Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram is one of the 12 Jyotirlings of India. According to myth, when Lord Rama returned from Lanka after slaying Ravana, some sages advised him to perform penance before a Shivling for having done a ‘brahmahatya’ – Killing of a Brahmin. Finding no shivling in the vicinity, Hanuman was dispatched to Mt kailas to get one. As usual, the monkey god, being the perfectionist, spent time looking for the perfect one. In the meantime, sita built a shivling from sand, which Lord Rama worshipped. When Hanuman returned with two Shivlings, he found that one shivling had already been built and consecrated. He was dejected. But Lord Rama assured him that in the future, whenever devotees came to the temple, they would first worship the two shivlings that Hanuman brought and then the one that Sita built. It is so till this date. Before going to the temple, one has to bathe in the sea (a mere 200 mtrs away), followed by a bath each by water from 22 kunds (wells), change and then worhip the lord shiva. Of course, the sand shivling no longer exists. But the grandeur, the fervour is still evident. Beware of fake godmen and intermediaries when you visit Rameshwaram.