Breakaway Destination Guides (International)
Breakaway’s Travel World
A Guide to Golden Lands and Faraway Places
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Sri Meenakshi Sundareswara
According to legend Madurai is the actual site where the wedding between Shiva and Meenakshi took place. The gigantic temple complex, the statues exploring
the entire range of human emotions, everything here is larger than life. The soaring and exquisitely carved towers enclose the temple dedicated to Meenakashi.
Madurai or "the city of nectar" is the oldest and second largest city of Tamil Nadu. This city is located on the Vaigai River and was the capital of
Pandyan rulers. The Pandyan king, Kulasekhara had built a gorgeous temple around which he created a lotus shaped city. It has been a centre of learning and pilgrimage,
for centuries. Legend has it that the divine nectar falling from Lord Shiva's locks gave the city its name 'Madhurapuri' now known as "Madurai".
 The Meenakshi temple complex is one of the largest and certainly one of the most ancient. According to legend Madurai is the actual site where the wedding between
Shiva and Meenakshi took place. The gigantic temple complex, the statues exploring the entire range of human emotions, everything here is larger than life. The soaring
and exquisitely towers enclose the temple dedicated to Meenakashi. The south gateway contains the twin temples of Shiva and Meenakshi and is about nine storeys high.
  Once Dhananjaya, a merchant of Manavur, where the Pandyas had arrived after the second deluge in Kumari Kandam, having been overtaken by nightfall in Kadamba forest,
spent the night in the Indra Vimana. When next morning he woke up, he was surprised to see signs of worship. Thinking that it must be the work of the Devas, he told the
Pandya, Kulasekhara, in Manavur, of this. Meanwhile Lord Shiva had instructed Pandya in a dream to build a temple and a city at the spot Dhananjaya would indicate. Kulasekhara
did so. Thus originated the temple and city.
 The structures that are standing today date mostly from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. They occupy a vast space, 258m by 241m. There are the two main shrines,
no less than twelve Gopuras, a pool and innumerable Mandapas. At every turn there is superb sculpture, magnificent architecture.
This Mandapa is a convention in this temple, different from that followed in others, that the devotee offers worship first to Goddess Meenakshi. Therefore, while
there are four other entrances into the temple, under huge Gopuras in the four cardinal directions, it is customary to enter not through any of them but through a Mandapa,
with no tower above it. This entrance leads directly to the shrine of the Goddess.
The Mandapa is an impressive structure, with a hemispherical ceiling. It is 14m long and 5.5m wide. There are bas-reliefs all over the place. Over the entrance one
of them depicts the marriage of Goddess Meenakshi with Lord Somasundara. The Mandapa derives its name, the "Ashta Sakthi", from the fact it contains sculptures
of the eight Sakthis (also spelt as Shakti). Those of the four principal Nyanmars were added during renovation of the temple in 1960-63.
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