Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga Temple located in Rameswaram of Ramanathapuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India is one of the most sacred places in Hinduism. Rameswaram is the 11th among the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. This temple is also included in the four Dhams of the country and has its own special identity all over the world. Situated between the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, this temple is a wonderful confluence of religious faith, architecture and mythology.
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What is Jyotirlinga?
The word ‘Jyotirlinga’ is made up of two parts – Jyoti i.e. light and linga i.e. symbolic form of Lord Shiva. This is a Shivling in which Shiva himself is revered as fire or light. According to the Puranas, when there was a dispute between Brahma and Vishnu about superiority, then Lord Shiva appeared in the form of a huge pillar of fire and made them realize his infinity. Jyotirlingas were established at 12 places as a symbol of that divine pillar.
Earlier we have told the story of other Jyotirlingas, if you want to know how they originated, then click on this link and go to our website and read it.
Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga Story
The story of this Shivling is related to Treta Yuga. In Treta Yuga, Lord Vishnu took incarnation as the eldest son of King Nemi of Ayodhya, i.e. Dasharatha, to establish religion and kill demons. Ram had to go to exile for 14 years to follow his father’s orders and promise, when he was in the forest, the king of demons Ravana kidnapped Shri Ram’s wife Sita and took her to his city Lanka.
Shri Ram lost his senses in the separation of his wife and with the help of the army of monkeys, he reached the seashore, where he found out that there is a city on the other shore of the sea, Lanka, in that city Ravana has imprisoned Mother Sita. Shri Ram built a bridge over the sea to defeat Ravana and finally killed Ravana.
When he was returning after killing Ravana and making Vibhishan the new king of Lanka, the sages said that O Ram, you have the sin of brahmin-hatya (murder of a brahmin) because Ravana was a Brahmin by birth. Shri Ram asked how this sin will be absolved, then the sages suggested that you are also a devotee of Shiva and Ravana was also a devotee of Shiva, so you should worship Lord Shiva to get rid of this sin.
On this, Ramji told his supreme devotee Shri Hanuman that you go to Kailash and ask Lord Shiva himself to appear in the form of Linga and then bring him here so that I can worship him. Hanuman, obeying Ram’s command, left for Kailash.
But when he was late in coming, Mother Sita, without waiting any longer, made a Shivling from the sand of the sea and started worshipping it. Here Hanumanji also brought a Shivling and thus that Shivling was also installed next to the Shivling of sand and thus the Linga made by Mother Sita was called Ramling and the Linga brought by Hanumanji was called Vishwaling.
Another story related to this Jyotirling is that Lord Rama established this Jyotirling before attacking Lanka so that he could ask Mahadev for the boon of victory.
And because here Ram worshiped his God i.e. Shiva, this place came to be known as Rameshwaram.
Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga Temple Architecture
This temple is about 1000 feet long and 650 feet wide. Its entrance is 40 meters high. The walls and corridors of the temple are a great example of Dravidian style architecture. Let us tell you that the stones to build this temple were brought from Sri Lanka by boat.
Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga: The world’s longest corridor
The corridor of Rameshwaram temple is world famous. It is 197 meters long from north to south and 133 meters long from east to west. There are three corridors here, one of which is believed to be of the 12th century.
22 holy ponds in Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga
There are 22 holy ponds in the temple complex, where devotees take bath before worship. The water of the ponds here is also full of miraculous properties. It is said that by taking bath in the Agni Tirtham here, all sins are washed away and diseases are cured.
Rameswaram Temple opening and closing time
Let us tell you that Rameswaram Temple located in Tamil Nadu state opens at 4:30 am and closes at 1:00 pm. After this, it opens again at 3:00 pm and closes at 9:00 pm.
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