Visit to Rameswaram:. Review on Rameshwaram

The train reached Rameswaram 30mins late. I had booked a room in advance for 2days in Blue Coral cottages. I told auto fellow to drop me at the lodge. It was a newly built lodge and is little far away from temple east side entrance. It was clean and hygienic with attached toilet. I was given room in first floor. The rent was also reasonable Rs.465/- per day for single room. Maximum auto fare one can pay to any place in Rameswaram from railway station is Rs.50/-. I paid Rs.80/- from station to lodge unknowingly but while going back to station I paid only Rs.30/-. Be careful with auto fellows.

Even for short spans they charge Rs.30/-. If you ask before boarding they take Rs.10/- in shared autos and if you don’t ask they demand Rs.30/- while getting down. Totally Cheating. If you don’t have much luggage take local RTC bus which stops near the temple east entrance and they charge Rs.3/- only to railway station. There are number decent hotels near east and west entrances which serve vegetarian meals starting from Rs.40/- to Rs.60/-. They are clean and hygienic. Don’t worry about food.

As I wanted to do Nagaprathistha in Rameswaram I went ahead with that task first. I took bath and had breakfast and went to meet a priest who does Nagaprathistha. He started the procedure in the evening and finished it by next day morning. I did this Nagaprathistha because it is a belief that if we do this one will be free from naga doshas. The priest charged Rs.7, 000/- for the Nagaprathistha.

There is no fixed rate for this. He started from Rs.15, 000.00 and finally agreed for Rs.7, 000.00. We can bring him to as much as Rs.5, 000/- also. It all depends on time, skill and patience to bargain. He did all the prathistha process to my satisfaction. A small naga idol made of stone about one foot height was kept in puja. As a part of the Nagaprathistha he did naga homam and abhishekam also. He started puja in the evening and did prathistha next day morning. Next day morning this idol was placed in a temple nearby. He gave me nava dhanyas pocket and told me to put in sea while taking bath. With this nagaprathistha concluded. If any one is interested in doing Nagaprathistha contact me. I will give you the details of the priest.

The darshan procedure in Rameswaram is first have the darshan of Spatika lingam without taking bath early in the morning between 4:00am to 5:00am, come out and take bath in sea and then take bath in 22 holy wells. After taking bath in 22wells dry your clothes and go for Jyothirlinga darshan. We have to buy Rs.50/- ticket for spatika linga darshan. This linga was donated by Jagadguru Shankaracharyulu to temple during his visit to Rameswaram. After the darshan of the Jyothirlinga go ahead for the darshan of the Parvathi devi which is located in the same temple complex.

I got up early in the morning and reached temple for spatika linga darshan and bought Rs.50/- ticket and stood in que line waiting for my turn. There was huge line and by the time I was about to have spatika linga darshan the temple authorities removed the spatika linga and started Jyothir linga darshan. The spatika linga is kept before Jyothirlinga every day for darshan between 4:00am and 5:00am. So, I missed it’s darshan. Next day I started little early and had repeated the process. Unfortunately the temple authorities had removed the spatika linga at 4:00am only and started Jyothirlinga darshan. They are simply playing with devotees without maintaining timings properly. When they sell ticket they should have the sense to allow the darshan till the last person who purchased the ticket. Two days I purchased the spatika linga ticket and two days they closed the darshan much before the schedule. There were hundreds of devotees next to me waiting for spatika linga darshan on purchase of Rs.50/- ticket. It was the only upset I had encountered and perhaps the big one.

After taking bath in sea, I went to take bath in 22 holy wells. We have to purchase ticket to take bath in the holy wells. The temple authorities charge RS.15/- per head. I bought the ticket and had bath in all the 22wells. It was a wonderful experience. It took about one hour to complete the bath in all the 22 wells. Then I went back to my room, changed dress and again went to temple for Jyothirlinga darshan. I bought some maredu/bilva leafs in the entrance for Rs.10/- and went for darshan. The priest will tell you to put Rs.10/- in hundi. It is a custom there. If you want to do puja then you will have to buy Rs.50/- special darshan ticket. With this ticket you can have puja in your name. The priest will tell your name and gothram and do some brief puja. I opted for Rs.50/- and got puja done in my name. After the darshan of the Jyothirlinga I went ahead for the darshan of the Parvathi devi which is located in the same temple complex.

If you want to do annadana or any kind of donation contact temple office which is located near the east entrance . There is a scheme for annadana. If you pay Rs.2, 000/- they do annadana for 100persons in your name. I paid Rs.2, 000/- in my parents name for annadana.

The temple complex is huge one and one can easily loose himself in the complex. I entered from west entrance leaving my chappals near the main gate in the evening hours just to see the long corridors and after 30mins I lost my self and couldn’t locate the entrance point after making number attempts also. Finally I took the help of a security guard and came out from west entrance and collected my chappals.

There are number of lodges near the west entrance. But it is wise to get accommodation near east entrance as the entire procedure of darshan will start from east entrance. The sea is also very near from east entrance. Hotel Sunrise point & Hotel ambika are very near to east entrance. Hotel Maharaja is near west entrance. There are several mutts, satrams like Karivena & Gujarat bhavan near east entrance. Karivena nithya annadanam satram phone no is:04573222156, contact person name is Mr.Sarma. He is from Andhra Pradesh and can speak Telugu & Tamil. Remember most of the Satram & mutts do not accommodate single persons. If you are going alone try private lodges. You can book accommodation in Rameswaram using internet facility.

Some of the private lodges have net booking facility. Otherwise you can take the help of travelguru. Tripadvisor, holidaymela, etc site and book accommodation. I booked in Blue Coral from Holidaymela people.