Life on the Threshold: The Post-disaster Reality of Dhanushkodi

Jahnavi J

Life on the Threshold: The Post-disaster Reality of Dhanushkodi

Within a span of 12 hours, Dhanushkodi went from a bustling trade centre and pilgrimage to a melancholic, ruined ghost town. What was once a well-planned town is now home to only a handful of scattered fishermen.

The ruins of a church in Dhanushkodi, Rameshwaram. Source: Flicker/Nitish

It was 11:55 pm on 22 December 1964. Train No. 653, the Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train, started its usual journey from Pamban with 110 people, including a batch of students, pilgrims, and five railway staff. At the outskirts of Dhanushkodi, Arunachalam Kumaraswamy, the bridge inspector who was piloting the train, saw that the signal went out and stopped the train for a while. Owing to the lack of proper radio connectivity during that time, he assumed that the signal must have failed due to the heavy rains and decided to take the risk to continue forward. Moments later, a massive tidal wave of over 20 feet hauled the entire train into the ocean, making it the last day for everyone on board.

On that day, a cyclone that had originated in the South Andaman Sea six days earlier tore down the entire town of Dhanushkodi to rubble, with wind speeds reaching 280 kilometres per hour and a death toll of over 1800.

But its significance as a trade link was not the only reason this city was frequented by visitors. The land of Dhanushkodi as mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana **had immense mythological relevance to the people all over the country. It was believed that when **Sita was kidnapped by the demon king Ravana, Rama, his devotee Hanuman, and the army of monkeys built the Ram Setu bridge to Lanka starting from here. The same bridge in Islamic records could be found by the name Adam’s Bridge since it was believed that Adam crossed over to India from Sri Lanka through this bridge. The name Dhanushkodi also originates from the belief that Lord Rama destroyed the bridge with his bow after returning from their mission — ‘dhanush’ **means bow, and ‘kodi’ means end.

Surprisingly, the only structure that remained intact after the cyclone, the Kothandaramar Temple, was the place where Lord Rama is believed to have coronated Vibeeshana, Ravana’s brother, as the king of Lanka. A visit to this temple and a dip in the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean was considered sacred and usually preceded the pilgrimage to one of the char dham (the four sacred pilgrimage sites of Hinduism), the Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameshwaram, adding value to Dhanushkodi that sat on the threshold of these oceans.

Dhanushkodi is fascinating for people of various backgrounds because of its vast expanses of beach scattered with city ruins, surrounded by astounding natural beauty, and shrouded in an air of sombre memories and mythological tales. Visitors had to board small boats and travel over knee-deep, muddy seawater on bumpy roads to reach Old Dhanushkodi. But in 2016, the 9.5-kilometre-long road link from Muhuntharayar Chathiram to Dhanushkodi was finished by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, making it simpler to get there.

Standing on the narrow strip of land after sunset, one feels small in comparison to the wide sea and the sky's starry expanse. Dhanushkodi is perched on the cusp of the exciting and the eerie, wedged between two oceans, bridging two nations, and a site of veneration with the fear of impending doom.

Former Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, whose father managed a ferry business that transported pilgrims between Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi, talked about how the locals here had learned to sleep through cyclones and storms since it was a frequent occurrence in the Bay of Bengal. Naturally, everyone in Dhanushkodi had assumed that things would return to normal within a few days, despite the heavy rains on the day of the 1964 cyclone. But two days later, when the tragedy caused by the cyclone came to light by a bulletin from the railway headquarters, the government declared the place unsafe for habitation.

Amidst the dilapidated structures of the past, a handful of fishermen and their families presently live in huts with thatched walls and roofs and small wells that tap the sea aquifers for sweet water. Sometimes, the children attempt to sell seashells to tourists who decide to visit the ghost town in awe of the marine wealth and natural beauty as well as the flock of migratory birds.

Dhanushkodi lies to the southeast of Pamban, 15 kilometres from Rameshwaram in India and around 29 kilometres from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. It shares the only land border between India and Sri Lanka, 45 metres in length on a shoal in the Palk Strait, often known as India’s last land.

Before disaster struck, this was one of the major hubs for transporting people and goods between India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The Boat Mail, introduced by the British in 1914 for communication between the two countries under their control, connected Egmore in Chennai to Dhanushkodi Pier via rail link and then to Talaimannar Pier via ferry service. It was used by ships named after English viceroys like Irwin and Koshan, and later with the rise of Indian competitors, the Madras Maru. Passengers could further take the Talaimannar Fort Night Mail to Colombo from the pier.

The passengers travelling via Boat Mail had to undergo formalities like basic health tests and passport issues at Dhanushkodi. To cater to this, the town had well-planned public buildings like a hospital, railway office, church, dharamshala, school, mosque, church, and temples, all built in the British style. The houses were organized in clusters, easily accessible through a marketplace. Since these were built of stone or brick masonry, parts of these structures survive today as ghosts of the lively city.