We drove to Rameneshwar, which is an island attached by a bridge to the rest of India and only 20 km away from where we were in Sri Lanka at the weekend. For keen readers, it’s the other end of the mythical bridge where the Hindu god Ram is supposed to have come (more about this below).
It’s the second most important Shiva temple after Varanasi, which means that it’s a hectic pilgrimage site with thousands of visitors each day including bus-loads of jolly women all wearing the same clothes:
So here’s the story. The boulders across the waters to Sri Lanka are said to have been placed there by Hanuman’s monkey army (Hanuman being Rama’s lieutenant) so that they could cross to rescue Sita, Rama’s wife from the demon king Ravana. The blue figure is Rama; it\s apparent who Hanuman is:
Rama kills Ravana and rescues Sita but has to atone for the killing of the demon king by worshipping Shiva. So Hanuman is sent off to the Himalayas to get a Shivalingam, but when he fails to return, Sita fashions a lingam from sand:
Poor Hanuman returns with his lingam too late:
He feels bad (or angy – depends who is telling the story) and so Rama says that, in future, Hanuman’s lingam should be worshipped first, in order to assuage his feelings.
Both lingams are in the temple now and normally can only be viewed by Hindus but our guide took us in (later, we were asked to ‘give a donation to the temple’ via our guide – I think that might have been code for giving a donation to the guard who turned away at the right moment for us to slip in).
The temple is enormous with gopura entrances:
Once inside, the inner temple is flanked on either side with corridors of incredible length and decoration:
Pilgrims are expected to bathe at each of the 22 temple tanks and so there are groups of dripping wet pilgrims making their way from tank to tank to be soaked by temple attendents throwing buckets full of water over their heads:
The place is completely slippery with water and people being scolded for changing into dry clothes in the wrong place.
Around the temple are many places to stop and worship including a Shiva lingam and Pavarti, Shiva’s wife with a bucket for some reason in between (I missed the guide’s explanation so one of you might know):
And then, when you least expect it, an elephant appears:
The atmosphere is focused, fervent and noisy, as pilgrims rush from place to place in great big groups to do their rituals and visit their favoured shrines:
And because the temple is linked to the sea (see the story above), people are expected also to bathe in the sea and to caste a garment away to throw away bad karma before going to the temple: – the old clothes are gathered up each night, washed and sold:
And people make lingams out of sand on the beach, just like Sita:
Tomorrow, with luck, another holy beach and a train!
I am loving all the COLOUR!!! and envious of that blue sky (today the sun didn’t even rise…)
The colour everywhere is amazing – some of it very like 50’s Hollywood films in full, very full, technicolour…
Full-on tales and colours!!
Love the entrance of the elephant which is both predictable and surprising…
Well, we knew there was bound to be a temple elephant somewhere but it just suddenly strolled silently across our path – strange and wonderful. The guide said the elephant was only six years old so eventually it’ll fill much more of the corridor I guess…
Phew! You are getting a big hit of Hindu temples, with their baroque Lego cartoon superhero aesthetic. I’m always taken with the free-for-all atmosphere in there, despite rules and rituals. (Imagine an elephant strolling through St Paul’s Cathedral! Perhaps a donkey would be tolerated?) And the exuberant colour. And the something-for-everyone: a god (or manifestation) for every need. But I wonder how the lingam worship sits with you?
Yes, Rosalind, I wondered that too. I’ve only ever known lingam to mean male genitalia
Yup, that’s what a lingam means – and this temple was full of them!
Yes, your description is completely right – fervour, rituals, rushing from shrine to shrine, colour and carvings, plus an elephant. A donkey I think would only be ok twice a year in St Paul’s – Palm Sunday ( if I remember the story correctly) and Xmas ( as part of the general manger/ crib ensemble). And lingams? what can I say? We all fight the patriarchy in our own way but taking on the phallocentric nature of Hinduism, well, maybe not this trip…
These enormous ornate temples are all pretty overwhelming to me, never having visited India. The videos really help to give a sense of all the noisy action. How do they maintain perfectly painted dazzling colours in all these temples over centuries (or decades) of sun, wind, water, human/animal debris etc?
I’ve never seen anyone touching up the painting inside a temple but there’s often work going on of various kinds and the temples are dark, protected from sun and rain. The gopura on major temples are repainted every 5-10 years I think but we’ve seen many smaller temples looking quite neglected and faded. We stopped today at a temple for Kali and M was trapped by the priest offering blessings ( at a price) – at the end of his speech to her he asked for a donation to restore the temple (‘ foreign currency is fine’).
Wonderful colours and stories, especially loved the guest appearance of the elephant.
Me too, Tash – he was suddenly and silently just there – magical
Ah, the donation to the temple which turns out to be a ‘donation’ to the guard – happened to us frequently! Looks amazing and – so monumental! I take it you weren’t tempted to take a drenching in the spirit of the moment….
We’re still being careful brushing our teeth with bottled water so no, having a bucket of holy water over the head wasn’t really a goer…
Fantastic pics. Am struggling with my own somewhat different temple overload to comment coherently on yours! But very familiar from other visits to India and very unfamiliar compared to the red and gold of Lao Buddhist temples.
Yes, as you know well, Indian temples are full on technicolour – red and gold almost verges on the tasteful! Hope you’re having an excellent time. Xx
I love that rituals still mean so much to people.
They really do! Sometimes the fervour is just a tad unsettling – there was a group of pilgrims in the temple at Madurai that I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be on the wrong side of…