Located to the south eastern edge of India, Tamil Nadu is placed between Karnataka to its west and Andhra Pradesh to its North. Renowned all over as the Land of the Temples, the state boast of more that 30, 000 temples to its credit. The innumerable Vishnu temples are directly dedicated to Lord Vishnu and not from his incarnations. Lord Shiva another Deity of the trimurties according to the Hindu religion is worshipped as five elements - Sky or space in Chidambaram, water in Tiruvanaikkaval, fire in Tiruvanamalai,earth in Kachipuram and lastly air in Sri Kalahasti that lies in Andhra Pradesh. The Nataraja temple situated in Chidambaram is one of the most important Shiva Temples in India.


Among the important Vishnu temples are the Ranganatha Swami temple in Srirangam, Varadaraja perumal in Kachipuram,Lord Sarangapani at Kumbhakonan and the temple of Alagar Koil near Madurai. Even Parvati , the wife of Lord Shiva has few great and important tempes dedicated to her. The prime ones are the Meenakshi at Madurai and Kamakshi in Kanchipuram, Kartikeya , the son of Lord Shiva and Ganesha his brothertoo has some opulent temples dedicated in their names in places like Tirrutani, Swamimalai,Thiruparankunran.

Architecture of Tamil Nadu Temples
The Tamil Nadu temples are design in the typical Dravidian style usually carved from stones. The shape of the temples may be rectangular, square, star shaped or octagonal. These temples in general have large towers known by gopurams places at the entrances. A vimana is the tower over the sanctum where the deities are placed while the large pillared hall with corridors are common in all the temples in the state of Tamil Nadu.

From among the lot few temples dates back to more that 1700 years displaying a rich heritage of ancient Tamil Nadu. The most sacred place in the architecture of the temples is the pitha, the pedestal, that is placed in the sanctum sanctorum or the inner sanctum. The sanctum santorum is topped by a pyramidal tower having several high storied called the vimana. Many temples have halls such as the ranga mahal intricately carved for occasional sacrifices and dance recitals. The main area to the halls are enclosed by a single wall of many miles in length.


Important Temples in Tamil Nadu
» Meenakshi Temple
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.