Dhanushkodi is the place to see the Origin of ‘RAM SETU’
The rebirth of an abandoned coastal town!
The laid NH provides merriment to the people of Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram.
Geographically, located at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island, Dhanushkodi is the only natural borderland between India and Sri Lanka. It is about 24 kilometers from the west of Talaimannar in SriLanka. This deserted land is now uninhabited because of the cyclone that destroyed the town completely back in 1964. An incandescent cyclone on the fuming night of December 23, 1964, wiped away the 300 train passengers as well as washed away Dhanushkodi to debris. From then, there are only the remnants of the flabbergasting land of Rameswaram. The infuriated cyclonic waves thus eradicated the proliferating coastal town.
Dhanushkodi is the place where you can see the origin of the Ram Setu
THE SPLASHES OF HISTORY:
The epic Ramayana would be incomplete without Dhanushkodi, which is said to be shaped like Rama’s bow itself and further the ‘sacred theertha’ from Puranic time is that it is a junction of two seas namely Rathnakaram and Mahodhikam, which is currently known as Gulf of Mannar and Palk Straits, all these add up the now deserted land to the sacred one to be visited. The historians remarked the thriving maritime past of the coastal tip during the colonization period, there was a small port which developed back in 1914 in Dhanushkodi. There was the point that anchored a rail-cum-sea route right from the Presidency capital of old Madras to Talaimannar in Northern Sri Lanka and the train was called ‘Boat Mail’ on the particular route. It was due to the small commercial hub, the flourishing coastal town owned the sobriquet “Kutti Singapore” in the past.
The Abandoned Railway Station
SPRINKLES OF JOY:
After the crucial disaster, the district administration of Ramanathapuram made the arrangements to resettle and reinstate the survivors of the tragedy in the other coastal areas of the district. It is due to the coastal stretch for all the other purposes were cut off even from Rameswaram and the isolated Indian mainland is accessed only by the Pamban rail and road bridge later. Later, the laying of 18 km roadways from Rameswaram town to Munkundarayachatram revived the interest of pilgrimage amongst the people. And that’s how they tried to reach Dhanushkodi and its farthest sea point of Arichalmunai. This particular road stretch has helped in the possibilities of the locals by exploring the 6 km distance between Mukundarachatram and Dhanushkodi-Arichalmunai through a rough-bumpy jeep ride.
The Abandoned Church
To our astonishment, there has been so much reformation done in the Indian mainland and has encouraged religious tourism too. The NH link between Dhanushkodi-Arichalmunai to the mainland through Rameswaram and Pamban comes to reality and flashes an enormous joy to the locals and it would give an advantage to Indian security forces to indulge in a vigil, throughout the coastal stretch. National Highway was inaugurated by the now Prime Minister back in 2017, which sprinkles ecstasy amidst the people of Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi. The Pilgrim-island is all set to manifest the history as well as the present breeze of the place.
