Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga

Rāmeśvara is on Rameswaram (Pamban) island in Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu, joined to the mainland by a rail and road bridge across the Pamban channel. The temple, known locally as Rāmanāthasvāmī, stands a short walk from the sea. Beyond the town the island narrows to the sandspit of Dhanushkodi, pointing towards Sri Lanka.

The Śiva Purāṇa tells that Rāma reached this shore with his army of vānaras, wondering how the sea could be crossed. Thirsty, he asked for water, and as he was about to drink he remembered that he had not yet worshipped Śiva that day. He set the water down, shaped a liṅga from the earth of the shore and offered worship with full devotion. Śiva appeared with Pārvatī and blessed him with victory. Rāma then asked that Śiva remain there for the good of the world, and the liṅga came to be called Rāmeśvara, “the Lord worshipped by Rāma”.

The temple's own tradition tells the story a little differently, placing the worship after the return from Laṅkā: Hanumān was sent to bring a liṅga from Kailāsa, and when he was delayed Sītā fashioned one of sand so that the auspicious hour would not pass. Both liṅgas are worshipped in the temple, and custom gives the first honours to the one Hanumān brought.

Rameswaram is distinctive in several ways. It is one of the four dhāmas at the corners of India as well as a jyotirliṅga, so it is sacred to devotees of both Rāma and Śiva. The temple is known for its immensely long pillared corridors and for the twenty-two tīrthas, wells within the precinct where pilgrims bathe in turn after first bathing in the sea at Agni Tīrtham. Many pilgrims traditionally pair this journey with Kāśī.