Meenakshi temple is also known as Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The Meenakshi temple complex is a city temple - one of the largest and certainly one of the most ancient. The Sri Meenakshi Sundareswara temple and Madurai city originated together. Within the Sri Meenakshi temple complex, housed in the 1000-Pillared Hall, is the Temple Art Museum . After lunch visit the Meenakshi temple, King Tirumala's Palace, Great Tank and Gandhi museum.
Golden Lotus tank is another attraction of Meenakshi temple. After spending two weeks in India, the Meenakshi temple was the coolest, most interesting temple we have seen. Interestingly, Meenakshi Temple is one of the few temples in South India to have four entrances in four directions. The Meenakshi temple and the others can be covered in a span of 3-4 days. The most beautiful buildings in Madurai including its most famous landmark, the Meenakshi temple, were built during the Nayak rule.
The palace is a 20-minute walk from the Sri Meenakshi temple. It is, however, the Thousand Pillar Hall of Meenakshi Amman that takes your breath away. On the left side of Shiva, the shrine of Goddess Meenakshi appears enchanting with quite less ornamentation. The central shrine is devoted to Goddess Meenakshi and her consort Lord Shiva. Over the entrance one of them depicts the marriage of Goddess Meenakshi with Lord Somasundara.
The story goes that Meenakshi was born out of a yajna fire to Malayadhawaja Pandyan and Kanchanamalai. As Maladhwaja Pandyan did not have any other children, Meenakshi was crowned the empress. According to legend Madurai is the actual site where the wedding between Shiva and Meenakshi took place. The pillars depict scenes from the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. The south gateway contains the twin temples of Shiva and Meenakshi and is about nine storeys high.
To avoid delays it is better to buy enterance tickets for Meenakshi and Sundereshwar sannadhis.
Temple is a perfect example of Dravidian architecture.The majestic southern gopuram has over 1500 sculptures.This temple is dedicated to Shiva and Parvati.The Temple Museum is the 'thousand pillared hall' where each of the 985 pillars is carved in great detail,icons, photographs and illustrations. Apart from being a very sacred spot for the Hindus.The original temple was razed to the ground by the invading armies of Malik Kafur,the general of Allauddin Khilji of the Khilji dynasty of
Delhi, in early 14th century.
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