A view of the ocean at Dhanushkodi. Due to these associations with the Ramayana, the Hindus of India consider Dhanushkodi a holy town and frequent it on pilgrimages. Dhanushkodi is located on the trip of Pamban island which is connected to Indian mainland only by the Pamban Railway Bridge. We have reviews of the best places to see in Dhanushkodi. However, in recent years, Dhanushkodi has caught the attention of the powers-that-be at the centre. Things to Do in Dhanushkodi, India: See Tripadvisor's traveler reviews and photos of Dhanushkodi tourist attractions. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Dhanushkodi Before The Night Of 22nd December 1964. On this night, a sudden cyclone from the South Andaman Sea, blown in by tremendous winds of velocities of 250 kilometres per hour and accompanied by 23 feet high tidal waves smashed into the town and destroyed it. On the night of 22 December 1964, as the cyclone was about to strike Dhanushkodi, the Pamban-Dhanushkodi Passenger, a six-coach train that provided a daily commuter service between Pamban and Dhanushkodi, was nearing Dhanushkodi railway station. It was shot along the coastline of Dhanushkodi, declared a “ghost town” by the state of Tamil Nadu over fifty years ago. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. However, what it can tell you are many horrifying stories that it has lived through. Like Dhanushkodi, it was never rebuilt. Dhanushkodi Tourism: Tripadvisor has reviews of Dhanushkodi Hotels, Attractions, and Restaurants making it your best Dhanushkodi resource. Antony Raj . This was ostensibly done to improve a lot of the impoverished fishermen. 3. Dhanushkodi was also connected by railway to various parts of India. While the sea at nearby Rameshwaram continues to be mired in pollution in the name of rites of absolution for the deceased, with ashes dissolved in its waves and mountains of ritually discarded clothes and non-biodegradable waste left to stagnate on its shores, the clear waters of Dhanushkodi seem to have been spared by default. Parts of the town went under water and those that remained above water level were isolated from one another. It is an important religious destination among Hindu pilgrims and many of them take a dip in sea here after visiting Rameshwaram. In 2014, the Indian government decided to connect Dhanushkodi to Rameswaram with a tar road. According to the local fishermen of Dhanushkodi, what remained of the Ram Sethu after Lord Rama destroyed it, was swept away by a cyclone in the 15th century. Dhanushkodi: The town that was never rebuilt. Dhanushkodi as we see it today. Am surprised not to find any listing here in TA for Dhanushkodi The parts of the town that the sea had claimed remained submerged underwater. We know, the title of our latest travel story is a bit different but would like to share the experience with our audience in a way that is more relevant and justify the place. Over 1,800 people perished in the cyclone and the town was never rebuilt. An enormous tidal wave crashed into the train and flung it as if it were a toy into the roiling sea and destroyed the Pamban bridge. After this natural disaster, the Government of Chennai declared Dhanushkodi as ghost town which was unfit … Dhanushkodi is not your typical tourist destination as it doesn’t have much on offer except for the beautiful landscape. Walk on the soft sand until you are tired and then lay back to gaze up at the sky and listen to the music of the rolling waves. Whose bow though? He pointed his bow end at Dhanushkodi twice. The town once bustling with locals and holidaymakers alike was emptied abruptly and completely. As per mythology, Dhanushkodi was the spot where Lord Rama and his army built Ram Setu, otherwise known as Adam’s Bridge across the sea connecting Rameshwaram Island (Tamil Nadu) and Mannar Island (Sri Lanka), to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana. As per the Hindu epic Ramayana, Lord Rama and his allies built a bridge between the mainland and Sri Lanka to send the army across. Once upon a time the town was connected with train from Chennai and through boat service from Sri Lanka. In the 1964, Dhanushkodi was hit by one of the worst storms India has ever seen. If you stand on the beach and look seawards, you can clearly see the green turbulent waters of the Indian Ocean on the right and the calm, blue waters of the Bay of Bengal on the left. These cookies do not store any personal information. And the bow we are discussing here is Lord Rama’s. Dhanushkodi was quite a prosperous town during the British Raj. Once a flourishing trade hub, Dhanushkodi is now an eerie ghost town. Fact Analysis: STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. The ruins of the station and the railway track were left untouched and Dhanushkodi could never be rebuilt. After Lord Rama defeated Ravana and … The name Dhanushkodi can be broken up into two words: Dhanush, which means bow, and Kodi, which means end. It was an important port town and the British used it to ship tea, spices, and other goods from India and Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, to