Road Tripping

Yesterday was a long day, but it was good to get out of the hustle and bustle of Madurai for a while. One of the other volunteers here, Gitesh, is also Indian, but he lives in England, so he is excited to see many of the Hindu sites here. Next to Madurai, Rameshwaram is one of the most important Hindu sites in Southern India. Literally it means the place of “Lord Rama,” it is a rather non-assuming small town on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, due East of Madurai. It is purported to be the temple which houses a linga that Sita fashioned for Rama and to observe the Darshan, or viewing of oblations on it is highly significant.

Rama is the protagonist of one of the primary Hindu epics, the Ramayana. Every Sanskrit primer will have such sentences as, “Why did Rama go to the forest?” referring to his exile into the forest and the pursuit of the Monkey God, Hanuman, and the ire of the Demon King Ravana of Lanka. Rameshwaram is also significant for Hindus because it is one of the few temples in which Shaivites and Vaishnavites revere on an equal basis. Usually, as in Madurai, you will have predominantly Shaivites with horizontal lines of colored paste pressed onto their foreheads after a devotion (much like for Christians, the ashes on the forehead for Ash Wednesday), or a vertical stripe or two for Vishnaivites, who are predominately in the North, such as in Varanasi. However, in Rameswharam, because the site is highly regarded by both sects, you will see a mixture.

As I am not a Hindu, I was not able to go past the initial hallways leading up to the sancta sanctorum, so Alex (another volunteer who went with us from Wales and who is now the other “white guy” in South India) and I waited for Gitesh to go in alone. One of the signature events at the temple there is that there are 22 tirthams, or sacred bathing places located in a labyrinthine pathway around the inner sanctum. The tradition is to be doused with water in each one of these 22 stations, to remove the sins and debts of the pilgrims. The scene there is one that is quite to behold. Basically everyone does this fully clothed, most of them carrying a change of clothes for latter in a bag, but you see families complete with children and grandparents doing the rounds getting absolutely soaked in their nice clothes. This offers quite a twist to wearing your Sunday best. So, the hallways are filled with dripping sarees and dhoti-clad women and men chanting Om Namo Shivayah, echoing throughout the temple gangways. Indians are not quite in temples. There is quite a bit of talking, chanting, jingling, jangling, laughing, and singing. Not what I had expected, but it was indeed a pleasant surprise and change from the ghostly silences that you will encounter going into the cavernous cathedrals of Europe. Though, there of course, one may have the unexpected organ recital or Mass in full session as I was fortunate enough to see in Notre Dame in Paris once, so merely different, not better or worse I would say.

Although Gitesh did not do the rounds of the tirtham, he was in the Darshan long enough for me to get a pretty good feel for a Hindu visit to the temple, save for the ultimate of viewed the godhead. My Tamil teacher told me of how once a western scholar who had studied the Menaakshi Temple here in Madurai for her doctorate was not allowed to go in, so he smuggled her in, clad in a sari and with his wife’s mangalam, or wedding necklace, and claimed they were married, much to the consternation of the guards, but she was able to attend the viewing. I most likely will not be so fortunate, but it was an unforgettable experience yesterday nonetheless.

Another highlight was going to the thatched-hut village of Danushkodi, which rests on the peninsular formation, which separates the Bay of Bengal from the Indian Ocean. Having been on the crowded bus from Madurai for nearly five hours, it was quite a breath of fresh air to get out and walk along the gorgeous beach there. There, people were blowing conch shells in honor of Vishnu, again, a rarity in the South. Although we had wanted to go to the end of the peninsula, which is called Adam’s Bridge, we were not able to do so in the time we had. Very precarious jeep-like trucks with open-air beds were taking up to 30 people out there at a time, and our Tak-Tak driver told us it was a 3-hour roundtrip as there were no roads. I am not convinced that he was just talking us out of going as he had agreed to wait for us for a fee, but it was not worth it at the moment, thinking about our bus ride back. Adam’s Bridge, however, is a series of small islands that are legend to be the stepping stones that Hanuman used to cross from Sri Lanka to India in search of Sita, Rama’s wife, who had been abducted by Ravana.

So, all in all, it was quite a long journey, nearly 10 hours in the bus as well as various Tak-Tak rides and whatnot, but it was a good escape from the congestion of the city.