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Our Maruti S-Presso & a tale of two cities: Rameswaram and Kanyakumari

24th April 2025, 11:32 by Deepankar Sadekar

Even though few temples are already available for Varahi Amman, but people's attraction towards these temples seems to be a recent thing.

BHPian kvsneela recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Tale of two cities: Rameswaram and Kanyakumari

Prologue:

After planning for our North India Trip in March ’25 (Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya), wife planned for her next target i.e. Rameswaram. She has an ambition of covering all 12 Jyothi lingams in which we had already covered like Srisailam, 3 in Maharashtra namely Bhimsankar, Trimbakeshwar and Grishneshwar.

She wanted to be in Rameswaram on Pradosham day and in Kanyakumari on Full moon day. So, she selected 10th April for Rameswaram and 12th April for Kanyakumari. Unlike the North India Trip which was done by Flight and Train due to the distance, this trip would be in my territory which could be completed by car itself. So only accommodation and temple bookings were required.

Since wife is a Central Govt Employee, she could book in Holiday Homes using “esampada” website in which Working Central Govt Employees can book from 60days just like IRCTC. State Govt, PUC and Retired employees have less time (30 or 15). So, we booked at Rameswaram for 9th and 10th April nights and at Kanyakumari for 11th and 12th night as wife wanted to be at home on 14th April which wasTamil New year. (booking was not smooth sailing as I had to use iPhone and Android phone both since PC booking did not go through properly)

Our North visit was successfully completed on 14th March, we started finalizing this trip. Unlike North Trip, Brother in Law ( CoBrother in Indian English)refused to come to this trip (thank God) and Sister in Law( Wife’s sister) planned her trip so that she would travel alone from Bangalore and meet us directly at Rameswaram.

The Plan:

Original plan was Rameswaram and KanyaKumari only but as the days progressed more and more places (what else temples) were added which I somewhat managed to finalize with some difficulty. Having own car helped here. SIL wanted one Murugan Temple and herself selected Kurukkuthurai temple (as her family deity is Lord Murugan). I told them that I could manage maximum possible (as I was the sole driver) and left out Sankaran Koil and Srivilliputhur which wife wanted (she half-heartedly accepted). Only requirement was we had to start early every day for four days (9th to 12th) to cover maximum locations and 13th totally reserved for return journey as we had to cover nearly 600 kms.

Before starting the journey, I rotated the 5 tires and did some simple maintenance in the car. (Cleaning the filters, checking the oils, tire pressure etc.,). While doing this, I found out my foot pump meter went bad for a long time now. So, I had to buy separate pressure meter since the pump itself was working well. Then the pump nozzle became loose and had to buy some new rubber inserts to make it tight.

The journey:

09.04.2025 ( Wednesday) Pondy to Rameswaram ( nearly 400 Kms):

We started the journey at around 6 AM. There are 2/3 routes at least for Rameswaram and the fastest (and Costliest) would be through Trichy. But Since I had to return through the same route, I wanted to use other routes. initially selected Kumbakonam/Mannargudi route as We had taken food at a good restaurant at Mannargudi before and wanted to use the same for breakfast. On the other hand, I wanted see the newly laid Villupuram/Nagapattinam Highway which bypasses Cuddalore. So, after Ariyankuppam, I turned right and joined this road but to go via Kumbakonam I had to join with Vadalur road for which there was no directly ramp (needed to go to next flyover and take U turn) which I missed. So continued same road which bypassed Chidambaram / Seerkazhi and finally ended up in Thiruvarur for breakfast (which was ok) at Ganesh Bhavan near the temple. Wife had her photos with the temple chariots (which is the biggest in Asia). From Thiruvarur took Thiruthurapoondi road Via ECR to Rameswaram. The road here is mostly ok, drivable easily at 80 km except some bad patches near T. Poondi. Traffic was very very less but unlike ECR of Chennai to Pondy sea is not visible in this road. Govt Holiday Homes usually have canteens but food should be preordered. Since we crossed that time, took lunch at Hotel Vasantham on Ramanathapuram bypass which was good. Meanwhile SIL had reached Madurai and visited Meenakshi Amman Temple and on the way to Rameswaram by bus. We checked in at the guesthouse at around 2 PM. And after Half an hour went to bus stand and picked SIL also. Had some rest. Started for RamanathaSamy temple at around 4.30 PM as I had already told the ladies that I won’t visit the temple on next day which was Pradosham day which draws heavy crowd.

ECR to Rameswaram

Thiruvarur Chariot ( Ther)

Hotel Vasantham

Holiday Home for Central Govt. Employees

Ramanatha Samy Temple: 5 to 1:00 pm and 3 to 9:00 pm

The Legend:

