Beautiful temples virtually lie at the end of every curve in Goa’s Ponda taluka. One such is the temple of Lord Ramnath, located in Ponda’s Ramnathi village.
According to local legend Lord Ramnath owes his name to Rameshwar in South India. Legend has it that the mythological god Ram was filled with remorse for slaying King Ravana and in order to seek redemption for the slaying, Rama tried to make amends. He installed a shiva linga, which came to be called Ram-nath or Ram-eshwar subsequently.
The deity at Ramnath has been relocated on more than one occasion, first when it was installed at Loutolim village after Brahmins ferried it all the way to Goa after they migrated from Rameshwar and the second instance was when the deity had to be relocated from Loutolim to Ramnathi village to escape desecration of the idol at the hands of the Portuguese colonists.
The grand temple of Ramnathi is home to several other deities too like Siddhanath, Kamakshi, Santeri and Laxmi Narayan and has a spectacular deepastambha outside the main structure.
Something to look forward to if you are visiting the temple is the silver door of the inner sanctum which has amazing relief carvings of gods and scenes of piety.
