Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram

Ramanathaswamy on Rameswaram island, Tamil Nadu, is the southernmost jyotirlinga — the linga of Rama's own making. Tradition holds that Rama worshipped Shiva here before the crossing to Lanka, and again on return, seeking absolution; Hanuman raced to Kailasa for a linga, and Sita's sand linga, made while waiting, stands in the sanctum to this day. The temple's third corridor — over a kilometre of pillared perspective raised by the Sethupathi rulers of Ramnad — is the longest temple corridor in India: the south's answer in stone to the light of the north.

This page awaits its full Indopedia treatment — history from inscriptions and chronicles, period images with provenance, and the chain of builders and rebuilders, in the manner of Somnath Temple — The Shrine Eternal. To take up this temple, see Indopedia:Contribute.