“All my sins are Cleaned…”
To believe or not to Believe…
It was 16th August after the Independence Day, it was 7.30, I was sitting in the Guesthouse room after watching Minority Report talking to my friend. We were talking about every unbelievable thing in the world. When my friend was telling me about various religious places and its existence since thousands of years (Can I say that!!). We were talking about Kashi, Badrinath, Rameswaram & Puri, which is the most holy place for the Hindus. Hence thought of visitng which is near.
I always needed an opportunity to travel and as always my traveling kit was ready. Within 2hrs I was waiting at the Coimbatore station at 9.45pm in the night for the Coimbatore – Rameswaram express train. So started my journey to the Hindu’s most holy destination.
Train to holy land…
Though train travel is always fun in India, because the best way to see places in India is traveling through train. In my compartment, I met a German Couple, who were on a South India, tour and were on their way to Madurai, Meenakshi Temple, which is on the way to Rameswaram and along with that a local persons traveling to Rameswaram. As I was talking to these localities, he said one thing that everything in Rameswaram is very organized and you won’t be cheated by anyone because everything has an association and a specified rate, like the Travel Guide Association of Rameswaram. Though, I have traveled places and I was very skeptical of guides, I always prefer to go alone with a guidebook in my hand instead of a guide. It was morning 7.30 and we crossed the Pamban Bridge which separates the main island with the Rameswaram Island. Pamban Bridge is very famous and old; this is the bridge, which opens when a Ship or a big cruiser arrives and one of the destinations for tourist to see. We reached Rameswaram at 8.15am and as usual got bunch of Guides all over me but as always avoiding them I reached for my guide book and the first place to visit on the guide book was the Agni Theertham (22 baths). But before going ahead with my further travel, let me give you a brief about Rameswaram.
Rameswaram…a mystery for me…
Rameswaram is the most holy place for Hindu’s and is located on the southern most tip of India in the state of Tamil Nadu. This is the place were you worship god in three forms, the Moorthy, Sithalam & Theertham and it is the place for one of the 12 Jyothir Lingam in India. Rameswaram is an Island well connected with Railways and Roadways. Rameswaram is in the center with Pamban in the North and Dhanuskodi in South. Dhanuskodi, railway line was destructed in the Cyclone in the year 1964; hence only way to reach Dhanuskodi now is through road. Rameswaram is said to be as old as Ramayana and its importance as a place of pilgrimage is equaled by only that of Kashi(Varanasi). Pilgrimage to Kashi will be completed only after worship at Rameswaram besides a holy bath in Dhanuskodi (Sethu(Bridge)) at the Confluence of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. According to religious books, Lord Ram went to Sri Lanka from Rameswaram to rescue Sita from Ravana, the King of Sri Lanka. For this Rama had invoked the sea god and made this bridge with the help of Hanuman(Monkey God) along the pathway. It is said that if you travel to Sri Lanka by boat you can still see remains of the bridge. This bridge was built using big rocks and this rock is known for floating on water. This is in short about the history of Rameswaram, now coming back to the destination to visit.
Back to my Auto Guide…
I enquired to the Auto rickshaw guy to take me to the Agni Theertham place and for that he told me that they have an association and he would take me to the entire Rameswaram for 120Rs(4$) and I was like that’s cool, though I was skeptical, still 120Rs was not a big amount, hence we agreed and straightway took me to the first destination.
My Sins!!…
Hence, we reached the Rameswaram temple, which is 100meteres from the sea, and the main entrance of the temple is facing the sea. The seawater of this part is called the Agni Theertham. Hence first step is to take a bath in the Seawater and then there are people who would take us through the 22Theertham. For this 22theertham you have to pay 17Rs for the entrance and 55Rs(1.1$) for the 22 Theertham. There are 22 Theertham in the form of Wells in various parts of the temple. Taking bath in all these Theertham purify the body as well as the mind. It is believed that these waters are holy and also having medicinal qualities. At Kodi Theertham you have to take the last bath and end the pilgrimage in Rameswaram. Though after this 22baths, it was really refreshing, but definitely felt something different, I still couldn’t understand why was it.
Next road…
After the nice bath, and some nice breakfast, constituting for Dosa, Idli and Filter Coffee, my mind was all set to reach the next destination. My next destination was Gandamadana Parvatam , which is a storied Mandapam on a sandy elevation. It’s about mile and a half west of Rameswaram Temple. Here you can find the footprints of Rama in this shrine, it is believed that standing on top of this Hill he had made the plan for the battle. From top of this hill you can see the entire town and portion of Islands. After getting the magical view of the entire island, my journey progressed to a place were the floating rocks (which were part of the bridge built by Lord Ram) was kept and worshipped. This rock was found during the cyclone, which washed off most of Dhanuskodi. This rock was kept on a water and you could see it actually floating amazing!!(Believe it or not its true.) Apart from these things there is nothing much to see, but some temples built for Lakshmana and Sita , which are nothing but Kund.
The final destination of my Rameswaram visit was Arulmigu Kothanda Rama Temple, which is about 4miles from Rameswaram. This was the place were Vibhisan(Ravana’s Brother) had surrendered and his offering of services to Lord Ram.
From this temple, you have the Dhanuskodi Beach, which is a 1.5km walk on the sand. Probably the best part of my journey, because this 1.5km walk on the sand, towards the water is nothing but a total trance, you can’t see anyone in this 1.5km stretch and you feel so good. It’s like being in heaven.
My Solace….
Hence, my CD man was ready and enigma in my ears, I recollected this entire journey right from I left Coimbatore to my walk on Sand. I felt, how I missed this for long, instead of the deadlines and targets and the mechanical world full of materialistic wants, this was something different I had always carved for. Though, whether my Sins!! Have all been cleaned or not, I felt something different after coming here and I am still cherishing every moment of my journey.
Until, my Traveling shoe, takes me somewhere, I would expect every one to visit this temple. But on a note, the main temple and the Theertham is only accessible to Hindu’s… also photography is not allowed in the temple.
Some Statistics …..
Language Spoken: English, Hindi (Yes they can speak fluently), Tamil, Malayalam & Kannada.
Ways to reach: 160km From Madurai, Train & Bus from Madurai(It has got Airport).
Clothing: It is hot, carry cotton and light color clothes.
©Asyis …2002