Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Ramar Sethu, Rameshwaram, India


You can read about Rameswaram here (the legend etc). This Shivastalam is considered to be one of the holiest shrines in India. It represents the southernmost of the 12 Jyotirlingams of India and has been a time honored pilgirmage center held on par with Banaras. The island-temple town is located off of the Sethu coast of Tamilnadu (south eastern). This shrine is regarded as the 8th of the Tevara Stalams in the Pandya region of Tamilnadu.
This temple is assocated closely with the Ramayana and Rama's victorious return from Sri Lanka. You can read further here.

For the photographer's eye there is this 2 km long Pamban Bridge also called Indira Gandhi Bridge (what the heck? Everything seems to be named after the Gandhi Family only in India) connecting Mainland with the island or Rameswaram lies on the Indian end of the Palk Strait. There is a road bridge on which I travelled and the one below is the railway bridge which opens up in the middle to let ships pass through.

Then there is Dhanushkudi the farthest point of India towards Ceylon now called Sri Lanka where the Mythological Bridge of rocks built by Lord Hanuman (in Hindu Mythology this big monkey is the follower of Lord Rama) to make it easy for Rama to walk into Lanka to rescue his wife Sita.. This gap between India and Sri Lanka is now a controversy between Tamil Nadu Govt and BJP the party. You can read about the Sethusamudram Project here.

At Dhanushkudi you will see the ruins of a British Railway Station !!!! on the beach near the sea. Just walk back into the past and think of those days.............................................. the road to Dhanushkudi is something to be seen. Sea on both sides as the road is narrow and is constant ly windswept from both sides and so covered by white sand. The beaches on both sides are white and vast. On the right side when you go there is the male sea and on the left side is the female sea as per the locals.. (male sea is rough and the female sea is not). It is a fantastic experience -- a desert near the sea!!

Here you can see the Railway Crossing System from British Times (India thanks British Rule for gifting us the wonderful Indian Railways which is the largest single entity in India in terms of people employed and in terms of efficiency considering the vastly spread tracks all over the country). This lever closes the gates when a train comes.




You can see the slide show of the road from Madurai, the Rameshswaram temple, the sea, and Dhanuskudi. You can see the Architecture, fishermen, people bathing in the sea which they consider Holy each place photographed as a Historical or Mytholiogical relevance. You can read about them elsewhere (like I said earlier, why not leave the writing to people who have already done so on the web?). There is a place inside the Rameshswaram Temple where you will see a square well and people are taking holy bath from that water. The water is full of algae & is green and this makes me wonder that Human beings are so overwhelmed by religion that they will do anything in the name of the same- even educated ones. Other photos you will see are of Salt Heaps at Devipattinam.




2 comments:

rajinder said...

Hi
Iam rajinder kumar yadav.your foto graph very beutifull.I want to know aboute how to reach rameshwaram to dhanushkudi.what is distenc in between rameshwarm to dhanushkudi.
Thanks
Rajinder Kumar Yadav
09213990806
New Delhi

ShantanuDas said...

Hi. Thanks!

Nearest Airport is Madurai. From Madurai you can reach Rameswaram by train or taxi (Rs 2000/- round trip same day)

Nearest Raliway station is Rameswaram itself.. as you can see the railway bridge (Under the Pamban bridge).

From Rameswaram to Dhanushkudi is 20 kms.. u go by Taxi only.. but after 20 kms you leave taxi and travel by 4-wheel drive.. you go there you will find all available.. to cross the sands to reach the ruins..

Hope you got the answer...

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