Many people (mostly from North India) have a misunderstanding the main deity of this temple is Lord Rama and start chanting his praises. Actually, it is Lord Siva temple. As per legend by killing Ravana in Lanka War, Lord Rama accumulated 3 sins as Ravana was Brahmin, Warrior and Devotee. So, Rama came to Rameswaram on the way to Ayodhya to pray to Lord Siva to dissolve these sins. But as per Valmiki Ramayana (which is the authentic Ramayana called as Aadhi Kaavyam), no such incident mentioned. Rama, Seetha, Lakshmana and gang took direct flight from Colombo to Ayodhya without any layover. From the flight Rama showed Seetha (as she did not witness any incidents happened during the war) the places of importance in the path. There he showed an island but did not come down to do any prayer or so. (Even the island fortress which Ravana ruled is considered as Sri Lanka only on assumption as Valmiki clearly mentioned this island was on west side of the ocean and about 100 Yojanas which turns out to thousands of Kms whereas Sri Lanka is about few kms from the Indian Main land.). This temple legend might have been developed due to the conflicts between the Saivite and Vaishnavite sects those days and each group created many legends to show their deity was supreme compared to the other’s. Rameswaram is one of the four Dhams (along with Badrinath, Dwaraka and Puri) on the four corners of the country. Also one of the 12 Jyothi lingams. Usually, people do rituals for ancestors here before doing it in Varanasi and Gaya. But we did not do the rituals either here or in Varanasi.

I was planning to take the car to the temple but got an auto (50\- per head) by which reached the temple ( auto was more convenient as parking would be a problem near the temple). Had a walk towards the east side to the sea beach for Agni Theertham and took a dip but did not change the dress. . There were 22 wells with holy water (theerthams) inside the temple for which online booking is available (25\- per person) which I had already booked. There was a group of guides who approach the devotees for well bathing process by charging Rs 200\- per head. If we go by the ticket, they would only sprinkle the water. If we go with the guide, we would be blessed with a bucket full of water. Our guide took us inside where the tickets were scanned (we had forgotten to bring the printout but soft copy was enough which saved 75\-). Surprised to see the crowd was very much minimum and mostly from North only. After the holy water bath, changed the clothes which we had already carried with us (there was separate changing facility near South Gopuram). Then visited the main sanctum and the visit was over withing 30 minutes as crowd was very less. Returned by Auto to the guest house and had dinner in the canteen there. Had a good sleep.

Agni Theertham

Rameswaram Temple inside

10.04.2025 Thursday:

Navagraha Temple , Devi Pattinam : 4.30 AM to 6.30 PM

Next day We started early towards Navagraha Temple as the temple would get immersed in sea water during day time. Reached the temple at around 6.30 AM. I did not take the dip, SIL only sprinkled the sea water on her head but wife got herself a full bath but without bringing any dress to change. So, she had to stand sometime under sunlight to get her cress dried since I did not allow her to get into the car with wet cloths. The legend was the Lord Rama did pray to 9 Planetary deities before building bridge to Sri Lanka at Dhanushkodi. There was an entrance arch on the shores and a pathway 90 meters long leads to the sanctum. There was a pathway and four stepways leading to the waters in the four cardinal directions. There were nine stones planted in square plan in cardinal directions with the stone at the center indicating the Sun surrounded by eight other planets. General entry was free but for doing prayers to dissolve sins (dosham like Naga Dosham, Brahmhati dosham etc.,) various charges were mentioned. The temple was open from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 pm on all days. Unlike other South Indian temples, where people were not allowed to touch the presiding deities, pilgrims could do their own worship on the images here. The nine Planetary idols were made up of Nine Poisons as per Siddha tradition.

Navagraha Temple Pictures

Swambu Varahi Amman Temple, Uthrakosamangai: 7 to 12.30PM and 4 to 8PM

Next, we moved on to Uthrakosamangai. On the way took breakfast at same Hotel Vasantham on Ramanathapuram Bypass. Matrikas also called Mataras or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses who are always depicted together in Hinduism. The Matrikas are often depicted in a group of seven, the Saptamatrika(s) (Seven Mothers). However, they are also depicted as a group of eight, the Ashtamatrika(s). Brahmani emerged from Brahma, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Maheshvari from Shiva, Indrani from Indra, Kaumari from Kartikeya, Varahi from Varaha and Chamunda from Chandi. And additional are Narasimhi from Narasimha and Vinayaki from Ganesha. Out of this Varahi is manifestation with boar head whom Shakta consider Varahi to be a manifestation of the goddess Lalita Tripurasundari or as "Dandanayika" or "Dandanatha" – the commander-general of Lalita's army. Even though few temples are already available for Varahi Amman, but people's attraction towards these temples seems to be a recent thing. When we went there, main idol was screened for decorations which took nearly an hour. Wife spent this time in chanting Varahi and Lalita songs (she never comes out of a temple quickly). Temple location was serene as it was little bit outside with a pond nearby. There are lots of ammikkal (Grindstone) to grind turmeric to be applied to the deity which is a practice in this temple by families.

Varahi Amman Temple

Mangalanatha Swamy temple, Uthrakosamangai: 6.00 to 11.00 am and 4 to 8.00 pm.

Deities: Mangaleswarar (Shiva) Mangalambigai (Parvati)

The temple houses a 6 ft (1.8 m) tall ancient Maragatha Nataraja idol carved out of emerald, being the one of its kind. This temple is considered to the first temple built as it is more than 3000 years old. Legend has some connection between Ravana , Madodhari and the deity here. As Kumbabishekam (Consecration ritual) happened in this temple few days ago (that was why wife wanted to visit) there was more crowd compared to other temples in our trip. Spent more than an hour here and returned via Thirupullanai (instead of Ramanathapuram). On the way stopped at Pamban bridge to click some pictures. Had launch at guest house which was preordered .