1,212-pillar corridor of the Ramanathaswamy Temple

 Why in News?

At the 2026 BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping were seen shaking hands in front of a projection depicting the 1,212-pillar corridor of the Ramanathaswamy Temple in Tamil Nadu. The temple is located in Rameswaram on Pamban Island in Ramanathapuram district.

About Ramanathaswamy Temple

The Ramanathaswamy Temple is an important Hindu pilgrimage centre dedicated to Lord Shiva and is traditionally counted among the 12 Jyotirlingas of India. According to tradition, Lord Rama worshipped Lord Shiva at the site after returning from Lanka.

The temple assumed much of its present form through successive phases of construction, with the Sethupathi rulers of Ramanathapuram playing an important role in its development. According to an 1885 report by Henry Hardy Cole, a superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India, the temple in its present form was largely rebuilt in the 17th century after repeated destruction and rebuilding over earlier centuries.

The temple’s most famous architectural feature is its outermost, third corridor, which was added much later than the original structure. It is largely associated with the 18th-century ruler Muthuramalinga Sethupathi, the zamindar of the Ramnad estate.

The outer corridor contains 1,212 carved pillars, each approximately 6.9 metres high. The combined length of the temple’s corridors is commonly estimated at around 3,850 feet (approximately 1.17 km).

Each pillar is individually carved and decorated with floral motifs and figures of mythical creatures. The temple’s architectural significance therefore extends beyond its impressive number of pillars, representing the culmination of several centuries of South Indian temple-building traditions.

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