Dhanushkodi- A Holy Ghost Town Of India

Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town, Located on the south-eastern end of Pamban Island (or Rameshwaram Island) in Tamil Nadu, Dhanushkodi was ravaged and abandoned following a cyclonic storm in 1964. Now all that’s left is the ruins that serve as a reminder of the once prosperous and beautifull town.

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Dhanushkodi, once a prosperous town-

Flanked by the Indian Ocean on one side and the Bay of Bengal on the other, Dhanushkodi was once a bustling and beautiful town – with houses, schools, church, temple, a post office and a railway station. Thousands of people resided in this tiny town, once known as one of the richest fishing belts in the country. Also, it was the only land border between Sri Lanka and India, and served as a major port for several pilgrims and traders. The temple and the church in the town were visited by many devotees, making it a preferred tourist spot. In simple sentence Dhanushkodi was a famous tourist spot once.

Why Dhanushkodi got abandoned–

It all started when a super cyclone with a wind velocity of 280 km/hr hit Dhanushkodi on the night of December 1964. A massive cyclone swirled across Dhanushkodi with winds gusting up to 175 mph and the entire town was in ruins and deserted in the aftermath, just as it has stayed to this day. On that night the tidal waves are said to have gone up to 20 feet. The Pamban Dhanushkodi Passenger train which left Pamban with 110 passengers and 5 members of the railway staff was only few hundred yards before Dhanushkodi Railway station when it was hit by a massive tidal wave. The entire train was washed away killing all 115 on board. A few metres ahead of Dhanushkodi, the signal failed.  With pitch darkness around and no indication of the signal being restored, the driver blew a long whistle and decided to take the risk. Minutes later, a huge tidal wave submerged all the six coaches in deep water. The tragedy that left no survivors also destroyed the Pamban bridge, which connected the mainland of India to Rameshwaram island. The Pamban bridge, which connected India to the Pamban island (Rameswaram island) also got destroyed leaving more than 3000 people stranded on the island. In this cyclone, around 1800 people died including 115 passengers who were traveling by the train.

What remains one of the most memorable acts of bravery in India, four radio operators chose to remain in Dhanushkodi to broadcast updates during the storm. They survived by clinging on to the remains of the Pamban bridge for 12 hours for which they were admired and rewarded later. Before the cyclone hit Dhanushkodi, it had a railway station and jetty service to transport travelers to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. It was a busy port town with a working post office, a temple visited regularly by devotees and a church attended by locals and visitors alike.

After this incident, Dhanushkodi was declared a ghost town and unsafe for living by the government. Today, apart from the 50-60 odd fishermen and a few local shopkeepers, nobody else lives here. The place continues to fascinate history lovers and experience seekers!

Kothandaramaswamy Temple is one of the oldest temple which is more than 1000 years old in Dhanushkodi. It is the only building which survived the disastrous cyclone. According to the ancestors, this is the place where Vibhishana had joined hands with Lord Rama to defeat Ravana and also Vibhishana was crowned as the next king of Lanka in this place. Here one can see the idol of Lord Rama, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman and Vibhishana.

As per mythology, Dhanushkodi is the place where, on Lord Rama’s instructions, Hanuman and Lord Rama’s army built a bridge across the sea to reach Sri Lanka. It is located around 20 km from Rameswaram and around 31 km from Sri Lanka.This Ramasethu built across the sea connecting Rameshwaram Island (Tamil Nadu) and Mannar Island (Sri Lanka), to rescue Devi Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana. After rescuing his wife, Lord Rama destroyed the bridge with arrows from his bow, on request of Vibhishan who is the new Lanka King, thus the name of the town became ‘Dhanushkodi’, meaning ‘end of bow’.