Located in the temple state of Tamil Nadu, Madurai displays all the qualities of a historical Indian city. It lies on the either side of the Vaigai river and holds the distinction of being India's oldest existing city. According to legend Madurai is the actual site where the wedding between Shiva and Meenakshi took place. One crosses the mess of traffic snarls and ugly developments to visit the pious city of Madurai to catch a glimpse of the world famous Meenakshi temple.


Mysterious Meenakshi
This 17th century temple was built by Tirumala Nayak and has two sanctuaries, one dedicated to Lord Shiva as Sundareswara and the other to Meenakshi, his wife. It is a huge temple, in which you can get lost. The temple has a hall with a thousand pillars. There is an interesting art gallery and museum in this hall with some fascinating deities. The inner sanctums are restricted to Hindus only, but anyone can go anywhere else on the temple grounds. It is very exciting to visit the temple both in the day and at night, as the dark corridors , with lamps burning here and there, are very impressive.

Temple Complex
The temple complex and its surrounding areas are spread over 60,000sq m.The outer wall of the complex is 259 m by 221m. It is estimated that there are 33 million carvings in the temple. It has 12 large gopurams or gates with coloured statues on the outer wall. The southern tower is the largest and holds some 1500 sculptures.


Take a plunge in the pond of devotion and spiritualism.............Meenakshi Temple awaits you.