Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga was established by Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. It is located on Rameswaram island in the state of Tamil Nadu. Rameshwaram Shivling is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, where three of the most revered Nayanars, Appar, Sundarar and Tirugnana Sambandar, have glorified the temple with their songs. The temple has the longest corridor among all Hindu temples in India.
Origin Of Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga
Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga’s origin came from the epic Ramayana.
According to Hindu epic Ramayana, Rama, the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu, prayed to Shiva here. He prayed to absolve any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon-king Ravana in Sri Lanka.
According to the Puranas, upon the advice of sages, Rama along with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana, installed and worshiped the Shivlinga here. It is to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya incurred while killing Ravana who was a Brahmin. To worship Shiva, Rama directed Lord Hanuman to bring shivling from the Himalayas. Since it took longer to bring the lingam, Sita built a lingam made of sand from the nearby seashore, which is also believed to be the one in the shrine of the temple. This account is well supported by the original Ramayana authored by Valmiki where it is written in Yudha Kanda.
About the Ramanathaswamy Temple
The Ramanathaswamy Temple is the current place where the Jyotirlinga resides.
The temple is spread over 15 acres and has tall pyramidal towers and a huge Nandi. There are 4,000 carved granite pillars over a 4,000 feet corridor – said to be the longest in the world. Since the rock is not indigenous to the island, it makes the structure even more marvelous.
There are two lingas inside the sanctum – one built by Rama with sand. The other Shiva Linga brought from Mount Kailash by Hanuman – Vishwalinga.
There are 64 water bodies or tīrthas around the island of Rameshwaram, out of which 24 are considered sacred and bathing in them is believed to purge you of your sins. The main tīrtha is the Bay of Bengal called Agni Tīrtham.
There are also separate shrines for Ramanathaswamy and his consort goddess Parvathavardhini as well as shrines for Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganesha and Goddess Vishalakshi. There are also many halls in the temple such as the Setupati Mandapam, Kalyana Mandapam and Nandi Mandapam.
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