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Ramanathaswamy Temple

Wanderlusts, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Attraction · Rameswaram

Ramanathaswamy Temple

One of the twelve jyotirlinga shrines, with the longest pillared corridor of any temple in India — about twelve hundred metres of it, in four ranges.

Time needed2 to 3 hours
Best timeEarly morning
CorridorsAbout 1,200 m
Sacred wellsTwenty-two
About

A corridor rather than a tower

Ramanathaswamy is one of the twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva and one of the four Char Dham, which puts it near the centre of Hindu pilgrimage in India. It is also, architecturally, unlike the great Tamil temples inland: what people come for is not the gopuram but the corridor. The outer prakaram runs about twelve hundred metres in four ranges of pillared passage — the longest temple corridor in the country — with more than a thousand carved granite columns, each different, and the perspective down them is the image of the place. The present structure is largely twelfth century onward under the Pandyas and later the Setupati rulers of Ramanathapuram. Twenty-two theerthams, sacred wells, lie inside the complex and pilgrims are doused at each in turn before darshan.

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What to See

What to look at

Walk the corridors; do not cut across the courtyards.

🏛️ The third corridor

  • The longest of the four, and the one the perspective photographs are taken down
  • More than a thousand granite pillars, individually carved, on raised platforms either side

💧 The twenty-two wells

  • Theerthams inside the complex, each with its own name, at which pilgrims are doused in sequence

🗼 The gopurams

  • The eastern tower is the tallest at about fifty metres, and the temple has five in all

🛕 The two lingams

  • Ramalingam, held to have been made of sand by Sita, and Vishwalingam brought from Kailash — worshipped in that order
Getting There

Getting there

The temple is the middle of the town, and the town is on an island.

🚗 By road

  • Rameswaram sits on Pamban island, reached by the road bridge from the mainland

🚂 By train

  • The rail line crosses the Pamban bridge and terminates in the town, close to the temple

🎟️ Entering

  • Entry to the temple is free; the wells ritual and special darshan are separately ticketed inside
Best Time

When to go

Early, and around the ritual bathing rather than through the middle of it.

🕰️ Time of day

  • First thing, when the corridors are cool and empty enough to be walked and photographed
  • The wells fill through the morning with pilgrim groups moving between them

📅 Season

  • November to February is the comfortable window; the island is hot and humid otherwise

⏱️ How long

  • Two hours to walk the corridors properly; three with the theertham circuit
Visitor Intelligence

Worth knowing

It is a working pilgrimage temple first and a monument a long way second.

👕 Dress and shoes

  • Modest dress; shoes are left outside and the granite gets very hot by the middle of the day

📷 Photography

  • Restricted, and prohibited entirely in the inner sanctum. Ask rather than assume

💧 The wells

  • You will get thoroughly wet if you do the circuit. Take a change of clothes or skip it deliberately

🧭 The corridors

  • Easy to miss by walking straight to the shrine. The corridor is the architecture — walk its full length
Nearby

Nearby

The rest of Pamban island.

Dhanushkodi
The abandoned town at the far tip
Pamban Bridge
The crossing from the mainland
Rameswaram
The town guide
Good to Know

Frequently asked

The corridors. The outer prakaram runs about twelve hundred metres in four ranges of pillared passage, the longest temple corridor in India, carried on more than a thousand individually carved granite columns. Most Tamil temples are remembered for their gopurams; this one is remembered for the perspective down its third corridor, which is what almost every photograph of it shows.
Sacred wells inside the temple complex, each with its own name and its own significance. Pilgrims move between them in sequence and are doused with water drawn from each before taking darshan at the shrine. It is a genuine ritual rather than a display, it is separately ticketed, and anyone doing it will end up completely wet — a change of clothes is the practical advice.
The corridors and outer areas are open, and they are what the temple is architecturally famous for. Access to the inner sanctum is restricted, as it is at most active South Indian temples. Modest dress is expected, shoes are left outside, and photography is limited and prohibited altogether in the sanctum — ask at the entrance rather than assuming.
The temple is the town, and most pilgrims come for it alone. The two other things on the island are Dhanushkodi at the far tip, an abandoned settlement destroyed by the 1964 cyclone about eighteen kilometres out, and the Pamban bridge that carries the railway across from the mainland. A day covers the temple in the morning and Dhanushkodi in the afternoon.
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