Ramanathaswamy Temple

Sri Ramnathaswamy temple is one of the famous Jyotirlinga temple in india. Jyotirlingam means Pillar of light. Sri Ramanathaswamy temple was built in 12^th century and expanded during the Navak in 16^th century.The temple is one of the pilgrimage centre for both Shaivities and Vaishnavities.  Ramanathaswamy Temple is named as one of the longest corridor temple.

Stories behind the Lingam

In Ramanathaswamy temple, the lord shiva is worshipped in the form of lingam. There are two lingams inside the temple. One is built by sita named as Ramalingam and another one was brought by lord Hanuman named as Vishwalingam.

 According to ancient epic, Lord Hanuman was instructed by Lord Rama to bring the Vishwalingam from Benares for worshiping in order to expiate Rama sin. But Anticipating delay in Hanuman’s return, Rama asked Sita to build a Lingam using sand to fulfill the Worship.

So Hanuman was disappointed for not worshiping the Lingam brought by him. So Lord Rama offered all pilgrimage to worship the Vishwalingam which was brought by hanuman before the Ramalingam.

Shrines in the temple

For Shiva and Paaravthy, there are separate shrines. Lord Shiva is called as Ramanathaswamy and Paarvathy is called as Parvathavardhini. There are other many shrines for Sayanagriha, Perumal, Mahaganapathy, Subramaniyam, Hanuman, Sethumadhava etc. Also there is a shrine for Natraja, the whole shrine is covered by Ruthraksha.

Theerthas

There are Twenty two Theerthas  within the Ramanathaswamy Temple. The first and important Theertha is Agni Theertha. According to epic, the bathing in these Theerthas are the major aspects of the pilgrimage to Rameswaram. Also these twenty two Theerthas is formed from the 22 arrows in Rama’s Quiver.

   

Temple Architecture

Like all ancient temples in Tamilnadu, Ramanathaswamy temple also built in Dravidian Architecture. The temple is measured about 15-20 acres, two Gopurams and a large compound wall. The Ramanathaswamy temple outer corridors are reputed to be the longest corridor in the world about 6.9 m height, 400 feet in both east and west. In north & South the length of corridor is about 640 feet.  The inner corridors are about 352 feet in north and south and about 224 feet each in east and west. The total length of the corridor is about 3850 feet. The Main tower is about 53m tall.