DHANUSHKODI - TAMIL NADU

Dhanushkodi or Danushkodi is a town/village at the southern tip of the Rameswaram island, at the eastern coast of theTamil Nadu state of India. Its also known as ghosts town.

Dhanushkodi is situated in the South-East of Pamban. Danushkodi is about 18 miles (29 km) West of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The Dhanushkodi railway line running from Pamban Station was destroyed in the 1964 cyclone and a passenger train with over 100 passengers drowned in the sea.  Eyewitness accounts recollected of how the surging waters stopped just short of the main temple at Rameshwaram where hundreds of people had taken refuge from the fury of the storm. Following this disaster, the Government of Madras declared the town as Ghost town and unfit for living after the storm.Only few fisherfolks now live there.

            Hindu scriptures says that at the request of Vibeeshana, brother of Ravan and ally of Ram, Rama broke the Sethu with one end of his bow and hence the name Dhanushkodi, Dhanush meaning Bow and Kodi meaning end. It is also said that Rama marked this spot for Setu with one end of his famous bow. Bath in holy Sethu at the junction of the two seas normally precedes the pilgrimage to Rameswaram. A series of rocks and islets found in a line are shown as remnants of the ancient Setu also called as Rama's Bridge.

            Dhanushkodi has the only land border between India and Sri Lanka which is one of the smallest in the world-just 50 yards in length on a shoal in Palk Strait. Before the 1964 cyclone, Dhanushkodi was a flourishing tourist and pilgrimage town. Since Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) is just 19 miles (31 km) away, there were many ferry services between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar of Ceylon, transporting travellers and goods across the sea. There were hotels, textile shops and dharmashalas catering to these pilgrims and travellers. The Railway line to Dhanushkodi–which did not touch Rameshwaram then and destroyed in the 1964 cyclone-went directly from Mandapam to Dhanushkodi. Dhanushkodi in those days had a railway station, a small railway hospital, a higher secondary school, a post office, customs and port offices etc

             Haunting yet appealing, deserted but still full of life, eerie but fascinating — Dhanushkodi is full of contradictions. Bow's End (as translated from Tamil) is a sure delight if you have a penchant for impossibly blue seas, pristine white sands and ruins by the shore. Bordered by the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, this semi-ghost town is probably one of the most spectacular stretches in Tamil Nadu.
Breathtaking beauty, a population of less than 500, the nearest telephone about 20 km away, out of reach of mobile signals and the feeling of being in a place which was once alive, now reduced to rubble, makes it a place truly less travelled.

There  is another roofless shattered building resembling a church. Inside, a pedestal, which could have been the altar, stands intact. the village post office — now a grand red arch, the rest of it buried in sand. A ruined railway station and a temple lie among the debris. But the shells of the structures sit peacefully in dunes of white sand against a deceivingly calm and sparkling blue sea.

Old church

pic of thedisaster

old railway station

a railway brigde that can be folded

There are a lot of temples on way to danushkodi. On reaching danushkodi to view the bridge made by Rama we have to hire a truck that can travel through the sand dunes. The ride through the sand dunes is to memorable, the blue ocean and the cold wind in the wild deserted area is so memorable.