Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram is around 5 to 5.5 hrs drive from Thanjavur. Since we had planned in such a way that we arrive at Rameshwaram in the late evening, we had a two night stay at Rameshwaram. Rameshwaram is an ancient holy city of India. Originally a fishermen village, Rameshwaram is on an island. The city has immense religious significance to Hindus as it has a famous Shiv temple that houses one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. It is also one of the four dhaams (holy destinations) in India, others being- Badrinath, Jagannath and Somnath dhaam. This city is home to one of the most popular Presidents that India has had, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. There are quite a few things to do.

Pamban Bridge

As mentioned earlier, Rameshwaram is located on an island which is connected to the mainland by the beautiful Pamban Bridge. There is a railway bridge as well as road bridge. You get unparalleled views from the train crossing the Pamban bridge. You may park your vehicle on the roadside and cross the entire bridge on foot. The length is around 2 km. You may also walk to the bridge and enjoy a beautiful sunset with amazing views of the Pamban beach. There are a number of fishing boats dotting the sea in the vicinity of the beach. You can visit the beach also. A new railway bridge has started operation recently.

Ramanathaswamy Temple

Rameshwaram is especially famous for the Ramanathaswamy Temple which is a Shiv temple. The deity here is in the form of the Shivling which is one of the 12 jyotirlingas spread all throughout India. The temple has different versions of the story behind its establishment. Most popular of it is that Lord Ram constructed the Shiv linga himself to worship Lord Shiv before going to war with Ravana. He is also believed to have dug ponds using his bow and arrows in and around the temple. There are total 22 of them indicating the 22 arrows in Ram’s quiver. These ponds are significant today as teertha kunds where it is important to take bath as part of the pilgrimage.

Entrance

Temple timings are 5AM to1 PM and 3PM to 9PM. The temple complex is very vast. There are a total of four gopurams (entrances) one each on North, West, South and East direction. If you are entering Rameshwaram, the temple entrance that is first visible is the West gate. Although you may enter from any gate, the main entrance is the East gate. It is advised to enter through this gate only. There is an arrangement of taking bath with water from all the 22 teertha kund on the North gate. So, if you are taking a bath go to North gate and if not taking bath enter through East gate.

Darshan

If you plan to take that bath before darshan, you will have to go to the North gate and purchase a 22 kund snan ticket priced at ₹25 and proceed for bath. A priest stands near a huge pond structure and keeps drawing water from it and pouring on the devotees. After taking the bath you will have to change clothes without which you cannot proceed for darshan. Darshan is no allowed in wet clothes.

There is a designated changing area for ladies but if you are not comfortable, please avoid the bath. The changing area is a barricaded corridor with no privacy or separation. You will have to find a deserted pillar nearby to change. You may carry the holy water back with you if you like. Ensure to carry a small wide mouth jar with you if you want to bring back the water with you. After change of clothes, you will be guided towards the entrance for swami darshan.

There are three types of darshan- general, special and quick. The general darshan is free of cost and available to anyone who visits the temple. Special and quick entrance darshan tickets are ₹100 & ₹200 respectively. The special ticket counter is at the East gate entrance. You may also book tickets online here. The general line queue may be very long depending on the time of the day. We went at 7 AM and it had rained heavily the morning. Still, the general queue was substantially long and slow moving. It would take anywhere between 1-2 hrs for a darshan. The special darshan & quick darshan entrance is only at the East gate but separate to the general one. Depending on the rush, special and quick darshan may be same or different.

Dress and Belongings

Avoid taking any belongings if possible as there are no lockers. There are shoe stands near all the gates where you can leave your footwear. Alternatively, you may buy some offerings from a nearby stall and keep your belongings with them for more safety. When taking the bath do not carry your phone with you. Mobile phone may be carried inside but taking pictures is not allowed. You do not have to mandatorily wear traditional clothes. Any decent cloth is allowed. Avoid wearing western or sleeveless clothes.  

