Rameshwaram Temple | Ramanathaswamy Temple

Ramanathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is located in the holy city of Rameswaram, an island town in South India, considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shaivites, Vaishnavites and Smarthas. The temple is also one of the twelve Jyotirlinga temples, where Shiva is worshiped in the form of a Jyotirlingam.

According to the Ramayana, Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, visited Sethubandh in order to be absolved of his sin of having killed a Brahmin in his war against the demon king Ravana. He decided to do so by building the biggest lingam there in order to appease Lord Shiva. He instructed his chief leutenant, Lord Hanuman to go to the Himalayas and get the biggest lingam possible. As it took very long for Hanuman to return, Lord Rama’s wife, Sita built a smaller lingam out of sand. Even today, there exist two lingams in the temple which are worshiped daily, a small lingam made by Sita out of sand and a larger one brought by Hanuman from the Himalayas. Lord Rama commanded that since Hanuman had got the larger lingam, it would be worshiped first and the smaller lingam would be worshiped second. That practice is followed even now.