Ramanathaswamy Temple

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.

The presiding deity, the Lingam of Ramanathaswamy (Shiva), is believed to have been established and worshiped by Rama, an avatar of the god Vishnu, to absolve the sins created during the Ramayana war at Sri Lanka.

The primary deity of the temple is Ramanathaswamy (Shiva) in the form of lingam.[2] There are two lingams inside the sanctum – one built by Sita, from sand, residing as the main deity, Ramalingam and the one brought by Hanuman from Kailash called Vishwalingam.[5][6] Rama instructed that the Vishwalingam should be worshipped first since it was brought by Hanuman – the tradition continues even today.

The temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dham (four divine sites) sites comprising Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka.

There are separate shrines for Ramanathaswamy and his consort goddess Parvathavardhini separated by a corridor.

Sri Parvathavardhini Devi is the Shakti(consort) of Lord Ramanathaswamy in Rameshwara Jyotirlingam. Parvathavardhini Devi-Four Armed Parvati