Rāmeśvaram (southern dhām)

Śiva as Rāmanātha · Pamban island, Tamil Nadu

Rāmeśvaram is the southern dhām and is also one of the twelve Jyotirliṅgas — see the Jyotirliṅga section for the temple itself. It is a Śiva shrine in a circuit whose other three abodes are Vaiṣṇava, a reminder that the Char Dhām joins both traditions.

In the Śaṅkara tradition the southern maṭha is at Śṛṅgeri in Karnataka rather than at Rāmeśvaram. Pilgrims completing the Char Dhām often visit Dhanuṣkoḍi and the Kodaṇḍarāma temple, remembered as the place where Vibhīṣaṇa came to Rāma. October to April avoids the heaviest heat and storms.

Tradition says that from this shore Rāma’s army built the setu, the bridge to Laṅkā, with stones that floated because they bore Rāma’s name. The chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka is still called Rāma Setu, while geologists describe it as a natural formation.

Tamil Nadu · South · Śṛṅgeri · Also a Jyotirliṅga · Rāma Setu

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