There are sixty-four Tīrthas (holy water bodies) in and around the island of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India. [1] According to Skānda Purāṇa, twenty-four of them are important. [2] Bathing in these Tīrthas is a major aspect of the pilgrimage to Rameswaram and is considered equivalent to penance. [3] Twenty-two of the Tīrthas are within the Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple. [4]
Tīrthas | Location | Type | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Cakra Tīrtham | Tirupullāni(Darbhaśayanam [5] ) | Large Pond | |
Vetāla Varada Tīrtham | south of Chakra Tirtham of Tirupullani [6] | ||
Pāpa Vināśa Tīrtham | Gandhamādhana | ||
Sītā Kuṇḍam | near Thangachimadam [7] | Not accessible due to new habitation. | |
Maṅgala Tīrtham | near Ekānta Rāma Temple | Large Pond | |
Amṛta Vāpī | near Ekānta Rāma Temple | Well | |
Brahma Kuṇḍam | |||
Hanumān Kuṇḍam | North of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [7] | Large Pond | |
Agastya Tīrtham | North-east of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [7] | Small Pond | |
Lakṣmaṇa Tīrtham | West of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple beside the highway [7] | Large Pond | |
Jaṭā Tīrtham | On the way to Dhanushkodi [7] | Large Pond | |
Lakṣmī Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Agni Tīrtham | Beach east of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [9] | Sea | |
Cakra Tīrtham of Ramanathaswamy Temple | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Śiva Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Śaṅkha Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Yamunā Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Gaṅgā Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Gayā Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Koṭi Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [11] | Well | |
Sātyāmṛta Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [12] | Well | |
Mānasa Tīrtham | |||
Dhanuṣkoṭī Tīrtham | Dhanushkodi [13] | Sea | |
Nāga Tīrtham | North-east of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [7] | Small Pond | |
Nakula Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | Small Pond | |
Sahadeva Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | Small Pond | |
Draupadī Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | Small Pond | |
Bhīma Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | Small Pond | |
Arjuna Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | Small Pond | |
Jāmbavān Tīrtham | Well | ||
Aṅgada Tīrtham | Well | ||
Sugrīva Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | Large Pond | |
Rāma Tīrtham | West of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple beside the highway [7] | Large Pond | |
Sītā Tīrtham | West of Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple beside the highway [7] | Small Pond | |
Ṛṇa Vimocana Tīrtham | near Ekaanta Rama Temple | Large Pond | |
Villuṇḍi Tīrtham | near Thangachimadam [7] | Well | In the middle of the ocean, a few metres away from the beach |
Kapi Tīrtham | Paamban [7] | ||
Bhairava Tīrtham | |||
Amṛta Tīrtham | On the way to Gandhamadana [7] | ||
Dharma Tīrtham | |||
Gandhamādana Tīrtham | |||
Pancha Pāṇḍava Tīrtham [7] | near Ekaanta Rama Temple [7] | ||
Vāli Tīrtham [7] | |||
Gaja Tīrtham [7] | |||
Kumuda Tīrtham [7] | |||
Śāradā Tīrtham [7] | |||
Paraśurāma Tīrtham [7] | |||
Sarva Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [12] | Well | |
Candra Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Sūrya Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Brahma-hatti Vimocana Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [10] | Well | |
Mādhava Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Nala Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Nīla Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Gavaya Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Gavākṣa Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Gandhamādana Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Sāvitrī Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Sarasvatī Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well | |
Gāyatrī Tīrtham | Inside Rāmanāthasvāmī Temple [8] | Well |
Matsya is an avatar of the RigVedic god Vishnu. Originating in the White YajurVeda, Matsya is most commonly associated in post-Vedic literature such as the Puranas with the legends of rescuing Vaivasvata Manu from the deluge, and rescuing the Vedas stolen by various Asuras. Matsya is listed as the first incarnation of the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu.
Kurma, also known as 'KurmaRaja' is an avatar of the RigVedic god Vishnu. Originating in Vedic literature such as the YajurVeda as being synonymous with the Saptarishi called Kasyapa, Kurma is most commonly associated in post-Vedic literature such as the Puranas with the legend of the churning of the Ocean of Milk, referred to as the Samudra manthan. Also synonymous with Akupara, the world-turtle supporting the Earth, Kurma is listed as the second incarnation of the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu.
Varaha also known as Yajna-varaha, Varaha-deva, Dharani-Varaha, and Adivaraha, is an avatar of the RigVedic god Vishnu. Stated in Puranic literature to be the embodiment of sacrifice in the form of a boar, Varaha is most commonly associated with the legend of lifting the Earth out of the Cosmic Ocean.
Agastya was a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text Rigveda and other Vedic literature.
The word Purana literally means "ancient, old", and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. The Puranas are known for their intricate layers of symbolism depicted within the stories. Composed primarily in Sanskrit, but also in Tamil and other Indian languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti. The Puranic genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism.
