Ramanathaswamy Temple

Ramanathaswamy Temple
Arulmigu Sri Ramanathaswamy Tirukkoyil
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
District	Ramanathapuram
Deity	Ramanathaswamy (Shiva) Parvatavardhini (Parvati)
Location
Location	Rameswaram
State	Tamil Nadu
Country	India
Location in Tamil Nadu
Geographic coordinates	9°17′17″N 79°19′02″E / 9.288106°N 79.317282°E / 9.288106; 79.317282
Architecture
Type	Dravidian architecture
Creator	Pandya and Jaffna kings

Char Dham

• v
• t
• e

Jagannath Puri

Rameswaram

Dwarka

Badrinath

The Ramanathaswamy Temple (Rāmanātasvāmi Kōyil) is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva located on Rameswaram island in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the twelve Jyotirlinga temples. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, the sacred sites glorified by the Nayanars (Shaivite poet-saints), Appar, Sundarar, and Sambandar, with their songs. According to tradition, the lingam (an aniconic form of Shiva) of the Ramanathaswamy Temple was established and worshipped by Rama before he crossed the bridge called Rama Setu to the island kingdom of Lanka, identified with Sri Lanka. It is one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The temple was expanded during the 12th century by the Pandya Dynasty, and its principal shrine’s sanctum was renovated by Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan and his successor Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan, monarchs of the Jaffna kingdom. The temple has the longest corridor among all the Hindu temples of India. It was built by King Muthuramalinga Sethupathy.^[1][2] The temple is considered a pilgrimage site for Shaivites, Vaishnavites, and Smartas.