Description:
The temple of Sri Ramanatha, which has over the centuries grown into its present gigantic dimensions, stands on the eastern shore of an island, which is shaped like a conch, which Lord Vishnu bears in one of His hands. No field is ploughed or oil presses any where in the island. A magnificent railway bridge, over a kilometre long and constructed at the beginning of the twentieth century, connects it with the mainland.
To help the pilgrims walking incredible distances, philanthropists used to construct rest houses at intervals along the way. The last of them before Rameshwaram was Thangachimadam, a few kilometres away on the island. Modern means of transport have made these rest houses superfluous. But in their time they were most useful, even vital. The Sethupathis of Ramanathapuram, of which the district Rameshwaram is an administrative part, were called the "guardians of the Sethu", the bridge which, according to tradition, was built for Sri Rama to cross over into Sri Lanka when He set out to recover Sita.
