| Ramanathaswamy temple |
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The
Ramanathaswamy temple by itself is a delight for every tourist.
With its magnificent, imposing structure, long corridors, aesthetically
carved pillars, the temple is adorned with a towering 38-metre ‘Gopuram’.
The temple itself was built by rulers since the 12th century
with Sethupathy Maravar beginning the construction of the grand
Ramanathaswamy temple that boasts of the ‘Third Corridor’,
completed by his successor, Maravar – the longest one
in
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Asia with a 197-metre span from East to West and a 133-metre span from South to North, the third largest in the world! It is said that Swamy Vivekananda offered prayers at this temple in 1897. Another important fact is that two important Hindu schools of thought – the Kanchi of Kamakodi Peetam and Bannari Amman owe allegiance to the deity at the Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram. This has a tremendous impact on the religious sentiments of both the local people as well as devotees throughout the state of Tamil Nadu. |
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Further down, the geographical terrain and landscape naturally tapers slowly but sharply toward the end, converging and gently sinking into the sea at Dhanushkodi – the country’s tip in this part of the peninsular. This natural phenomenon has a lot of significance and most people revere the thought and hope to attain salvation as a culmination of their prayer, sacrifice and penance in this holy place. With this backdrop, it is proposed to construct a Yoga-cum-Meditation Centre at Rameswaram which any tourist can use to attain solace and discover oneself through the Vedic science of Yoga and meditation. This could also pave the way for the establishment of a Vedic College where all students could be imparted with knowledge and inputs on Hindu religion and mythology, the Vedas, Upanishads and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. Taking cues from the renowned “Thirupathi Pilgrim |
Centre. For instance, tourists may make advanced booking for
Offerings
at temples, on-line pooja, thereby reaching temples in the designated
time (each temple has specific timings for ‘dharshan’ and
special pujas). |