The temple of Ramnathi is located in Ramnathim, Bandivade in Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

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Legend

Shri Ramanath Deity was originally installed 3000 years B.C by Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

 at Rameshwar. When Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

 came back from Lanka along with Sita, after killing Ravana, in order to absolve him of killing a Brahmin he decided to pray to Shiva. Hence a Shivlinga was installed and Rama prayed to it. This came to be known as Ramanath.

History

The original temple of Ramnathi in Goa, was located in Loutolim

Loutolim

Loutolim or Loutulim is a small town in Salcette taluka of South Goa district in the state of Goa, India.-Geography:Loutolim is located at . It has an average elevation of 32 metres .- History :...

 in salcette

Salcette

Salcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...

 (सष्टी), Goa. The Idol of Ramnathi was shifted to the present site in the 16th century to prevent its destruction by the then Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 authorities. In May 2011, the Ramnathi temple completed 450 years at its present location.

Deities

The chief deity of the temple is Ramnath. Since Ramnath is the chief deity, the temple came to be known as Ramnathi. The name Ram-Nath equals Lord of Rama. In addition the temple has the idols of the Goddess Santeri(Shantadurga

Shantadurga

Shantadurga also known as Shanteri/Santeri is the form of the Goddess Durga, commonly worshipped in Goa, India .She is also called Saibini in Konkani as a mark of reverence....

) from Rivona and the Goddess Kamakshi

Kamakshi

The goddess Kamakshi is a form of Tripura Sundari or Parvati or the universal mother goddess. The main abode of Kamashi is the Kamakshi Amman temple at Kanchipuram. Other important forms of goddess Tripura Sundari are Meenakshi of Madurai, Akilandeswari of Thiruvanaikaval and Vishalakshi of...

 from Loutolim

Loutolim

Loutolim or Loutulim is a small town in Salcette taluka of South Goa district in the state of Goa, India.-Geography:Loutolim is located at . It has an average elevation of 32 metres .- History :...

. There is an idol of Shree Lakshmi Narayan Shree Siddhanath (Ganesh), Shree Betal and Shree Kaalbhairav. This completes the Ramnathi Panchayatna.

Kulavis

The kulavis or associated families had migrated out of Salsette due to religious persecution and now dwell all along the western coast of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. A large number of the Saraswats kulavis live in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, South Canara

South Canara

South Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...

, Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 and abroad. The tradition of coming to the temple after a major family event continues.

The kulavis come from the Vatsa

Vatsa

Vatsa was one of the solasa Mahajanapadas of Uttarapatha of ancient India mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya....

 and the Kaundinya

Kaundinya

Kaundinya also known as Ajnata Kaundinya was a Buddhist bhikkhu in the sangha of Gautama Buddha and the first to become an arahant...

Gotras.