Inner chamber and Deity

The lingam is quite small and distant, so wear your glasses. The inner chamber is only lit by the diyas and can be very dark. The entire chamber was very mesmerising and beautiful. Fortunately, we got to see a jal-abhishek also. The sanctum is very energetic with a special aura. You might feel goosebumps when approaching the deity. We got a good look at the deity and were hurried along. You may also find shrines of several other deities on way to amman darshan. You may also take a special ticket for Amman shrine or continue in the general queue. This does not take much longer.

We had taken the quick darshan ticket and the darshan was completed in less than 20 minutes. There was just another family apart from us during that time for special darshan. The ticket is checked thrice and scanned once. From there an assist will take you through the special pathway which is right in front of the sanctum and you get a clear view of the lingam.

Other shrines

Apart from the main darshan, you may explore other shrines and the architecture of the temple. The huge rock cut pillars supporting the beautifully carved roof give the temple a gigantic reach. Although the main deity, the lingam (made of sand) was made by Lord Ram, the temple was constructed by the Pandya dynasty much later. The architecture style is similar to the other Pandian temples. The beautiful corridor at the exit is the longest temple corridor in India. It is the corridor that appears in all the pictures clicked at the temple. Once you exit the Amman shrine, you get the naivedyam as prasad. There are sale counters on exit from where you may buy the kund water, prashad and other things to take back home. 

The temple is crowded on most days specially weekends. Try to plan your visit on a weekday and during early/late hours to avoid a lot of rush. Nevertheless, it will take about an hour or so to get the tickets and the bath. And another 2 hrs for darshan (excluding special/quick entrance). You may be required to wait even in special darshan line if there is a rush.

For the shopping buffs, the surrounding streets of the temple are filled with local shops from where you can purchase souvenirs, seashell items, jewelleries or statues. They are decently priced. You will have to look around and bargain a little. There are a number of good restaurants and stay options in the area as well.

Dr. Kalam’s House

If you were ever fascinated by our ex-President and his achievements, a visit to his house is a must. It is a good 1.5 km walk from the west gate of the temple. Roads near the temple are on way and traffic gets diverted through longer routes. It takes around 3-4 km if you go there by taxi. However, auto are easily available around the temple area and you can hire one to take you to the Kalam House.

The house is where Dr Kalam lived. 2 floors of the house is now turned into a museum cum exhibition centre. The rooms have been converted into various display sections where you learn about the life of Dr. Kalam. His achievements and rewards are on display. Even his Bharat Ratna is on display in a glass box here. His collection of books are also present here. The range and choice of book he had in his collection were quite interesting. There is a separate section for displaying all the letters, drawings, art or even memorabilia that students and his admirers from all over India sent him. This represents that he used to keep things sent to him in admiration. It was little overwhelming just to be there. The top floor is a souvenir shop run by his family.

One peculiarity of the area where his house is located was that every shop nearby either went by the name Kalam or President. I seriously doubt that all those properties belonged to such a simple man that Dr. Kalam was.

Dhanushkodi

Dhanushkodi was once a fisherman village located on the end point of Tamil nadu. It is the same place from where the Ram setu begins. During a cyclone, the entire village was devastated and now it has turned into a ghost town.

The entire stretch of road is very narrow with ocean on both sides. It is a sight to be enjoyed. The aerial view of the Dhanushkodi approach road is gorgeous. Lining the road are some sea food shacks selling fresh sea food. Then there are many fruits and snacks stalls as well. But hardly anyone lives here. Everything is open until 5-5:30 PM only. After which no one is allowed there. There is landmark as a memorial of the last point. The last point of India before Sri Lanka begins is a landmark bearing the national emblem on its mast. From the viewpoint, you may see remnants of small islands that formed the Ram Setu (Adam’s bridge).

A little down the rocky sides, you may get down at the dhanushkodi beach and can see Sri Lanka from there. Our mobile networks switched to roaming while at the end of the beach. You may spend some time here. Enjoy the sunset from the beach relishing on fresh fruits or coconut water and get back to Rameshwaram before dark.

If you have Kanyakumari on your itinerary, it is best to leave from Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari. It is roughly 310 km and will take 5 hours at least. We had previously visited Kanyakumari and our duration did not permit to include Kanyakumari, so we skipped it and left for Madurai from Rameshwaram.