Rameswaram, 21 Jan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi finished his spiritual tour to temples with a Ramayana connection in southern India on Sunday by worshipping at a Lord Ram shrine at Arichal Munai, where he prayed and gave floral tributes on the beach.
Modi completed his temple visits ahead of the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22 by performing pooja and having darshan at the Sri Kothandaramaswamy temple, which is on the road to Dhanushkodi and Arichal Munai, from which Sri Lanka is a stone’s throw away.
Kothandaramaswamy, which means Lord Ram with a bow and arrow, is written in Tamil. The Prime Minister lay flowers on the Arichal Munai coastline and gave floral tributes at a monument featuring the national insignia. Arichal Munai is located on the southern point of Rameswaram island, in the Ramanathapuram district of southern Tamil Nadu.
The Prime Minister did ‘pranayama’ (breathing exercises) at the beach and offered prayers in the sea water. Earlier this week, he worshiped at Ramayana-related temples in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
Modi traveled to Arichalmunai, where the Ram Setu is claimed to have been built, after spending the night at Rameswaram on Saturday.
Ram Setu, also known as Adam’s Bridge, is claimed to have been built by Lord Ram with the assistance of the ‘Vaanara sena’ to travel to Lanka to wage battle against Ravana.
Following his visits to the Kothandaramaswamy temple and Arichal Munai, the Prime Minister arrived in Madurai and boarded an airplane bound for New Delhi.
According to temple priests, Modi transported a ‘kalash’ of sacred waters from Tamil Nadu. Modi came in Chennai on January 19 to launch the Khelo India Games 2023.
On Saturday, he went to the Sri Ranganathaswamy and Arulmigu Ramanathaswamy temples at Srirangam and Rameswaram.
