Meenakshi Temple, Madurai

[Anniyan]

MADURAI CITY

Copy right: oochappan

[Anniyan]

Thousand Pillar Hall at Meenakshi temple

The Thousand Pillar Hall should count 999 pillars as the last is the leg of Shiva. In fact there are 985 beautifully decorated columns. Each pillar is sculptured in the Dravidan style (jumping Lion: Pallava III). Nowadays the hall is used as a museum where you can see icons, photographs, drawings, etc., exhibiting the 1200 years old history.

In the corner you find the music-pillars: each has his own sound as you knock on it.

At the end of the Hall you see Nataraja or the famous dancing Shiva.

South to this Hall you will find the Mandapam or hall where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati is celebrated every year during the Chitirai Festival in mid- April.

[rvtheace]

Wow, what beauty!

[Jai]

Great pics Anniyan!!

Glad to see this beauty so magnificently restored, finally!

[Anniyan]

Madurai at dusk

Copy right : Henk Jacobs aka oochapan




One of South India's great temple towns, Madurai is synonymous with the celebrated Meenakshi Temple. Situated on the banks of river Vaigai, Madurai has a rich cultural heritage passed on from the great Tamil era more than 2500 years old. Madurai was an important cultural and commercial centre even as early as 550 AD

This is one of the ancient planned city , The Pandyan King Kulasekarar built a great temple and created a lotus shaped city around the temple

[Jai]

[Hindustani]

Originally Posted by Anniyan

Photo:Velachery balu

Wow!!. This picture is mind boggling. so creative. perfect 10.

[centralized pandemonium]

Maybe we should start a thread abt MMT in the main photo forums, and also of the Brihadiswar temple.

[Jai]

Such a magnificent temple...

[Anniyan]

Model of Madurai Meenakshi Temple

photo by: Carl Murphy

[WillyWick]

A brief history

The Meenakshi temple is a Hindu temple in the Tamil Nadu city of Madurai.

Initially there was only the Shiva temple. It was expanded by Vaishvanâtha of the Vijayanagara empire in 1560 and took 120 years to complete, with most of the construction being done between 1623 and 1660 at the behest of Kulasekara Pandya. The massive structure measures 254 by 237 meters. The temple precinct is surrounded by nine gopurams (monumental gateways covered with sculpture) which rise up to 200 feet high. Its tallest spire rises 60 meters, and was for many years the tallest structure in its category in Asia.

A smaller Mandapa connects the large one with another large one with another large hall, called the "Samagam Meenakshi Naicker Mandapa", after its builder, a minister of Vijayaranga Chokkanatha (1706-32), who erected in 1707. In former times the temple's elephants camels and bulls used to be stabled here. A brass "Tiruvatchi" holding a thousand and eight lamps stands here, 7.6m high. Marudu Pandya, one of the early opponents of the growing British power, installed it.

The temple is dedicated to Shiva, known locally as Sundareshvara, and his consort Meenakshi, or Fisheyed One. The dual shrines dedicated to god and goddess add to the complexity of the plan. The Shiva shrine lies at the centre of the complex, suggesting that the ritual dominance of the goddess developed later. The shrines are small and crowned by modest shikaras (towers) with gold plated finials. They are surrounded by their own walled and roofed enclosures with a connecting gate in their common side-wall. Within the outermost enclosure are various other features such as the Golden Lotus tank in which rainwater is collected for ritual ablution, the Marriage Hall that is used at the festival of the marriage of Shiva and Meenakshi, and the 16th century Hall of a Thousand Pillars. Outside the main entrance the New Hall was constructed, an immense pillared pavilion, built in the 17th century by a Nayak ruler who commissioned life-size images of Nayak royalty to be carved against its granite columns. A massive unfinished gopuram, or gateway-tower precedes the New Hall. These gopurams are characteristic of Vijayanagara temple cities. Their tall and highly decorated concave profile increase in size from the inner to the outer enclosures. The gopuram to the south, for example, rises up to 60 m and is covered with over 1500 brightly-painted figures of gods and demons.

