By PragyanSharma Polavarapu
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After reaching Rameswaram around 5pm and while proceeding to the hotel we could secure services of a nice and patient temple guide. He intimated on phone that booking of pooja tickets would be closed by 6pm and that because of the limited day time available we should decide whether to go to the main Ramanathaswamy temple or to the Agni Theertham (samudra snan) and other holy wells that evening. It was a little dilemma for us because of following reasons.
Our return flight ticket to Mumbai was already booked. So we had to plan our further journey upto Thiruvananthapuram to visit the most venerated Anantha Padmanabha swamy temple there (one of our chief aims) and two or three other most famous ancient temples and to allot time for our stay at a resort for a birthday celebration . We have to allot time and fix visits to the various places as per a fixed plan.All our journey after Madurai was being done by car. But we had to complete the total trip a few hours before the time of return flight. We had little children(two of my granddaughters) to look after in the huge rush and it was already about 5pm. As such we had to limit our stay at Rameswaram to one day in addition to the present day of journey .
We decided to visit the temple that evening. We informed the guide , rushed to hotel (already booked on line),put all our baggage and suit cases there and after freshening up proceeded to the temple in autos travelling through busy streets full of visitors. We saw people from distant regions of India in the crowds. Since we came in a holy and auspicious period there were hundreds of devotees on the streets .
We met the guide and his assistants at the western gopuram i.e. at the Rajagopuram entrance . The first sight of the majestic holy Rajagopuram and the other gopurams (temple towers) thrilled me.We had to walk along the outer high protective wall of the temple for a little distance . Everyone read of the great Rameswaram temple since childhood . So this first visit to the most famed temple was really enthralling and unbelievable . It was at this same place that Lord Rama worshipped Lord Shiva . it was the place where Lord Rama ,Goddess Seetha, Prince laxmana and Lord Hanuman walked .
Though we went late we could satisfactorily visit the main temple and many other inner temples thanks to assistance of the guide and his patient ways. There were hundreds of devotees at the sanctum. The corridors and mandapams were crowded with devotees in the evening hours. It was growing dark inside the corridors and lights were on. Everywhere in the corridors and mantapams there were sublime sculptures of gods. The mantaapam in the sanctum sanctoram was lighted only by oil lamps and dull light of distant electric bulbs. I write all this from memory and I was at that time very tired what with joint pains and a long journey. So my descriptions may not be entirely accurate.
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The temple had become since hundreds of years one of the most famous pilgrimage sites . The temple and the Rameswaram island with numerous places connected to the Ramayana legend are revered both by Shaivites and Vaishnavites.Traditional Hindus believe that a pilgrimage to Kashi(Varanasi) is incomplete without a visit to Rameshwaram . Here we feel humbled to note that in ancient times devotees(our forefathers and lots of poor traditional bhakthas) would spend months in walking to visit these great temples.
Here Goddess parvathi queen of lord shiva has two revered names and is worshipped in two temples . she is called Parvathavardhini when Lord Shiva is worshipped in the context of worshipping of sand Shivalinga made by goddess Seetha. Goddess Parvathi is called Vishalakshi when Lord Shiva is worshipped in the context of worshipping the Shivalinga bought by Lord Hanuman from Kailas.
In india there are twelve most famous Shiva temples .They are called Jyotirlingas and praised in the Puranas. Ramanathaswamy temple is one among these 12 Jyotirlinga temples .Devotees from all over India visit this jyothirlinga temple irrespective of seasons. In south India there are only two jyothirlinga sites. One is Rameswaram and the other is Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.
We had a good darshan both at the main temple and at the many other temples which we visited in the different corridors of this vast temple complex . We felt blessed seeing all these temples. The guides patiently explained to us in detail facts and legends at every temple and at statue of every god and goddess fixed on high pedestals in the corridors.
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Here in this temple three sets of corridors exist created by hundreds of giant stone pillars. They are vast sized and bulky . They are 25 feet high and bear wonderful sculptures of sublime gods. To walk in these corridors was like walking in the real heaven of the beautiful gods. Here we may learn a liitle about the extreme importance of temple corridors in Hindu culture. Throughout India in every temple —even in small temples in rural areas— very clean walking paths (corridors) are maintained to enable devotees to circumambulate around the central temple . This is called doing “pradakshina” around the temple. People walk several times in such corridors to pay obeisance to the god almighty in the sanctum who is the emperor and protector of the universe of billion galaxies.
Let us learn a little about the immeasurable reverence of people towards the temple ceremonies. They pour out their woes before the gods when they stop before a god’s idols . they watch the priests conducting lengthy poojas and abhishekams using flowers,holy water , milk ,honey etc with great reverence and also great pleasure. To bow before the “harathi”,to have the holy water and holy akshatas sprinkled on them by the priests is solemn duty . Getting their heads lightly touched by the jewel -studded “shatagopam” gives the feeling to devotees as if god himself blessed them with his holy hand . With reverence and pleasure they eat the holy Prasad– sweet preparation and little pieces of fruits kept at feet of god for a few minutes and then distributed to bhakthas after all the ceremonies. Devotees while standing before the idol of god feel as if they are talking to the beautiful god almighty himself.
When visiting a temple complex each shrine is visited most carefully and most joyfully . If he misses visiting even a single shrine the devotee feels guilty . However we could not visit all the shrines in Rameswaram temple complex as our movements for each day were tightly fixed because we booked the return flight tickets. I have given in the next chapter the details of shrines in the temple complex . We hindus believe that the one god almighty of universe takes several outward forms for different situations. I gathered the particulars of all these shrines after verifying several internet sites and online encyclopedias. For this I am very grateful to them.
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