According to the Ramayana, Rama, the god Vishnu 's seventh avatar, prayed to the god Shiva to absolve him of the sin committed in Sri Lanka during his war against King Ravana. To worship Shiva Rama wanted to have a large lingam. He had ordered Hanuman, his army lieutenant, to carry a Himalayan lingam. When Hanuman was delayed in bringing the lingam, rama built out of the sand available on the seashore a small lingam that is believed to be the lingam in the sanctum.
Architecture of Ramanathaswamy Temple
The primary deity of the temple is Ramanathaswamy in the form of lingam. There are two lingams inside the sanctum-one built by Rama, from sand, residing as the main deity, Ramalingam and the one brought by Hanuman from Kailash called Vishwalingam. Rama instructed that the Vishwalingam should be worshipped first since it was brought by Hanuman-the tradition continues even today.
Like all ancient temples in South India, there is a high compound wall (madil) on all four sides of the temple premises measuring about 865 feet furlong from east to west and one furlong of 657 feet from north to south with huge towers (Gopurams) to the east and the west and finished gate towers to the north and south. The temple has striking long corridors in its interior, running between huge colonnades on platforms above five feet high.
The second corridor consists of pillars, beams and ceilings made of sandstone. The junction of the third corridor on the west and the paved road leading from the west gopuram to the shrine of Setumadhava forms a unique structure in the shape of a chess board, popularly known as Chokkattan Madapam, where the deities of Utsava are adorned and held during the Vasanthotsavam (Spring Festival) and the 6th day festival in Adi (July – August) and Masi (February – March) conducted by the Festival.
It is reputed that the outer set of corridors is the longest in the world, measuring about 6.9 m in height, 400 feet each in the east and west and about 640 feet in the north and south. The inner corridors are approximately 224 feet each in the east and west, and approximately 352 feet each in the north and south. Their width varies from 15.5 feet to 17 feet in the east and west approximately 172 feet in the north and south with width varying from 14.5 to 17 feet. Therefore the total length of those corridors is 3850 feet. The outer corridor contains around 1212 pillars.Its height is approximately 30 feet from the floor to the roof centre. The main tower is 53 m tall, or rajagopuram. The majority of pillars are sculpted with individual compositions. Ramanathaswamy Temple was a quagmire shed at the beginning. The current structure has been the work of many individuals, spread over several centuries. The pride of place in the creation of the Temple goes to the Ramanathapuram Setupatis. Dalavai Setupati designed a portion of the principal eastern Gopuram in the seventeenth century.The world-famous third corridor was built in the late eighteenth century by Muthuramalinga Setupati who lived for forty-nine years and ruled from 1763 to 1795. The corridor was named Mandapam Chokkatan. Muthuirullappa Pillai was the Mukhya Pradhani (Chief Minister), and Krishna Iyengar was the Chinna Pradhani (Deputy Chief Minister). The statue of the Setupati and those of his two Pradhanis (ministers) can be seen at the entrance of the third corridor to the West.
During the early 1500s, Virabhadra 's composite columns holding sword and horn are found to be additions of the Vijayanayagara kings. Similar columns of Virabhadra can be found in the Temple of Adikesava in Thiruvattaru, the Temple of Meenakshi in Madurai, the Temple of Nellaiappar in Tirunelveli, the Temple of Kasi Viswanathar in Tenkasi, the Temple of Krishnapuram Venkatachalapathy, the Temple of Soundararajaperum in Thadikombu, the Temple of Srivilliputhur Andalus, the Permanent Temple in Srivaikuntam, Avudayarkovil, Vaishnava Nambi and Thirukurungudivalli.
The temple is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites, and it has several historical references. Between 1745 and 1837 CE, the Maratha kings who ruled Thanjavur established and donated chatrams or rest-houses throughout Mayiladuthurai and Rameswaram to the temple.
It is believed that the temple in its current form was built during the 17th century, while Fergusson believes that the small vimana in the west corridor belongs to the 11th or 12th century. King Kizhavan Sethupathi, or Raghunatha Kilavan, is said to have sanctioned the temple for construction. There was considerable contribution to the temple by the Jaffna kings of the Sethupathy dynasty. King Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan (1380 — 1410 CE) shipped blocks of stone from the temple of Koneswaram, Trincomalee for the renovation of the sanctum sanctorum.The successor of Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan, Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan (Paracacekaran V), a trustee at Rameswaram who also oversaw the structural development of this temple and the promotion of Saivite beliefs, gave Koneswaram part of his revenue. Particularly worth recalling are the enormous sums spent during Pradani Muthirulappa Pillai 's tenure on the restoration of the ruins of the Pagodas and the splendid Chockattan Mantapam or the cloistered temple precincts at Rameswaram which he finally completed. Sri Lankan rulers also contributed to the temple-Parakrama Bahu (1153-1186 CE) was involved in the building of the temple's sanctum sanctorum.