Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram

இராமநாதசுவாமி கோயில்

Shiva · Ramanathaswamy

Jyotirlinga

Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu · Shaiva tradition

Rameswaram is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva, seventh in the enumerative shloka that fixes their order.

The story begins: “Rama has reached the shore of the southern salt ocean with Lakshmana, Sugriva, Hanuman and a huge army of monkeys.”

Read the story
Directions

At the gate

Getting there
Train: Rameswaram Railway StationAir: Madurai International Airport

Not yet confirmed: darshan hours, dress code, phone rules, entry for visitors of other faiths, walking distance. Ask at the temple office or enquiry counter — and if you know, tell us. hello@aalayakatha.com

Full visiting details

Sthala purana

The story of this place

2 accounts are recorded. Each is told separately, in the words of its own tradition — they are never merged.

Family note: this story includes violence or death.
Told in: The Shiva Purana, Kotirudra Samhita 31

Rama's earthen linga at the shore

Rama has reached the shore of the southern salt ocean with Lakshmana, Sugriva, Hanuman and a huge army of monkeys. Sita, the daughter of Janaka, is a prisoner in Lanka. The alliance with Sugriva has been sealed at Kishkindha with the killing of Bali, and Hanuman has already found Sita and brought back her crest-jewel as proof of where she is.

At the water's edge Rama loses heart. The ocean is deep, the army is vast, and Ravana is strong — strong, Rama reflects, because Ravana is himself a devotee of Shiva and has been made powerful by Shiva's boons. Angada and the other monkeys console him.

Rama asks Lakshmana for water, and the monkeys bring it. He accepts it, then stops before drinking: he has not yet had sight of Shiva. He drinks, makes an image of Shiva out of earth, and worships it with the sixteen ancillary services, followed by praise and prayer. He asks Shiva for help against the ocean and against Ravana. Repeating his praises, he dances in devotion.

Shiva appears with his attendants and tells Rama to name the boon he wants. Rama asks for victory in the coming battle, and Shiva grants it. Then Rama makes a second request: if Shiva is pleased, let him stay at this place to sanctify the worlds and help people. Shiva agrees, and takes up the linga named Rameshvara.

What follows happens, in the Purana's telling, by Shiva's favour: Rama crosses the ocean, kills Ravana and the other rakshasas, and regains Sita.

The chapter closes by calling Rameshvara a Jyotirlinga of Shiva whose greatness is unequalled, and by recommending that the linga be bathed with Ganga water and worshipped with devotion.

In this account the linga at Rameswaram stands before the war is fought, as the answer to Rama's prayer for victory, and its name, Rameshvara, comes out of Rama's worship at the shore. The text does not explain the name further. The Skanda Purana places the founding after the war instead, for a different reason; the two accounts are told here side by side.

Told differently elsewhere. This account does not agree with “Sita's sand linga and the linga from Kailasa”, given on this page too. We tell each as its own tradition tells it, and do not choose between them.

Where this account comes from

  • Purana: Shiva Purana, Kotirudra Samhita 31.1–45 (J. L. Shastri trans., 1950) wisdomlib.org
  • Government: Tamil Nadu Tourism, Rameswaram destination page — records that one version places the linga before Rama's journey to Lanka tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in · seen 2026-10-09
Told in: The Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 44–46

Sita's sand linga and the linga from Kailasa

After killing Ravana, Rama asks the sages how to expiate the sin of slaying a descendant of Pulastya. They tell him to install a linga of Shiva at Gandhamadana. He sends Hanuman to Kailasa for one, but the auspicious hour runs short, and Rama installs a linga Sita has made of sand. Hanuman returns angry, fails to uproot the sand linga even with his tail, and is thrown unconscious. Rama has him install the Kailasa linga to the north, under Hanuman's name, and rules that it is to be seen first.

Read this account

The war is over. Rama has killed Ravana with a Brahma missile, crowned Vibhishana king of Lanka, and flown back across the sea in the Pushpaka with Sita, Lakshmana and the monkeys. He comes down at Gandhamadana, where Agastya and the sages of the Dandaka forest come to meet him.

Rama raises a problem with them. Ravana was a descendant of the sage Pulastya, and in killing him Rama has incurred sin. He asks how to expiate it. The sages tell him to install a linga of Shiva here on Gandhamadana. It will be called Rameshvara, and they rank its merit above that of a linga at Kashi.

