As we drove towards Dhanushkodi beach, our drive suddenly stopped the car and asked if we wanted to see the Floating stones.. Puzzled, i looked at him and asked "what floating stones?"
Instantly
he replied "madam, the ones that were used in building the bridge
Ramasethu [Adam's bridge] by Rama and the monkeys. There is a Panchamuka
Hanuman Temple less than 2 kms from here. I can take you there if you
wish".
Dint need any more motivation, nodded my head and
off we went to the Hanuman temple. It is a small temple, with the
image of
Hanuman etched on the wall in red vermillon. The Hanuman has five faces
and looks like he is standing leaning on the wall. There were a few
pillars and at the base of one i spotted two large stones, on another
pillar was the map of how India was back in the days and the path that
Rama had taken when building the bridge.
As
you walk around the main sanctum, there is a small pit of sorts filled
with water, and covered with mesh. Inside this tank, lo behold, i
noticed there were a few floating stones. The priest came around and
told me these were among the ones used by Rama when building the bridge
and that the stones really did float. " You cant put your finger in and
push them down, but they will surface within minutes, go ahead try it"
he said. And much to my amazement, that is exactly what happened.
Legend has it that Rama and his army of monkeys decided to build the bridge under the guidance of Hanuman (Monkey-God) and the engineering supervision of Nala. They wrote "Rama" on the stones and used them to build the bridge over the ocean. Apparently, even today, in Devipatnam, or Navapashanam, also by the sea, there are nine stones visible at low tide. It is believed that they were set up by Sri Rama to represent the nine planets, the Navagrahas.
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That is amazing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story. And how lucky that you could actually see stones float!
ReplyDeletenice story, Aarti.. good that u were able to visit it.. we werent.. have heard of it though... as to devipattinam or navapashanam, there are indeed nine stones representing the navagrahas, which are visible at low tide.. but the place is completely spoilt these days. when i first went, there were just these nine stones...and we had to wade through water to reach them. today, these stones are encircled within a concrete pathway covered by shiny tiles ..so u dont need to enter the water till u reach them.. and ppl have put so much filth in the water in the name of prayers.. u can imagine.. til and flowers and oil and whatnot... and we didnt even feel like entering the water to approach the stones..
ReplyDeleteoh wow! So many intriguing things in India that we never know of. I havent been to Dhanushkodi but i have been to Devipatnam. Yes, i could see the 9 Navagrahas after wading through water. It was an amazing experience when i was a kid
ReplyDeletelovely pictures
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Nice post.
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