Kothandaramaswamy Temple

The Kothandaramaswamy Temple stands at Dhanushkodi on Pamban Island. Dedicated to Rama, it takes its name from his bow, the kothandam held by the main idol, grouped with images of Lakshmana, Sita, Hanuman and Vibhishana. It is among the 108 Abhimana Kshethrams of the Vaishnava tradition.

Tradition identifies this shore as the place where Vibhishana, Ravana's younger brother, fled from Lanka and surrendered to Rama after his warning to return Sita was rejected. Rama welcomed him despite his vanara army's suspicions and, after Ravana's fall, crowned him king of Lanka here, a story painted on the shrine's inner walls.

Probably raised between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, the temple shared the island's fortunes. Malik Kafur's forces raided Rameswaram in 1311, the island passed to Vijayanagara in 1520, and the Sethupati rajas of Ramanathapuram later patronised its pilgrim shrines.