Rama fixes an auspicious hour two muhurtas long and sends Hanuman to Kailasa to bring a linga. Hanuman leaps to Kailasa, does not find Mahadeva there in linga form, and sits down to perform penance to obtain one. The hour runs on. The sages warn Rama that it is nearly over and Hanuman has not returned — and tell him that Sita, in play, has made a linga out of sand. Rama installs that linga, on the tenth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha. Shiva appears with Parvati and grants that whoever sees the linga will be rid of sin. Rama installs Nandikesha in front of it, and makes a well with his bow for its ablution; the well is named Kotitirtha.

Then Hanuman arrives with the linga from Kailasa, sees Rama and the sages worshipping a sand linga, and is angry. His journey and his penance, he says, have come to nothing, and he will give up his body. Rama answers with a long discourse on the self and impermanence, and then offers terms. Hanuman's linga is to be installed and to bear Hanuman's name, and the linga Rama installed is to be seen only after it. And if Hanuman can pull the sand linga out, Rama will install the Kailasa linga in its place.

Hanuman grips the sand linga with all his strength, shakes it, and pulls with his hands and his tail; it does not move. He wraps his tail around it, plants both hands on the ground and leaps into the sky — and falls about a krosha away, unconscious and bleeding. Rama takes him on his lap. When Hanuman revives, Rama tells him that the linga Rama installed cannot be uprooted by Brahma, Vishnu or Indra, and that he fell because he offended Mahadeva. The pit where he fell is to be called Hanumat-kunda.

At Rama's bidding Hanuman installs the linga he brought, to the north of the Ramanatha linga. The text ends the episode with two marks it leaves on the temple: the rule that Hanuman's linga is seen before Rama's, and three folds on the Ramanatha linga where the monkey's tail encircled it.

Told differently elsewhere. This account does not agree with “Rama's earthen linga at the shore”, given on this page too. We tell each as its own tradition tells it, and do not choose between them.

Where this account comes from

  • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 44.56–118 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org
  • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 45.1–90 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org
  • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 46.64–80 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org
  • Government: Tamil Nadu Tourism, Rameswaram destination page — records that one version places the linga after the war, as atonement tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in · seen 2026-10-09

In one minute

Why Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram matters

Each line says who it comes from and how settled it is. What the labels mean

  1. Rameswaram is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva, seventh in the enumerative shloka that fixes their order.

    2 sources for: Rameswaram is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva, seventh in the enumerativ
    • Hymn: Dvādaśa Jyotirliṅgāni, vv. 1–3 — the enumerative shloka beginning Saurāṣṭre Somanāthaṃ ca greenmesg.org
    • Purana: Shiva Purana, Kotirudra Samhita 31.45 (J. L. Shastri trans., 1950) wisdomlib.org

  2. It is one of the four Char Dham pilgrimage sites.

    Source for: It is one of the four Char Dham pilgrimage sites.

  3. The Puranas tie the linga to Rama's worship of Shiva — before the war with Ravana in the Shiva Purana, after it in the Skanda Purana.

    3 sources for: The Puranas tie the linga to Rama's worship of Shiva — before the war with Ravan
    • Purana: Shiva Purana, Kotirudra Samhita 31.19–41 (J. L. Shastri trans., 1950) wisdomlib.org
    • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 44.82–110 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org
    • Government: Tamil Nadu Tourism, Rameswaram destination page tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in · seen 2026-10-09

  4. The temple is known for its elaborate corridors and sculpted pillars.

    Source for: The temple is known for its elaborate corridors and sculpted pillars.

Shilpa

When you visit, look for…

Dravida

The temple is described here as Dravida, but no architectural survey of it has been found yet to confirm this. The history of its corridors and patrons — Pandya, Jaffna and Sethupathi phases are commonly cited — has not yet been traced to a written source.

  • Enclosure

    The pillared corridors

    The long corridors lined with sculpted pillars that Tamil Nadu Tourism names as the temple's defining feature.

  • Detail

    Hanuman's linga from Kailasa

    The linga the Skanda Purana says Hanuman brought from Kailasa and installed to the north of the Ramanatha linga, to be seen before it (Setu Mahatmya 45.59–60, 46.76–77).