The Meenakshi Naicker Mandapa is a huge hall, 42.9m long and 33.5m wide. It contains 110 stone columns, each 6.7m high. There are yalis in the capital and delicate reliefs below. Some of the carvings are unfinished.

The Mudali Pillai Mandapa follows the Chitra Gopura. Added in 1613, it is 183m long and 7.6m wide. On its wall are many puranic scenes. It used to be without any natural light, but windows were added in the last renovation.

The Meenakshi-Temple remains the symbol and heart of the city of Madurai and one of the holiest sites in India, attracting pilgrims and tourists.

http://www.madurai.com/meena.htm
http://www.indiaplaces.com/india-mon...hi-temple.html

[VaastuShastra]

I wish this was more publicised - when watching Discovery chan, it was ironic that the documentary on Ankor Watt was more appretiative of Indian civilisation than the one on Indian temples ;-)

[WillyWick]

Meenakshi Temple - From mythology to recorded history

The Sri Meenakshi Sundareswara temple and Madurai city originated together.The City of Madurai, was built around the Meenakshi temple. Rectangular streets named after the Tamil months of Aadi, Chithirai and Maasi surround the temple, symbolizing the structure of the cosmos. It is Tamil Nadu's oldest city and one of India's oldest cities, with a history dating back to the Sangam period of the pre-Christian era. It was home to the ancient Tamil Sangam (The Academy of Tamil Learning), the literary conclave that produced the first Tamil epic Silappathikaaram and other masterpieces of Tamil literature. Megasthenes, the ancient Greek diplomat and envoy to India in 3rd century BC, had written in glowing terms about it in Indica, his celebrated account on India.

Legend has it that Indra, the ruler of the Devas was engaged in a duel with a demon by name Virudran. The demon, pursued by Indra reached a hill top and began penance; Indra, caught in the heat of the battle and the pursuit, killed the defenseless demon. Full of remorse, he set out on a pilgrimage of various shrines, in an attempt to absolve himself of the sin of having killed the demon.

In the course of his pilgrimage he reached a forest of Kadamba trees in the southern portion of peninsular India, in the Pandya Kingdom. Upon experiencing a feel of positive energy and a relief from the weight of guilt, he discovered a Shiva Lingam beneath a kadamba tree on the banks of a lake. The Shivalingam denotes the primeval energy of the Creator.It is believed that at the end of all creation, during the great deluge, all of the different aspects of God find a resting place in the Lingam; Bhrama is absorbed into the right, Vishnu to the left and Gayatri into the heart. The Shivalingam is also a representation of the infinite Cosmic Column of fire, whose origins, Vishnu and Bhrama were unable to trace. Thanking Shiva for his atonement, he raised a shrine to Shiva and built a Vimanam over it (the Indra Vimanam). The lake, on whose shore, the Shiva Lingam was discovered, is now venerated as the Potraamarai Kulam (the golden lotus tank). Indra bathed in this tank to rinse out his sins and worshipped Lord Shiva with the golden lotus from this tank.A stump of the kadamba tree, seen now in the temple, is all that is said to remain from the forest of Kadamba trees .

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.

Kulasekhara Pandyan was the founder of the ancient city of Madurai. He was succeeded by Malayadwaja Pandyan. Malayadwaja Pandyan and his consort Kanchanamala who did not have any children of their own, worshipped with the desire of obtaining progeny. During the course of their ceremonial prayer, a baby girl appeared in the sacrificial altar miraculously.The Royal couple brought up this child as their own and named her Tataatakai. An odd feature about the baby was that it had three breasts instead of two, and that a divine prophecy decreed that the third one would miraculously disappear, at the princess’s sight of her consort to be.

Tataatakai grew up to be a valorous queen; she was also known as Meenakshi, the one endowed with fish like eyes. Tataatakai embarked upon a DigVijaya or a tour of victory, across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent. In the course of her travels she came to Mount Kailash where she encountered Shiva; upon standing in front of Shiva her third breast disappeared and a valorous warrior princess transformed into a blushing bride.