Rameswaram is a town and municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilometres from Mannar Island, Sri Lanka. It is in the Gulf of Mannar, at the tip of the Indian peninsula. Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, is connected to mainland India by the Pamban Bridge. Rameswaram is the terminus of the railway line from Chennai and Madurai. Together with Varanasi, it is considered to be one of the holiest places in India to Hindus, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimage.
Tirtha is a Sanskrit word that means "crossing place, ford", and refers to any place, text or person that is holy. It particularly refers to pilgrimage sites and holy places in Hinduism as well as Jainism.
The Aitareya Brahmana is the Brahmana of the Shakala Shakha of the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition, is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya.
Kāla is a word used in Sanskrit to mean "time". It is also the name of a deity, in which sense it is not always distinguishable from kāla, meaning "black". It is often used as one of the various names or forms of Yama.
The Bhavishya Purana is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, written in Sanskrit. The title Bhavishya means "future" and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future, however, the "prophecy" parts of the extant manuscripts are a modern era addition and hence not an integral part of the Bhavishya Purana. Those sections of the surviving manuscripts that are dated to be older, are partly borrowed from other Indian texts such as Brihat Samhita and Shamba Purana. The veracity and authenticity of much of the Bhavishya Purana has been questioned by modern scholars and historians, and the text is considered an example of "constant revisions and living nature" of Puranic genre of Hindu literature.
The Vayu Purana is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. Vayu Purana is mentioned in the manuscripts of the Mahabharata and other Hindu texts, which has led scholars to propose that the text is among the oldest in the Puranic genre. Vayu and Vayaviya Puranas do share a very large overlap in their structure and contents, possibly because they once were the same, but with continuous revisions over the centuries, the original text became two different texts, and the Vayaviya text came also to be known as the Brahmanda Purana.
The Kurma Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, and a medieval era Vaishnavism text of Hinduism. The text is named after the tortoise avatar of Vishnu.
The Agni Purana, is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. The text is variously classified as a Purana related to Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism, but also considered as a text that covers them all impartially without leaning towards a particular theology.
The Skanda Purana is the largest Mahāpurāṇa, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is part of Shaivite literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvati, who is also known as Kartikeya and Murugan. While the text is named after Skanda, he does not feature either more or less prominently in this text than in other Shiva-related Puranas. The text has been an important historical record and influence on the Hindu traditions related to the war-god Skanda.
The Varaha Purana is a Sanskrit text from the Puranas genre of literature in Hinduism. It belongs to the Vaishnavism literature corpus praising Narayana (Vishnu), but includes chapters dedicated to praising and centered on Shiva and Shakti.
The Naradiya Purana or Narada Purana (Sanskrit: नारद पुराण, are two Sanskrit texts, one of which is a major Purana of Hinduism, while the other is a minor Purana. Both are Vaishnavism texts, and have been a cause of confusion in Purana-related scholarship. To prevent confusion, some scholars sometimes refer to the minor Purana as Brihannaradiya Purana.
Matrikas also called Matar or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses who are always depicted together in Hinduism. Matrikas are the different forms Adi Parashakti. Matrikas are the personified powers of different Devas. Brahmani emerged from Brahma, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Maheshvari from Shiva, Indrani from Indra, Kaumari from Skanda, Varahi from Varaha and Chamunda from Devi, and additionals are Narasimhi, Vinayaki.
Ramanathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva located on Rameswaram island in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is also one of the twelve Jyotirlinga temples. It is one of the 274 Paadal Petra Sthalams, where the three of the most revered Nayanars, Appar, Sundarar and Tirugnana Sambandar, have glorified the temple with their songs. The temple was expanded during the 12th century by Pandya Dynasty, and its principal shrines sanctum were renovated by Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan and his successor Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan of the Jaffna kingdom. The temple has the longest corridor among all Hindu temples in India. The temple is located in Rameswaram considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shaivites, Vaishnavites and Smarthas. The presiding deity, the Lingam of Ramanathaswamy (Shiva), is believed to have been established and worshiped by Rama.
Prāyaścitta is the Sanskrit word which means "atonement, penance, expiation". In Hinduism, it is a dharma-related term and refers to voluntarily accepting one's errors and misdeeds, confession, repentance (paccattappam), means of penance and expiation to undo or reduce the karmic consequences. It includes atonement for intentional and unintentional misdeeds. The ancient Hindu literature on repentance, expiation and atonement is extensive, with earliest mentions found in the Vedic literature. Illustrative means to repent for intentional and unintentional misdeeds include admitting one's misdeeds, austerities, fasting, pilgrimage and bathing in sacred waters, ascetic lifestyle, yajna, praying, yoga, giving gifts to the poor and needy, and others.
Agni Tirtham is one of the Tirthas of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The beach east of Ramanathaswamy Temple is known by this name. This Tirtham is one of the most visited Tirthams of Rameswaram for a holy bath.