Europe. A cyclonic storm now referred to as the 1964 Rameswaram cyclone or the Dhanushkodi cyclone started with the depression that formed in the South Andaman Sea on December 17, 1964. Wade into the shallows and watch a breathtakingly beautiful sunrise. In fact, it’s not really a part of the tourist map, and moreover this place is hard to reach. Today skeletal remains of some of the stone structures stand as a silent testimony to the havoc wreaked by nature on that fateful December night. (D Kartikeyan / Wikimedia Commons). You can plan to visit Dhanushkodi on a weekend. Train no 653, the Pamban to Dhanushkodi passenger train was crawling towards the destination amid horrid weather, the dark of night and almost no signal. Dhanushkodi. It is south-east of Pamban and is about 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclone … The idyllic beach could have been usurped by tourists and resort barons, but the relentless influx of sand and sea salt into the mainland has been a major deterrent to the process of restoration, leading successive governments to abandon all hope of progress and declare Dhanushkodi a “ghost town” unfit for human habitation. All they can afford above their heads, bearing the brunt of cyclone, are only makeshift thatched roofs. Would request toclick the below picture and read the statement which itself present the tailoring part of the whole story and experience we are going to share. A community of around five hundred fisherfolk constitutes the current population of Dhanushkodi. Legend has it that Dhanushkodi, which literally means “end of the bow”, was marked by Lord Rama with his bow as the spot from where the bridge to Lanka would be built by his vanarasena. Let’s find out why! The child in me was thoroughly enjoying the ride while holding the camera and phone carefully. At that juncture, the cyclone struck. There was a steamer ferry service which operated daily from the pier on the south-east of the Dhanushkodi town to the pier at Talaimannar. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways launched an ambitious road project to connect Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi in 2014. There were no survivors on the train. 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But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Amazing landscape it was from Rameshwaram. One can only fervently hope that Dhanushkodi does not meet with the fate of its neighbour Rameswaram under the onslaught of tourism and development. Dhanushkodi was like any other normal town before 22nd December 1964. (D Kartikeyan / Wikimedia Commons). Enjoyed this article? Back then, it wasn’t a town of ruins, as it is today. A place shrouded in mystery, this is a place that's easy to miss by the regular tourist. M. Bhaktavatsalam, then the chief minister of Madras State (now Tamil Nadu), flew over the place and reported that the tip of the engine was barely visible in the water.Incidentally, the disaster did not take place on Pamban Bridge as is popularly believed now, but at the Dhanushkodi end of Pamban Island, which is 28 kilometres (17 mi) away from the bridge. Surveys concluded that the Dhanushkodi township sank by almost 5 meters during the 1948-49 tectonic movement leading to a 7 by half kilometer stretch in the north – south direction getting submerged. Ruins of post office and hospital. This page presents a visual Dhanushkodi travel guide. For this, the red heifer ashes are not required, only going to the mikva, like any lady visiting on a monthly basis. Also, check out “The Disappearing Aral Sea and its Abandoned Ships“. The Government declared Dhanushkodi as a ghost town and not fit for habitation. Dhanushkodi History. (Mike Prince / Wikimedia Commons). Navigator: Dhanushkodi is 29 Kms from Rameshwaram. Tamriel Rebuilt Not Working Model Errors I just get tons of model load errors and crashes whenever I get near the mainland. Dhanushkodi is a ghost town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island in the Tamil Nadu state of India. If you can, visit Dhanushkodi early in the morning and spend an entire day on the beach. Nobody can remain in Dhanushkodi after 6 p.m. Until 2017, Dhanushkodi remained an isolated, nearly forgotten place. Not only because it's not really a part of the tourist map, but also because this place is … The public sentiment in India, however, is not going to be swayed anytime soon by NASA’s rebuttal. Ever since then, Tamil Nadu has rebuilt this town to become one of the most unique and unusual beach towns of India. It was here that Lord Rama, having killed Ravana, crowned his younger brother Vibhishana as the next King of the Rakshasas. Approximately 800 people lost their lives in Dhanushkodi, and soon the town could not be inhabited. Once accessible by railroad, the supercyclone of 1964 turned this bustling port town into an expanse of ruins overnight. Why the Government does not open Custom’s office at Dhanushkodi instead of playing with the sentiments of devotees? If you are lucky, you will get an entire isolated stretch of beach to yourself. There was a regular ferry service between the town and Talaimannar on Mannar island in Sri Lanka. The fishermen and their families, numbering around 500, who remained put, live in ramshackle with no electricity and running water. By T.V. