The town of Rameshwaram is built on an island. The temple has a majestic gopuram and a thousand feet long corridor. It stands on Gandhamadhana hill.

Deity: Ramanatha and Parvatha Vardhani.

Mythology : This temple was installed by Rama on his victorious return from Lanka. Rama wanted to install a Lingam to absolve him of the sin of killing a warrior(dosha). He sent Hanuman to bring a Lingam from Kailas, but Hanuman was late and so Sita made a Lingam out of sand.Hanuman arrived with a Lingam, he was disappointed and furious. To pacify him, Rama installed the Hanumath Lingam (Vishwa Lingam) also by the side of the Ramalinga and ordained that all pujas should first be performed for the Vishwalingam brought by Hanuman.

The abisheka for Sri Ramanatha is performed daily with water brought from The Ganges. The shrine of Parvathvardani is on the right side of Sri Ramalinga. A Srichakra can be seen here. There is a separate Shrine dedicated to Vishnu known as Sethu Madava and mode of white marble. There are 22 holy theerthams in different parts of the temples. The waters are considered to have medicinal properties. Statues of sethupathis of Ramnad, who made abundant contribution to the construction and maintenance of the temples, are installed inside the temple. About a mile and half west of Rameshwaram temple is a storeyed mantapam known as Gandha madana parvatham. Sri Rama padam is enshrined here.

There is a Vishnu temple about seven miles from Ramanathapuram known as Thiruppullaani or Darbasayanam. This is considered to be the place where Sri Rama lay, on a bed of grass.The figures of Sri Rama lying on his bed of grass and the ocean god are seen.

Devi patham / Navapashanam: This is ten miles north east of Ramanathapuram.It has a temple to nine planets(navagrahas) installed by Rama. There is a Devi shrine here.

There are twenty four tirthas here. According to the sthalapurana,Vishnu incarnated as Sethumadhava and seduced Gunanidhi, daughter of a king .The king imprisoned him without knowing who he was. Later he realised that it was Vishnu and released him. There are various lingas installed by Hanuman, Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Sugreeva, Angada, Neela, Jaambavaan, Vibishana and Indra.