Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram –
Religious Significance
Char Dham:
The temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char
Dham (four divine sites) sites comprising Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka. Though the origins are not clearly known,
the Advaita school of Hinduism established by Sankaracharya, who created Hindu monastic institutions across India,
attributes the origin of Char Dham to the seer.
The four monasteries lie across the four corners of
India and their attendant temples are Badrinath
Temple at Badrinath in the
North, Jagannath Temple at Puri in the
East, Dwarakadheesh Temple at Dwarka in the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at
Rameswaram in the South. Though ideologically the temples are divided between
the sects of Hinduism, namely Saivism and Vaishnavism, the Char Dham pilgrimage is an all Hindu affair.
There are four abodes in Himalayas called Chota Char
Dham (Chota meaning small): Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangothri and Yamunotri – all of these
lie at the foot hills of Himalayas. The name Chota was added
during the mid of 20th century to differentiate the original Char Dhams.
The journey across the four cardinal points in India is
considered sacred by Hindus who aspire to visit these temples once in their
lifetime. Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri,
proceeding in clockwise direction in a manner typically followed for circumambulation
in Hindu temples.
Jyotirlinga:
As per Shiv
Mahapurana, once Brahma (the Hindu God of creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu God of saving) had an argument in terms
of supremacy of creation. To test them, Shiva pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar
of light, the Jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma split their ways to downwards
and upwards respectively to find the end of the light in either directions.
Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded his defeat. Shiva
appeared as a second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have no
place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshipped till the end of eternity.
The Jyotirlinga is the supreme partless
reality, out of which Shiva partly appears. The Jyotirlinga shrines
thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. Originally
there were believed to be 64 jyothirlingas while 12 of them are considered
to be very auspicious and holy. Each of the
twelve jyothirlinga sites takes the name of the presiding deity -
each considered different manifestation of Shiva. At all these sites, the
primary image is lingam representing the beginningless and endless Sthambha pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of
Shiva.
The twelve jyothirlinga are;
1.
Somnath in Gujarat
2.
Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra
Pradesh
3.
Mahakaleshwarar at Ujjain in Madhya
Pradesh
4.
Omkareshwar in Madhya
Pradesh
5.
Kedarnath in Himalayas
6.
Bhimashankar in Maharashtra
7.
Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar
Pradesh
8.
Triambakeshwar in Maharashtra
9.
Vaidyanath at Deoghar in Jharkhand
10.
Nageswar at Dwarka in Gujarat
11.
Rameshwar
at Rameswaram in Tamilnadu
12.
Grishneshwar at Aurangabad, Maharashtra