Panchamukhi Hanuman Temple

Panchamukhi Hanuman Temple or the five-faced Hanuman Temple, is situated at a distance of 2 km from Sri Rameshwaram Temple. This temple is dedicated to Hanuman Ji. It is said that Hanuman Ji had revealed his five faces here; hence the idol of Hanuman is depicted with five faces which are of Hanuman Ji in the middle along with faces of Narasimha, Adivaraha, Garuda and Hayagriva on the sides. The statue has been covered with sindoor by the saints. In 1964, after the cyclone in Dhanuskhodi, the idols of Shri Rama and Goddess Sita were brought to this temple and placed here. Also known as Panchamukhi Anjaneya, This Temple is visited by almost every devotee who comes for a Rameshwaram Tour.

Floating stones in Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple

Another major attraction of this temple is the collection of ‘floating stones’ that are kept at the temple for the devotees to see. These floating stones were used for building the floating bridge named Sethu Bandhan or ram Sethu, from Rameshwaram to Lanka so that Ram, Lakshman along with others could go to Lanka.

According to the legend, during the war between Ram and Ravan, Ravan had sought the help of Ahiravan, who was the king of Patala Loka. However, Hanuman Ji, in order to protect Ram and Lakshman, had built a huge fortress around them with his tail.

So, later Ahiravan disguised himself as Vibhishan, brother of Ravana who was helping Ram in the war. He then took Ram and Lakshman to Patala Loka so as to kill them. Hanuman Ji while searching them also reached Patala Loka where he found out that in order to kill Ahiravan he was supposed to extinguish all the five lamps at the same time; these five lamps were burning in different directions. So to kill Ahiravan and save Ram and Lakshman, Hanuman Ji took the form of Panchmukhi Hanuman and put out all the lamps at the same time.