a Brahmin, Lord Rama
wanted to offer worship to Lord Shiva.
Since there
was no shrine in the island Lord Rama sent Sri Hanuman to Kailash to bring an
idol of Lord Shiva.
It is a
typical small town with narrow roads, shops, restaurants, hotels on either
sides - pilgrims and residents walking on the streets. The roads are pretty
busy.
The place is secular in every form - in spite Rameswaram being a part of the CHAAR DHAM, on the way to the temple we spotted a Gurudwara and a church as well. Well managed I must say. 😊
You can spot the golden yellow top of the Ramanathaswamy temple from quite a distance. As you enter the temple, it is hard not to notice the heavenly magnificent architecture of the long corridors. These long corridors are the pathway to reach the main temple. It is sad that they don’t allow any camera or phone inside the temple.
At the beginning of the long passage, there are quite few shops setup selling rudrakhsa, various kinds of stones, shells, jewelry, statues of deities and various other puja items. The temple with it's vibrant colors - seemed very lively.
So before you enter the temple -
·
You have to
leave your phone outside with the vendors right outside the temple at a cost of
Rs.20/- per mobile phone. It is safe – either ways you don’t happen to have
much of a choice.
·
You can
leave your footwear near to it, where there is a chappal stand.
·
As such did
not find any specific dress code to be followed as mentioned in various sites
about the temples in Chennai which mandate the girls/women to wear salwar suit
with dupatta or sari.
It is super crazy to get a glance of the lingam. The queue is immense – although they facilitate special darshan tokens – but it highly impossible to find the right queue to follow.
Practically, we were lost inside trying to find the right queue for our special darshan token – everyone would just say the other side and we were in for a round robin.
Disappointed
and frustrated we made our way to one specific queue where we could
make our way to – and by God’s will within a span of 20 minutes we did have a
quick Darshan of the LINGA.
It gets heavily hot inside due to over filling of the pilgrims inside – and the staff was a intolerable, getting rude with the pilgrims. Come on, the faith of the pilgrims has to be respected – hurling and bad mouthing just triggers more anger in such a holy place.
Considering the belief the people of the country carry – there should be little more effort made for organizing queues, arranging proper information at the information desk and training the staff to help people who don’t understand the local language.
Before you make your way to the main temple – you can see there are about few wells where people are flocking around to get a splash of the holy water. It was a mad rush, but we managed to have ourselves splashed with the holy water.
The temple is located at a distance of about 2-3 kms from the Pamban bridge. There is a parking lot available at a distance of 1km from the temple – but it is not an ardent task to find a spot for your car.
TO DO'S:
Intending to visit Ramanathanswamy temple, the must dos :
·
Book hotel
for your stay in Rameswaram in advance - it is very difficult to find a hotel
on the go. It is a small place, so hotels fill up instantly.
·
Carry proper
clothing to avoid any troubles.
·
Carry
minimal phones on your way to the temple.
·
Carry water
bottle
·
Carry ample
tissues or handkerchief – which ever you prefer.
·
Do not wear
too much jewelry – high chances of losing it in the crowd.
·
Have a
little patience - it does pay off!! 😊
On the way back from we also saw the APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial - it was bustling with people.
I had the chance only of a quick glance. The throng of people signified the fan following the man drew even with his simplicity. Kudos!!
PLACES TO SEE:
Ramanathaswamy temple
Pamban Bridge
Agni tirtham
APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial
Dhanushkodi Beach
PICTURES:
Few pictures I picked from Google images to showcase the beauty of the interiors of the Ramanathanswamy temple, just look at the architecture :
RAMESWARAM DIARIES:
Meenakshi Amman Temple :
Pamban bridge : https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2016/12/wanderlust-tales-pamban-bridge_3.html
Pamban beach : http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2016/12/wanderlust-tales-pamban-beach-park.html
Cheers to life!!
~Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!
P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me, except the last ONE.
Only the historical information in the post have been collected from various sources in Google.
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