A Pilgrimage to Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram (A Journey Through Two of India's Most Sacred Centres of Pilgrimage)

A first hand account of two of India’s great sacred shrines on the sea shore with details of their legends and religious and historical significance particularly in relation with swami Vivekananda Holy mother Sri Sarada Devi and other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna.

Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari are two of the most well-known pilgrimage centres in south India. For centuries, they have been sources of inspiration to countless pilgrims and travellers from different parts of India and even beyond. While describing the geographical boundaries of India, Sanskrit literature speaks of India as a land ‘from Kashmir to Kanyakumari’ and ‘Himalaya to Setubandhana (Rameshwaram)’. This speaks of the deep veneration and importance these places of pilgrimage hold in the Indian cultural tradition. No wonder Swami Vivekananda was so keen on visiting it during his wanderings and was later accorded a royal welcome at Rameshwararn on his triumphal return from the West. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Brahmananda, and many other direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna have visited Rameshwaram.

The following pages contain a travelogue to these two places of pilgrimage. It is an attempt to put together the details of the legends, religious and historical significance, and the association with Swamiji, Holy Mother and other direct disciples with Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram..

The narrator, Swami Atmashraddhananda, is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and the present editor of The Vedanta Kesari, the cultural and spiritual monthly published from this Math. Both these narratives first appeared in The Vedanta Kesari (Kanyakumari: January- February 2009 and Rameshwaram: August-November 2009).

We hope the book will be helpful to the devotees and pilgrims interested in knowing more about these sacred places.