  • Nandi pavilion

    Nandikesha facing the linga

    The Nandi in front of the main linga, which the Skanda Purana says Rama installed after the sand linga (Setu Mahatmya 44.115).

  • Temple tank

    Koti Tirtha

    The well the Skanda Purana says Rama made with his bow for the linga's ablution, named Kotitirtha (Setu Mahatmya 44.116–118).

  • Sacred water

    Koti Tirtha

    Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 44.116–118: a well made by Rama with his bow for the ablution of the linga.

Yatra

Plan your visit

Darshan times

We could not confirm the opening times from the temple’s own notice, so we are not printing any. Please check with the temple office or the devasthanam before you travel.

Before you go

  • No dress code or entry rules have been confirmed for this temple yet. Traditional, modest clothing is always the safe choice; ask at the entrance.

Walking, steps and access

We have not yet confirmed how much walking or climbing is involved, or whether there is wheelchair access. If you are travelling with elders, ask at the temple office or the devasthanam enquiry counter before you set out.

Getting there

  • By air: Madurai International Airport · about 180 kmDistance is approximate, as given by Tamil Nadu Tourism.
  • By train: Rameswaram Railway StationTamil Nadu Tourism lists connections to Chennai, Coimbatore, Puducherry and Bengaluru.
  • By road: Rameswaram Bus StandRegular buses from Chennai, Madurai, Puducherry, Trichy and Coimbatore, per Tamil Nadu Tourism.

PIN 623526 (not yet checked with India Post)

The order of darshan

No published source gives the order in which to visit the shrines here, so we have not invented one. Follow the queue and the temple staff.

Festivals

The temple’s festival calendar has not been sourced yet.

Itihasa

Through time

Two registers, kept apart on purpose: what the Puranas tell, and what the historical record shows. They answer different questions and we do not force them to agree.

In the Puranas and tradition

  1. Rama worships an earthen linga before crossing to Lanka

    In the Shiva Purana Rama makes and worships an image of Shiva at the shore before the war; Shiva grants victory and stays as Rameshvara at Rama's request. The Purana does not say in which yuga this happened.

    Disagrees with: Rama installs Sita's sand linga after the war

    Source for: Rama worships an earthen linga before crossing to Lanka
    • Purana: Shiva Purana, Kotirudra Samhita 31.19–41 (J. L. Shastri trans., 1950) wisdomlib.org

  2. Rama installs Sita's sand linga after the war

    In the Skanda Purana Rama installs the linga at Gandhamadana after killing Ravana, to expiate the sin of slaying a descendant of Pulastya, on the tenth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha. The Purana does not say in which yuga this happened.

    Disagrees with: Rama worships an earthen linga before crossing to Lanka

    Source for: Rama installs Sita's sand linga after the war
    • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 44.82–110 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org

  3. Hanuman installs the linga from Kailasa

    Hanuman installs the linga he brought from Kailasa to the north of the Ramanatha linga, and Rama rules that it is to be seen first.

    Source for: Hanuman installs the linga from Kailasa
    • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 45.59–60 and 46.76–77 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org

In the historical record

No dated history of this temple has been sourced yet — no inscription, survey or study we can cite.

Around here

Worth the detour

  • Place

    Dhanushkodi

    The Skanda Purana pairs bathing at Dhanushkoti with seeing the Ramanatha linga as the way to be rid of sin (Setu Mahatmya 44.113), and devotes several chapters of the Setu Mahatmya to it.

Sources

Where this page comes from

  • Purana: Shiva Purana, Kotirudra Samhita 31 (J. L. Shastri trans., 1950) wisdomlib.org
  • Purana: Skanda Purana, Brahma Khanda, Setu Mahatmya 44–46 (G. V. Tagare trans., Motilal Banarsidass) wisdomlib.org
  • Hymn: Dvādaśa Jyotirliṅgāni, vv. 1–3 — the enumerative shloka beginning Saurāṣṭre Somanāthaṃ ca greenmesg.org
  • Government: Tamil Nadu Tourism, Rameswaram destination page tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in · seen 2026-10-09

Cite this page

Aalaya Katha Foundation, “Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram”, Aalaya Katha, version last reviewed 2026-10-09. https://www.aalayakatha.com/temple/ramanathaswamy-rameswaram (accessed ).

Last reviewed 2026-10-09. How we label sources and confidence