Rameshwaram is significant for many Hindus as a pilgrimage to Varanasi is considered to be incomplete without a pilgrimage to Rameshwaram. The town along with the Ramanathaswamy temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dham (four divine sites)comprising Badrinathin the North, Puri in the Eastand Dwarkain the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameshwaram in the South.Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri, proceeding in clockwise direction, across the four cardinal points of Indiais considered sacred by Hindus and are visited at least once in lifetime.
According to Hindu mythology, Rameshwaram is the place from where the Hindu god Rama built a bridge, across the sea to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from her abductor Ravana.
Rameswara means "Lord Rama" in Sanskrit. In Rameshwaram we can capture the fifth kaandam in Ramayana, theSundara Kaandam. Rama,his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana undergoes 14years exile in the forest.Rama vanquishes thousands of Rakshashas during the exile and brings peace and happiness among the Rishis and other inhabitants.Sita was then abducted by Ravana, the Asura king of Lanka. Rama and Lakshmana search Sita everywhere and meet Sugirva, an exiled King and Hanuman on their way. Sugirva after regaining the throne sent armed forces southwards and land on the Gandhamadhana Parvatha along the south-eastern coast. This is the present Rameshwaram. Gandamadana Parvatham is the paravatam or hill is situated 3 km away and is the highest point in the island. The entire island of Rameshwaram is visible from this point. There is a two storey hall, where one can see the imprint of Lord Rama’s feet on a chakra or wheels which is the prime importance of this shrine.
The famous Sundara Kaandam begins wit...
... middle of paper ...
...aSambandar.
There is a popular belief that one needs to take bath in 22 theerthakundams with in the temple premises before having darshan. The natural spring waters are considered sacred by the local people. According to belief, a person who bathes in these spring waters is considered free from sins and disease as it contains some medicinal properties.
Temple Tanks
There are sixty-four Tīrthas or Theerthams (holy water bodies) in and around Rameshwaram. According to the SkandaPurana, twenty-four of them are important. Of the 24, 14 are in the form of tanks and wells within the precincts of the temple.Bathing in these tanks is a major aspect of the pilgrimage to Rameshwaram and is considered equivalent to penance. Twenty-two of the tanks are within the Ramanathaswamy Temple.
Other major holy bodies are Hanuman Theertham, SugreevaTheertham and Lakshmana Theertham.
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the area of Sonqo.
The Seated Statue of Gudea is a statue depicting a man sitting. A ruler before his subjects, he has his hands clasped to depict the traditional pose of greetings and prayer. The statue come from the city state of
I learned Mandir is a place where Hindu go to worship and not only that it is a house of god, but also
If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friend, and never see them again… then you are ready for a walk. -Henry David Thoreau (Haberman 12)
"From the Ramayana." Prentice Hall Literature. Trans. R. K. Narayan. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. 190-98. Print.
de Bruijn, Thomas. "Many Roads Lead To Lanka: The Intercultural Semantics Of Rama's Quest." Contemporary South Asia 14.1 (2005): 39-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Nathdwara is a small town in Rajasthan, a western state in the Indian subcontinent. The Rajasthan state houses one of the ancient most mountain ranges called the Aravali range. Nathdwara is a part of the Aravali range situated on the banks of the Banas River. Nathdwara means (nath- Lord Krishna, dwara – gate or door) the gate of lord. Nathdwara has a famous temple of Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, as depicted in one of the longest Sanskrit epics the Mahabharata.
There is a famous quote by writer Joseph Campbell that says, “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again”. That says, everyone has a sacred space. For some that is their bedroom, for others it is a religious or spiritual place. No matter what, however, everyone gets the same feeling, the same release from their sacred place, but some people must go further, or make a pilgrimage to get to their sacred space or spaces. I will be addressing the sacred places of pilgrimage in Buddhism.
Sita, Rama's wife, is reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu's spouse in heaven. Sita accompanies Rama into the forest on his "quest" and is captured by Ravana. Th...
He forced his uncle to transform into a beautiful deer to get Sita’s attention. Everything worked out perfectly in the favor of Ravana when Rama went quickly after the deer in the desire to capture the deer for his wife. Rama then left Lakshmana behind to protect Sita. However, Sita asked Lakshmana to go help Rama when she heard a loud voice shouted out from the forest asking for help. Lakshmana noticed it wasn’t his brother’s voice, but for the happiness of Sita he went out to help his brother. Before Lakshmana left, He placed Sita inside a magic circle that he drew to protect her from all dangers. Not too long after Lakshmana left, Ravana appeared in the form of an old man in search of food. Unaware of the danger, Sita walked out of the circle and offered the old man some food. Ravana then turned to his true form. With Sita in his hand Ravana headed back to Lanka. On the way, Sita dropped her earrings to mark the route for Rama. Spotted the sight of Sita try to break free from the hand of demon, the king of birds wanted to help but eventually defeated by Ravana because of his old age. When Rama and Lakshmana returned, they found no sight of Sita. Inform that Sita was taken by the demon, Rama and Lakshmana quickly went in search for her. On their way, they met an old woman named Savari. She advised Rama to find the two monkey friends Sugriva and Hanuman. Hanuman was known for his power, bravery, and as a son
One of the most striking relationships throughout the entire Rāmāyaṇa is that between India's epic hero Rāma and his half-brother Lakṣmaṇa. What is interesting about this affair is Lakṣmaṇa's pure fidelity toward his brother and all his goals. While Rāma is the king on leave throughout most of the Hindu epic, Lakṣmaṇa acts more or less as his royal servant and bodyguard of his most prized possession, that being Rāma's wife, Sītā. Interestingly enough, Lakṣmaṇa is very much an intelligent being himself, and one who revels in the longevity of his brother's interests and aims. This paper will deal with how these Lakṣmaṇa creates himself as the most loyal of companions within the first book of the Rāmāyaṇa. In the Bāla Kāṇḍa, Vālmīki sets forth the ideal relationship between the brothers, which only grows stronger and allows the story to finish at the termination of the Uttara Kāṇḍa.
Sacred spaces may take many forms from natural landscape features such as mountains and springs to human constructions including stone circles and burial mounds, temples, and cathedrals. A sacred place may be an altar or shrine within the home. Whilst some, such as churches may be almost universally acknowledged as sacred, others such as prehistoric structures or holy wells may only be acknowledged by a minority, or even an individual. Each of these sites are just as sacred to the individual.
Oxford 2017 describes pilgrimage as “a journey to a place of particular interest or significance.” In a religious sense, pilgrimages are sacred journeys used as a rite of passage to transcend one’s current spiritual position. A pilgrimage may be undertaken to have an emotional or holy experience or strengthen and further understand one’s faith in their beliefs. The profane form of pilgrimage is considered ritual tourism, which is to experience culture and recreate on a pilgrimage, but not as an actual religious pilgrim.
Rama demonstrates how one should behave within the hierarchy of one’s family. He is unconditionally loyal to his father to the point that he no qualms over remaining in exile for fourteen years in order to preserve the sanctity of his father’s word, thus protecting his father from “damming himself in this and other worlds” (Narayan 45). Protecting the value of his father’s promise takes precedent over Rama’s other duties as a son, like, for example, partaking in his father’s funeral
To claim the essentiality of Sita in The Ramayana as competent individual and not just as trigger-point in contemporary re-tellings.