Shiva directed Meenakshi to return to Madurai, and promised her that he would join her in eight days as her groom. Accordingly Meenakshi returned to Madurai, and at the appointed time, the divine wedding was celebrated with pomp and splendour. Maha Vishnu, believed to be the brother of Meenakshi is said to have given the bride away.Legend has it that Meenakshi and Sundareswarar ruled over the city of Madurai for a long period of time. Sundareswarar also goes by the name Sundara Pandyan. Ugra Pandyan the son of the divine couple is believed to be none other than Subramanya.(alias murugan,skanda, kartikeya)

The earliest references available to any structure in this temple is the second Prakara a shrine, now called that of the Sangam poets, contains images of many of them. In the same Prakara there is a shrine apparently dedicated to Kariyamanikka Perumal, but now empty. Also in the same Prakara there is a row of fourteen small shrines, called the "isvarams". Many of them contain Lingas. Expansive corridors surround this holy tank and on the pillars of the northern corridor the figures of 24 poets of the third Tamil Sangam are etched. On the walls of the northern and eastern corridors exquisite painting depicting scenes from 'puranas' can be seen. The verses of Tirukkural are inscribed on marbles slabs on the southern corridor.

Paranjothi Munivar wrote the Tiruviayadal Puranam in the sixteenth century. It is regarded as the temple's Sthalapurana. An earlier work adds a few celestial sports not included in the latter. These are, or rather were painted on the walls around the Golden Lily Tank. Some of the painted wooden panels are in the Temple Museum.

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. All of the temple, along with the surrounding streets were completely brought down, with the exception of the twin shrines of Meenakshi and Sundareswara. It is believed that the shrines were spared, thanks to infighting between the invaders.

With amazing resilience the temple came back to shape. Viswanatha Nayak of the Nayak dynasty – successors to the Vijayanagar Empire, commenced the task of reconstruction, sticking meticulously to the original plan of the temple.

[WillyWick]

[Anniyan]

If you wanna see smaler size of this picture, check post number 28.

[MaduraiSelvam]

Anniyan, I have your thousand pillar photo as my desktop. Recently during my official talk I let the International audience see my desktop before my talk. After my talk people had question about the photo and I was very proud. Thank you.

[Anniyan]

Most of the cracks detected in the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple may have formed a decade ago, says A. Boominathan, Professor and Head, Geotechnical Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras.

"Only a few of them may have formed recently," he told The Hindu here on Friday, after inspecting the temple along with a team led by Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments K.R. Periakaruppan.

"Extensive testing" of the soil beneath the temple would be carried out over the next few weeks to ascertain the reason for the cracks.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/21/stor...2108770400.htm

[madurai veeran]

Its atmost important that a monument like the meenakshi temple which has been for centuries be properly maintained and preserved for the future generations to cherish its architectural marvel.

Government should take stern actions to prevent highrise buildings in the vicinity. Government should take actions to decongest that part of city which could reduce all kinds of pollutions from affecting the temple.

[madurai veeran]

MADURAI : The Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple here is all set to receive a major facelift as a sum of Rs. 2.20 crore has been sanctioned by the Tourism Department for renovation works.

This sum is apart from the Rs. five crore sanctioned by the State, which was announced by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister, KR. Periakaruppan, during his visit to the temple on Friday.

"The works include provision of a facelift to the art museum as in the case of the Chennai Fort Museum," said a department official here on Monday. The Rajagopuram and `Tirukkalyana Mandapam' will be the areas where renovation work has been planned. A lion's share of the funds will be directed towards the Thousand Pillar Hall, for which Rs. 175 lakh has been allotted. The Rajagopuram will get Rs. 10 lakh and the `Tirukkalyana Mandapam' Rs. 35 lakh.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/24/stor...2414920300.htm

[WillyWick]