Have you ever wondered about the geography of Ramayana? There are many scholarly studies. They cover places, races, topography and many astronomical coordinates mentioned in the Valmiki epic. But one thing is a key element in Ramayana. Rama had to go to Lanka to bring back Sita. He had to cross the ocean.
The southern tip closest to Lanka in India is Rameshwaram. More precisely the tip stretching out called Dhanushkodi. In Sanskrit that means dhanush=bow, koti=tip. The mythology is that Vibhishana, as the devoted newly crowned king of Lanka, implored Rama to destroy the bridge that had been built across for the monkey army to cross over for battle; to destroy it was advisable to prevent future wrongful crossovers between the lands of demons and humans. And Rama used his bow tip to shovel off an end of the bridge and make it nonfunctional.
The same tip of the bow which had made its marks on Rama's shoulder after that terrific battle he had singlehandedly fought with the several thousand rakshasas led by Khara and Dushana in the Dandaka forest. The poet Tulsidas makes a fine reference when he says, "AjAnubhuja-SarachApadhara-sangrAmajita-khara-dUSgaNaM"
The one thing stronger than Rama's arrow is his bow. And in its tip, when bent, is all the energy needed to dry up an ocean or break a bridge.
Another beautiful thing about Rameshwaram. I went there to the temple after visiting Dhanushkodi. The trip to the temple is easy, as the massive beautiful temple is right in the town, by the sea. On the other hand that land tip needs a 4WD jeep to carry you for miles and miles in desolate sand.
What is special about the temple? It is the most famous temple which is all about the devotee and less about the deity!
Rama, after war, wants to expiate his sin of killing Ravana (a Shiva bhakta and a brahmin, no matter he wasn't a good sort). Sita makes a beautiful lingam out of beach sand. Rama workships it and consecrates it as a jyotirlinga- the most famous, along with Kashi, of the 12 Shiva shrines, and one of the four sacred pilgrim centres in the four corners of India.
Hanuman has something to do with Rameshwaram, too. He brings the linga as instructed by Rama from Kailas, but is chagrined to find that he is late and Rama has followed Agastya's advice to adhere to the auspicious muhurta and worshipped the sand linga by Sita.
And devotees bring water all the way from Ganga in Kashi to Rameshwaram and perform abhisheka for Shiva.
Not only that. After bathing in the sea, they go to 22 wells within the temple, called thirthas, named after great rivers, holy places and incidents of Ramayana. Saying Om Namah Shivaya, they stand next to the well and an attendant pours a bucketful of water from the well. Dripping from well to well, they go through a great catharsis. After wiping themselves dry and wearing fresh clothes, they go inside to worship Shiva.
So Rameshwaram is all about worship and the devotee.
