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Local Attractions
Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple
The crowning glory of this historic city is the sprawling
Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, which is one of the
greatest Shiva temples in India. The temple is known
for its sprawling landscape filled with sculptural wonders;
halls, pillars and lofty towers with lavish artwork
in all forms. The temple was built over a period of
time from 12th to early 18th century by Pandyan Kings
and Nayak rulers. The original temple was built by King
Kulasekara Pandyan, but the entire credit for making
the temple as splendid as it is today goes to the Nayaks.
The Nayaks ruled Madurai from the 16th to the 18th century
and left a majestic imprint of their rule in the Meenakshi
- Sundareswarar Temple.
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The temple complex is literally
a city – one of the oldest and the largest of
its kind in India. Today, the complex extends over an
area of 60,000 Sq. metres. The walls of the temple enclose
a rectangular space that is 830 ft by 730 ft. with four
massive gateways each towering about 160 to 170 ft.
high. Each gopuram or gateway with a base of about 170
square feet has more than 1,500 sculptures. In addition
to these four gopurams, there are eight other gopurams
of various sizes in the complex. Meenakshi temple is
a complete unification of architectural skill and artistic
beauty. The visitors is awed by its magnificent architecture,
tall towers, nearly 2,000 intrically carved monolithic
pillars, marvelous sculptures and old paintings. |
Thirumalai Nayaker
palace
The Palace was built in 1636 by King Thirumalai Nayak.
The imposing edifice. conceptualized by an Italian architect,
is famous for the fine stucco work on its domes and
impressive arches. The palace is a marvel of Indo-sarcenic
architecture, which is a synthesis of Mughal designs
and Indian materials developed by British architects
in India. It has massive white pillars, each 13 feet
in circumference and 65 feet high, which are connected
by highly decorated arches. Major portion of the palace
was destroyed by Thirumalai Nayak’s grandson who
removed jewels and wood carving to build his own palace
in Trichy that was never built. The original palace
was four times as large as it is today.
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Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam
At the eastern end of the old city, occupying an area
greater even greater than that of the Meenakshi-sundareswarar
temple complex is the Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam,
built by Thirumalai Nayak in 1646.
This enormous temple tank is fed by water brought from
the Vaigai through an ingenious system of underground
channels. The tank has a Mandapam at the centre enshrining
Lord Vigneshwara.
In January-February on a full moon day, the Teppakulam
is the venue of a float festival which attracts thousands
of tourists.
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Gandhi Museum
The building that houses the Gandhi Museum is the palace
of Rani Mangammal of Nayak dynasty built in 1670 A.D.
The museum has Gandhiji’s personal belongings;
photos, paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and same
articles used buy Gandhiji; a special exhibition with
illustration depicting the history of the Freedom movement
and many more.
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Azhagar Kovil Temple
Alagar Hills form chain of hills with dense forests
and sparkling rivulets and streams, 25km-away from madurai,
in the north eastern direction. In the forests, are
found rare Trees of economic importance and valuable
medicinal plants. The forest department maintains and
abortion of preservation of such plants.
On the hill slopes there are fortresses and ramparts
which have withstood the Navajos caused by fending warriors
clans and chieftains.With evergreen forests in the background,
a temple of Sri Vishnu with great antiquity and mythological
history is situated. The temple is dedicated to God
Alagar, named after exiquite beauty.
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A little away from the temple
is the perennial spring, and bath in it is considered
as holy and devotees visit in large numbers. Many festivals
are conducted, all of them inside the temple premises.
One major festival is conducted in April every year,
when God Alagar is taken in a never-ending procession
of devotees, to Madurai to attend the Divine marriage
of Goddess Meenakshi. God Kallagar after a week long
sojourn, entering the river vaigai in all splendor and
mounted on a galloping golden horse, accompanied by
milling goads and devotees in fancy costumes, and thousands
of country carts, is the stunning finale of the week
long festival.Noteworthy features of this Festival are
the emotional and physical involvement of rural people
from the suburbs and the mode of offering to God reminiscent
of Islamic custom.
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Jains
Caves
Madurai has been hailed as the Athens
of the East for its rich culture. The city has
also been a unique confluence of religions in
the past. Saivaism, Vaishnavism, Jainism,Christianity
and Islam flourished here. The early Jains caves
in Madurai represent the earliest lithic monuments
in this region.The caves contain the earliest
epigraphic records in Brahmi characters paleographically
assigned to a period from 2nd century BC to 3rd
or 4th century AD. |
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Salient features
of the caves may be summarized as follows: The natural
caverns were made suitable for habitation by cutting
stone beds in them. The beds were chiseled smooth
with one side raised a little to serve as pillows.
The over hanging rock was cut in the form of drip-ledge
so as to prevent rain water flowing into the cave
shelters. These holy residences were mostly located
near springs of water which catered to the basic
needs of the ascetics.There are about twenty six
caves with more than 140 stone beds , all situated
within a radius of 20 miles from Madurai city. The
Brahmi records inscribed on these monuments refer
to the names of the resident monks as well as the
laity who cut the stone beds. More
Gallery.....
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