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected]. On December 22, 1964, a massive cyclone swirled across Dhanushkodi with winds gusting up to 170 mph and the entire town was in ruins and deserted in the aftermath, just as it has stayed to this day. Dhanushkodi being declared as ghost town by State Government is one such destination for enthusiastic adventurists and travel explorers but still entrance into this small island in nights is strictly prohibited. Potable water is scarce and drawn from small shallow aquifers that trace their origins back to the legend of Lord Rama who is said to have shot his arrow into the ground for water springs to emerge. It is south-east of Pamban and is about 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. It is not unique, there are many such sandbank formations around the world. Situated at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, twenty kilometres south of the temple town of Rameswaram, Dhanushkodi stands at the farthest edge of the Indian mainland, with Sri Lanka a mere twenty-nine kilometres across the sea. Dhanushkodi is located on the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island in Tamil Nadu (state of India), about 20 km from Rameswaram (town). You might walk about amidst the stone ruins of the church, the post office, the medical college, the railway station, the hospital, the water tank, the school, and the other still-standing structures. Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Its pristine beaches overlook the narrow Palk Strait that separates India … If you wanted to get to the town, you had to take a bus from Rameswaram to a village some 4 km away and then hire a van there for a rather pricey sum to take you the remainder of the way to the site. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Prior to the cyclone, the town had been an important commercial centre with a railway station , a customs office, post and telegraphs office, two medical institutions, one railway hospital, a panchayat union dispensary, a higher elementary school and port offices. Dhanushkodi itself was devastated, with heavy loss of human life and a near complete destruction of all the town buildings. The nearby Kothandaramar temple, which is surrounded by the sea on three sides, also has a relation to Lord Rama. Dhanushkodi is an experience. An old man, propped up on crutches, sits by a shack near the dilapidated Dutch church and reminisces about his days of glory— when he swam across the Palk Strait and received a medal from no less than the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MGR— hoping for a few rupees in exchange. While the opening of the road will ostensibly pave the way for new businesses for the fisherfolk and their families settled in Dhanushkodi, the question of whether it will provide them a markedly better quality of life remains to be seen in an area where there has been no other infrastructure development in decades. What this could also mean for the livelihoods of the fifty-odd locally registered van and jeep operators who have been transporting tourists and pilgrims for decades, and whose strong trade union had ensured equal opportunities thus far, only time will tell. The government of Madras declared it a ghost town; that is, a place not fit to live in. The Boat Mail train regularly came to Dhanuskkodi from Madras Egmore to let off passengers on Dhanushkodi’s southeastern side, from where many of them took the steamer to Sri Lanka. Remember the stunning panorama of sea, sand and a solitary boat run aground in the song ‘Oru deivam thantha poove’ from the 2001 Mani Ratnam movie Kannathil Muthamittal? Dhanushkodi is a small, sparsely populated beach town on the coast of Tamil Nadu. Church ruin at Dhanushkodi. Shacks selling shells, trinkets and snacks have long since appeared above them. Dhanushkodi is about 30 kilometers from Sri Lanka and 25 kilometers from Rameshwaram. For centuries, we have called it the Ram Sethu bridge and we will continue to call it the Ram Sethu bridge. Dhanushkodi is still an offbeat destination and not too crowded. Dhanushkodi: A ghost town hopes to come alive. Tourist at Dhanushkodi. Corroded remnants of brick buildings stand bare against the bright blue arch of sky and sea, telling their own tales of endurance. The Ram Sethu, incidentally, is also called Adam’s Bridge. Dhanushkodi was a flourishing pilgrimage spot before the cyclone of 1964, which caused excessive destruction in the region extending from Mandapam to Dhanushkodi. We remain at the mercy of natural forces like all living creatures on this planet. However, it's likely you'll feel that you've reached the end of the earth as well. The town had a hospital, a school, a post office, a church, a railway station, customs and port (or post) offices, hotels and dharmshalas, textile shops, and all the other amenities that a flourishing town has. 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