Rameshwaram which is one of the shiva’s jyothirlingam (Only one in Tamilnadu).This temple town is quite crowded yet serene.One can see the divinity go hand in hand with all the turbulence.
A word of caution, please visit this temple in off season or any non holday to engulf the entire town in single visit.
We reached Rameshwaram via train from Madurai.It is easy to go from Madurai (Another temple town alias thoonga nagaram i.e Town which never sleeps).Handful of passenger trains run between Madurai and Rameshwaram in the day time but its all unreserved passenger trains. Only two early morning trains run on Mondays,Wednesdays and Thursdays at around 2 am and 4 am.I took an unreserved train at 12.20 pm from Madurai and landed at around 4.20 pm in Rameshwaram.
Though many buses ply from Madurai yet i preferred train since i want to go on Pamban bridge.Train track over the sea is another thing you need to indulge in when rameshwaram calls you.Parallel to the track over the land you can see Anna indira Gandhi road which is a nice stretch road where you can see the part of Bay of bengal and the fishing boats parked at the end of the day.
Railway station is normal one with newly built retiring room.As people from all over India are thronging this town the entire town ranks low in cleanliness.
We visited Dr.APJ Kalam sir's house just out of curiosity.Though there are shopping places inside and beside this house, government has showcased his dedication for the nation, kids and also his knowledge.There are so many books kept almost everywhere around the house which shows his voracious reading habit.I saw almost 4-5 variations of thirukkural,bhagavad geetha. Quite a remarkable person this world had.
After that we went to the main Sri Ramanathaswamy temple (story of the temple in the later post).We entered through west gate, east gate is facing towards the sea (Agni theertham).You were not supposed to carry your mobile phones, there are many shops which has locker that keeps your mobile phones for certain amount.This temple has lot of pillars (roughly 1212 pillars ),stands so majestic in the veranda.Few are ornated with characters which are common among the temples built by same king around same period.The rock pillars are painted to emphasise the beauty.
En route to main deity story of how lord rama became reason for this temple are enacted in framed photographs around the corridor,you can mediate for few minutes inside epitaph(yogic samadhi) of saint Patanjali.One can't miss the direction boards to theertham no: N (there are 22 theertham wells inside the temple) all around the temple.We planned to do "Spadiha linga" dharshan and theerthams at next day early morning.
Based on the story, lingam built by Sita in the sand resides as main one, beside that there is one brought by Hanuman from kailash called Viswalingam which is supposed to be worshipped prior to main lingam.Beware of big queue even in special dharshan if you go there during holidays.
Since it was already temple closing time, we worshipped outside and came out for the day.
Next day we entered through East gate to the temple around 4 am for spadiha linga dharshan which starts from 5 am to 6 am.One can get token by paying 50/- for this special dharshan.A small linga made of spadiham would be kept in the main sanctum (the lingam made by sita is behind the veil for this one hour, after that spadiham will be removed and normal darshana starts for the day).
After that we went straight to Agni theertham to start our theertham counts.By taking bath in Agni theertham,one can get rid of all sins.Mind you people been throwing so many things into sea so wherever you step into Agni theertham your feet lands into clothes rather than sand.Heard that even fishermen dumps their waste there only.Municipalities effort is much needed to clean the revered sea.If you go early morning you can enjoy the beautiful sunrise amidst of all buzz.
Then you should go to queue for getting entry token tickets to theertham wells.There are totally 22 wells each one for each purpose, in some wells you will be poured on separately and in others they throw the water to the entire group.If you hire guide then you can skip standing in queue and following the crowd.The guide will take you everywhere.
Once all the wells are completed, you should change into dry cloth before worshipping deity again.This entire process in over crowded busy day takes almost 3-4 hrs.If you spend another 2 hrs you can enjoy the architecture of entire temple.
You can go to Dhanuskodi from the temple if you have time.It takes 30-40 minutes to reach.Since tar roads are built,Government buses are running now to the end of Dhanuskodi.We took a local 4 seater jeep (for 800/- to the full trip).The driver acted as a guide as well.
