Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a holy dip in the sea at Ramanathaswamy Temple, in Rameshwaram, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday began his two-day spiritual sojourn in Tamil Nadu by offering prayers at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam and Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram. Modi will visit Dhanuskodi on Sunday to take a dip in the ocean and pay obeisance at the Kothandaramaswamy Temple before flying to Ayodhya for the inauguration of Ram temple.
Modi began his Saturday with a visit to the Ranganathaswamy Temple, a revered place of worship for Vaishnavites, and listened to Kamba Ramayana, one of the very old versions of the epic, presented by a group of artists. Legend has it that Kamban, a famous Tamil poet, made his first public presentation of his Ramayana at this temple, which has a ‘Kamba Ramayana Mandapam’.
At the Srirangam temple, Modi spent about two hours, interacting with priests and spending time with temple elephants. “Listening to verses of the Kamba Ramayana at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is an experience I will cherish for my entire life,” Modi wrote on X.
Hours later, he landed in Rameswaram, one of the holy places associated with Lord Ram, and offered prayers before the presiding deity of the Ramanathaswamy Temple.
The Prime Minister took a dip in all 22 holy tanks inside the temple and visited Ramar Paadham, a temple dedicated to Lord Ram’s feet imprint. He was given a rousing welcome by BJP supporters in Srirangam and in Rameswaram, where he will stay for the night.
On Sunday, he will head to Dhanuskodi, where he will visit Arisal Munai, the last point of the Indian mainland where the Bay of Bengal Indian Ocean merges and take a dip in the ocean. He will also visit Sri Kothandaramaswamy Temple, which has idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman and Vibhishana, before leaving Rameswaram for Ayodhya.
Tamil Nadu has several pilgrim centres associated with Lord Ram and Rameswaram is the most sacred among them. Legend has it that it is from Dhanuskodi where Lord Ram broke the Ram Setu, a bridge that he is believed to have built to travel to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from her abductor Ravana.
According to legend, this is the place from where the Hindu god Rama built a bridge across the sea to Lanka to rescue Sita from her abductor Ravana. He is also believed to have worshipped Lord Shiva, who is the presiding deity at the Ramanathaswamy Temple.