About Rameswaram Island

Rameswaram island is one of the famous “place of pilgrimage” and a tourist spot in India. It is well known by the Hindu devotees & Pilgrims for its sacredness mentioned in ancient Indian scriptures such as puranas and epic Ramayana. Millions of pilgrims and  tourists visits ‘Rameshwaram’ all around the year.

The Island city of Rameswaram is located in the  sea region called by the name “ Gulf of mannar Bio sphere reserve“, surrounded by the sea water on all of  its sides (“Bay of Bengal and  Indian ocean” merges in the very tip of this island ), this island Situated exactly  in between India and Srilanka . It is Separated from the main land of Indian Peninsula  by means of  “Pamban Channel” The main land of India  is connected through a Road bridge [2.03 KM], and a cantilever Railway Bridge [2.06 KM].

Rameswaram is a town and a Third grade municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is administered by a municipality established in 1994. The town covers an area of 51.8 Sq.km and possesses sandy soil for almost 74% of its area.

Geographical details about Rameswaram

Rameswaram Island is located on the eastern part of Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu bound between the latitudes E 79°12′ 30″ and E 79° 27′ 30″ and longitudes N 9° 8′ 55″ and N 9° 19′, with an average altitude of 9 meter above mean sea level.  It has the  landforms like beaches, beach ridges and Swales, mudflats, Dunes and Sandy plains , raised coral terraces, lagoons, Mudflats,  spit ,creeks along with living corals.

Typical Climate in Rameswaram:

Rameswaram has dry tropical climate with low humidity throughout the year.  The highest ever temperature recorded was 38°C and the lowest was 17 °C. The average temperature in summer (ie April to August ) lies within 30 to 38°C. The average temperature in Winter season lies on 25 to 30°C (ie, December – February).

The North-East and the  South-West monsoons hits the Rameswaram island. The South-West monsoon, extends from April over a period of 6 or 7 months, whereas the North-East monsoon commences in November and ceases in February or early March.

Rameswaram got rainfall mostly from North East monsoon from October to January. Average rainfall is 50 cm.

People and life in Rameswaram:

The Rameswaram  has population of 44,856 of which 22,783 are males while 22,073 are females as per report released by Census India 2011.

Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 5022 which is 11.20 % of total population of Rameswaram (M). In Rameswaram Municipality, Female Sex Ratio is of 969 against state average of 996. Moreover Child Sex Ratio in Rameswaram is around 974 compared to Tamil Nadu state average of 943. Literacy rate of Rameswaram city is 82.61 % higher than state average of 80.09 %. In Rameswaram, Male literacy is around 87.64 % while female literacy rate is 77.42%.

Tourism and fishery employs the major source of income among Rameswaram residents. Being an island fishing is the traditional occupation of the people. Rameswaram is one of the important fishing centers of Tamil Nadu. Fishing, collection of seashells, exporting sea foods, tourism, restaurants, Hotels, prohitham (Hindu religion’s holistic rituals), sea shell, pearl, conchs, marts are the main occupations of the Rameswaram people.

There is a famous saying roam around the rameswaram which says “In the island of Rameswaram people never plough the fields  or  using oil-presses to obtain oil”.

The soil of Rameswaram is not suitable for agriculture, however in some lands around the island people cultivate vegetables,  Coconut, palm  and tamarind  trees. Coconut and palm trees are the main vegetation of  this island. Palm leaf baskets, idols made up of coconut, fiber bags  made out of coconut and palm fibers are crafted by rameswaram people.

Basically Rameswaram is an industrially backward town – there has been no demarcation for industrial land due to the pilgrim sanctity and ecological fragile geography. sea foods processing , ice  and  sea shell crafting kind of industries are  the only industries ran in Rameswaram.

Keywords: Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram district, fishing, rameswaram municipality, rameswaram island,About Rameswaram