PM prays at Ram Setu ahead of Ayodhya visit
PM Modi concluded his two-day religious tour of Tamil Nadu by visiting the Kothandaramaswamy temple and the starting point of Ram Setu
In the last part of his journey to Ayodhya to open the Ram Temple, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday prayed at the Kothandaramaswamy temple and visited Arichal Munai, starting point of the Ram Setu — a mythical bridge believed to be built for Lord Ram to travel to Sri Lanka to rescue Sita from Ravana — before leaving Tamil Nadu after a two-day religious tour of the state.
In the past two days, Modi visited temples in Tamil Nadu’s Srirangam in Tiruchirappalli and Rameswaram in Ramanathapuram on his journey to religious landmarks where Lord Ram is believed to have stayed. Arisal Munai is the last point on the Indian mainland.
Videos showed Modi on a chair by the beach, practising pranayama (breathing exercises). “Had the opportunity to be at Arichal Munai, which holds a special significance in Prabhu Shri Ram’s life. It is the starting point of the Ram Setu,” Modi posted on X (previously Twitter).
The Kothandaramaswamy temple has idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman and Vibhishana. “Prayed at the iconic Kothandaramaswamy Temple. Felt extremely blessed,” Modi said about the temple in Dhanushkodi.
The Prime Minister landed in Chennai on January 19 to inaugurate the Khelo India Youth Games and stayed in the Raj Bhavan that night before flying to Tiruchirappalli the next morning to begin his spiritual tour. On Saturday morning, he prayed at the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, and took a chopper to Rameswaram to pray at the Sri Ramanathaswamy temple.
“It is the connection between Sri Ram and Srirangam that made the Prime Minister start his spiritual journey in Tamil Nadu from this point,” Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Karu Nagarajan told HT.
It is said that Ram presented the Ranganathanar idol to Vibhishana. Modi spend more than an hour inside this temple. At Ramanathaswamy temple, he took a dip in the 22 sacred wells (theerthams) and in the ocean.
“He has taken the holy water from here, which will be used during the ceremony in Ayodhya,” Nagarajan said. The Prime Minister stayed at the Ramakrishna Math. “The math members told us that he slept on the floor,” Nagarajan said. “When the Kamba Ramayana was being recited, he refused to sit on a chair and insisted he sit on the floor like anyone else.”
On Sunday afternoon, Modi took a chopper from Madurai to leave the state. On Monday, he will attend the pran pratishtha of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, where he will be the chief guest.