India: Kashi Vishwanath to Rameshwaram || Tindit India ||

Author - Archita Pandey

The Tradition- “Take the water of holy river Ganga in Kashi & pour it into the Bay of Bengal in Rameshwaram. Collect the sand from the Bay & pour it into the Ganga back” or the Vice- versa. Interesting huh…but what is the logic?

 Kashi (Varanasi), named as the Land of Lord Shiva, is situated at the bank of river Ganga in Northern India and is being identified by its Ghats, Temples & BHU. Whereas, Rameshwaram, situated at the coast of the Bay of Bengal in Southern India, attracts people for Bridge, Ocean & Temples. Our Traditions are what tie us with the thread of our culture and contain the essence of our Heritage. With the help of this tradition, here I am going to give you the picture of India, captured in my eyes.

 From Kashi, I reached Rameshwaram railway station with my two friends around 10:00 PM (IST). From there we decided to walk to dharmshala which was showing on the map near to the Rameshwaram temple only. There was a quite exhilarating feeling while moving forward on the random & unfamiliar paths of the city. The sea breezes were making us refresh. In the night, the city was calm, only a few persons can be seen on the roads. As we took the final turn in the Gali to reach to our dharmshala, I saw the temple, shining golden with the red glittering of ஷிவ்ஷிவ் (Shiv Shiv) at one of its high-altitude (south) entrance gates (Gopuram), expanded in the large area. The dawn of the city was filled with chorus chanting of mantras, the fragrance of flower garlands and of course with the devotees of every age.

 The Temple:- There are four high altitude entrance gates in all four directions and the main temple is situated at the center (This is the common feature of South Indian temples). The apex of the gates, as well as that of the temple, are horizontally cylindrical in nature (prismatic). The science behind such type of construction is that the gopuram is usually filled with paddy on the inside, which is an excellent absorbent of shock waves. Wherever lightning hits the village, the rays are diverted to the gopuram and the excess harmful rays are transmitted to the earth. Beneficial cosmic rays from the atmosphere are retained by the paddy and re-radiated inside the temple. To know more about the Mistry of structures of Indian Temples see ref.-1&2. The Rameshwaram temple is made of hard igneous granite rocks and ceilings are based on long strengthened rock pillars. Each and every pillar is carved out with different designs very finely. The main central part of the temple is surrounded by corridors of 1212 exquisitely sculpted Pillars. While standing in the queue and waiting for your turn, it could be interesting to analyze the uniqueness, similarity, and meaning of the carvings on the pillars, ceilings and walls as well as imagining the artists and their thought process & hardships while creating such magnificent architecture. 

Note:- There is a misconception about the viewpoint of the end of the corridor. From one end it does not appear that all pillars are going to be focused at a point but it appears as a square.

Temple Traditions: The Rameshwaram or Ramnathswamy temple is named this because here only, as per Ramayana, lord Rama worshipped his Lord (Nath or Swamy) Shiva by making the Shivlingam before the war with Ravan. For darshan of sand made shiv-lingam one can visit the temple any time (except from 12:00 PM-2:00 PM IST) but the garbhagriha door for Darshan of Vishwalingam [Sphatik (quartz) shiv-lingam] (as per the sayings it was brought by Lord Hanuman from Kailash for the worship but He got a bit late, therefore Goddess Sita made the Sand Shivlingam) is opened between 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM only. There is the tradition of bathing with the water of 22 different wells/ tanks (Teertham) before the darshan of Vishwalingam. The specification of the wells is that although those are drilled nearby and within the temple campus only but water from different wells have different taste. 

(Pandas’ fun culture: There are two kinds of rows for the devotees – long crowded & short empty kind of. If you are a local darshnarthee, will prefer the long row. But if you have visited Rameshwaram for darshan as well as to explore the place would like to save your time. For that, you need to contact a Panda (kind of priest) who will be there near to the Queue in the main temple. * Usually, you wouldn’t have to look for them, they will find you. They will provide you with the chance to get a good amount of water for ritual bathing from all 22 wells and then the entry to short empty kind of row. For all this in the end they just need Dakshina (which is money obviously)). 

Food: Our pilgrimages not only play a key role in letting the people of one corner of the country know the people of the other end & their culture but also as a medium of livelihood. There are lots of Dhabas that provide different varieties of food including South-Indian idly- Dosa to Panjabi paratha. In the Rameshwaram temple Gali, most of the Dhabas are tagged as pure vegetarian, which is quite good for pilgrims visiting here. 

 Rameshwaram- other than Temple: Pamban Bridge: This is a magnificent example of Indian engineering. A bridge built over the sea to join Pamban island (where Rameshwaram town is situated) from the mainland. Dhanushkoti: The endpoint of the Rameshwaram city in the Bay of Bengal. The place where the famous Ramsetu was built. From there the Srilankan border is just around 18 Kilometers. Going towards the Dhanushkoti, at left one can see the blue water of Bay of Bengal whereas on the right Greenish water of the Indian Ocean. The distinction in the culture of these two (although having the same origin- the Indian Ocean) reminds me of our North & South Indian cultures.

• The merging point of the Indian Ocean & Bay of Bengal is named Arichal Munai and is the endpoint of Rameshwaram.

References: 

1) Hindu temple architecture - Wikipedia 

2) Temple-Architecture – Devalaya Vastu – Part Five (5 of 9) | sreenivasarao's blogs