Setu, Dhanushkodi and the four dhams

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Namaste. For the last time in this series, let us take one slow breath together. In. And out.

In the last sitting, we walked the long corridors of the Ramanathaswamy temple and heard about the Sethupathis, the protectors of the setu. Today we leave the temple and travel to the edge of the island, where the land runs out into the sea. We will go to Dhanushkodi, look out towards the line of sandbanks remembered as the setu, and then step back to see Rameswaram's place in the larger map of Indian pilgrimage, as one of the four dhams.

Rameswaram is an island, and for most of its history pilgrims reached it by boat. Today a road bridge and a railway bridge cross the narrow Pamban channel from the mainland, and many travellers remember their first sight of the sea on both sides of the train, very close, very blue.

The island itself is small enough to cross in a short drive. Much of it is sand and low scrub, with palm groves, fishing villages and salt flats. The people of Rameswaram have long lived from the sea, and on the shore you will see fishing boats pulled up on the sand and nets drying. Pilgrims are only one part of life here, and it is good to remember that we are guests in a working town.

Before we go south, there is one small stop. Near the town is a low sandy hill called Gandhamadana Parvatham, the highest point on this flat island. A local tradition holds that Rama stood here and looked out over the sea, and there is a small shrine with a stone bearing footprints, known as Ramar Padam, Rama's feet. From the top, on a clear day, you can see much of the island laid out below you, the temple towers, the palm trees, and the water on every side.

Now the road runs south-east, along a narrow strip of sand, with the sea close on both sides. On the way, many pilgrims stop at the temple of Kothandaramaswamy, Rama holding his bow. A local tradition holds that this is where Vibhishana, Ravana's brother, came to Rama to seek refuge. Another tradition says it is where Rama crowned Vibhishana. We share both, as they are told.

Vibhishana's place in the story is worth a thought. He left his own brother's side because he believed Ravana was doing wrong, and he came to Rama with nothing but his trust. The Ramayana tells that Rama received him, even when others in the camp were unsure. Many tellers hold up this scene as a picture of Rama's openness to anyone who comes to him sincerely.

At the end of the road is Dhanushkodi. The name means the end of the bow, or the tip of the bow. The tradition that explains it is told in the Setu Mahatmya and by the people of the island, though the tellings differ. After the war, it is said, Vibhishana asked Rama to break the setu, so that it would not be used again for harm, and Rama marked the place with the end of his bow. So the very name of this place is a memory of a bridge, and of its ending.

Dhanushkodi also carries a sadder, more recent memory. It was once a busy small town, with a railway station, a harbour, a church and homes. In 1964 a severe cyclone struck the tip of the island, and the town was destroyed, with a great loss of life. Today you can still see the ruins, walls of the church and the old railway buildings, standing in the sand. People come quietly, and many offer a prayer for those who died. Please walk among the ruins with that respect.

Fishing families still live near Dhanushkodi, and small stalls along the road sell tea, shells and snacks. The place is quiet, windy and open to the sky. There is very little shade, so carry water and cover your head, especially around midday.

Beyond the ruins, the land narrows to a thin point, and the sea meets the sea. On one side lies the Bay of Bengal, on the other the waters of the Gulf of Mannar. The colours and the waves can look different on each side. The currents here can be strong and change quickly, so please stay out of the water where signs or local people tell you to, and keep children close.

From this point, the sandbanks run on towards Sri Lanka, a chain of shoals and small islands, mostly under shallow water. Maps have long called it Adam's Bridge. In India it is widely known as Rama Setu, Rama's bridge, and the Ramayana tradition remembers it as the setu that Nala and the army built. We leave questions of geology to geologists. Standing here, we are simply among the many who have looked out at this line in the water and thought of Rama, of Sita far across it, and of the great crossing.

From the ground you cannot see the sandbanks run all the way to the far shore. You see the water going pale over the shallows, a few birds, and the horizon. Yet the old poems ask us to imagine an army crossing it, carrying stones, calling out the name of Rama, with the whole ocean holding still for them. Listen to that picture for a moment.

Let us pause here, at the end of the land, and simply listen for a while. If you can, picture the waves coming in from both sides.

Now let us step back from the island, and look at the whole of India.

Rameswaram is one of the four dhams, the four great abodes of the divine that tradition places at the four edges of the land. In the north is Badrinath, in the Himalaya. In the west is Dwarka, by the Arabian Sea. In the east is Puri, the home of Jagannath, by the Bay of Bengal. And in the south is Rameswaram. Tradition links this great circle of pilgrimage with Adi Shankaracharya, though historians discuss how it took its present shape. For many families, visiting all four in a lifetime is a deep wish.

The four dhams are very far apart. Before trains and roads, a pilgrimage to all four could take many months or years, on foot and by cart and boat. Pilgrims crossed rivers, forests and kingdoms, relying on rest houses, temples and the kindness of strangers along the way. It is one of the old threads that has joined the people of India to one another, across languages and regions.

Please do not confuse these four dhams with the Chhota Char Dham of Uttarakhand, the four Himalayan shrines of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Badrinath is in both lists. The char dham we speak of here is the one that spans the whole country.

It is also separate from the four mathas, the monasteries that tradition says Adi Shankaracharya founded at Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri and Jyotirmath. Two of those share places with the dhams, and two do not. Rameswaram's place is as a dham, a place of pilgrimage.

There is something beautiful in this circle. Badrinath, Dwarka and Puri are temples of Vishnu, in his forms as Badrinarayan, as Krishna, the lord of Dwarka, and as Jagannath. Rameswaram is a temple of Shiva, yet it is Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, who worships Shiva here. In the south of this great circle, the Vaishnava and Shaiva paths meet on one shore. And we remember the custom from our first sitting: pilgrims carrying Ganga water from Kashi to Rameswaram, and sand from Rameswaram to the Ganga, joining north and south.

Let us gather what we heard today, and across these five sittings.

Today we climbed Gandhamadana Parvatham, passed Kothandaramaswamy, and reached Dhanushkodi, the tip of the bow, with its ruins from the cyclone of 1964 and its view along the sandbanks remembered as the setu. We saw Rameswaram as the southern dham of the four.

Across the series, we heard how the Valmiki Ramayana remembers this shore as the place of the crossing, how the Ramcharitmanas places Rama's worship of Shiva before the setu was built, and how the Setu Mahatmya and the temple tradition place it after the war, with Sita's sand linga and Hanuman's linga from the north. We bathed at Agni Theertham and the theerthams of the temple, walked the long corridors built under the Sethupathis, and came at last to the end of the land.

One thing to take with you. When Rama flew home in the Pushpaka, the Ramayana says he pointed out the places below to Sita, one by one, remembering what had happened at each. This week, take a few minutes to look back over a journey in your own life, and name, quietly, the places and people along the way who helped you cross. Give thanks for each.

Thank you for walking with us to Rameswaram. May your own crossings be made with prayer at the start and thanks at the end. Namaste.

Keep going

• Listen: Setu, Dhanushkodi and the four dhams
• Previous: The long corridors and the Sethupathis
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• All episodes of Rameswaram: the island of Rama's worship