This is the 3rd destination of my south India Travel, to read about previous destination ,click here and here.
Madurai, is the third largest city, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the River Vaigai, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
It is happens to be one of India's most prominent Hindu pilgrimage centres and therefore, my family(my in-laws) were very keen to visit this city on our South India trip.
I, on the other hand was not so keen, as visiting a overgrown congested city is not my idea of a holiday , but family holidays are all about adjustments, so I relented and we landed up for a day in Madurai, the famous temple town of south India.
The city is most famous for Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple . Before I saw it, I wondered how big can a temple be to sustain a whole city for 2 millenia.
But when i saw the main entrance of the tempe, boy was I blown away!!....simply put, it is a magestic temple built in epic proportions!!
Some Basic Info on the Meenakshi Amman Temple(courtesy wikipedia) - It is dedicated to Parvati who is known as Meenakshi and her consort, Shiva named here as Sundareswarar(beautiful deity). The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500 year old city of Madurai. The complex houses 14 gopurams(gateway towers) ranging from 45-50m in height, the tallest being the southern tower, 51.9 metres (170 ft) high, and two golden sculptured vimana(shrine) over sanctum of the main deities. The temple is a significant symbol for the Tamil people, and has been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, though the present structure is built during 1623 to 1655 CE.
It took us 3 hours to go around all the temple complex, visiting various deities, shrines, decorated corridors and sculptures.
It is one of the few temples which allowed photography inside the premises and I had a wonderful time clicking pics here!!
The temple attracts 15,000 visitors a day, around 25,000 during Fridays and gets an annual revenue of sixty million INR. There is an estimated 33,000 sculptures in the temple and it was in the list of top 30 nominees of the "New Seven Wonders of the World".
I never had so much fun inside a temple and never before so fascinated......in the end i concluded, the city of Madurai was worth visiting just for the temple!!
And so ended another wonderful (but by now somewhat tiring) day of our south India tour!!
31 comments:
Beautiful post. Nice shots of the Gopurams.
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First time here .. lovely post and wonderful pics to boot ! I'll be back for more :-)
incredible India!
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No wonder it can be on the list of the 7 words miracles!
stunning pictures :) South Indian temples are beautiful and magnificent.
Beautiful narration, Sushmita ! Loved reading this piece .
informative post .nice clicks of temple.
thanks for stopping my blog and follw. hope in future also
happy to follow u
informative post .nice clicks of temple.
thanks for stopping my blog and follw. hope in future also
happy to follow u
beautiful pics!
on my bucket list!
Madurai is an awesome temple city.
WOW! What architecture. Its beautiful!!
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Wow. How beautiful and exotic. Nice photos.
Wow!! truly breautiful .another add on to my to visit list!
This temple is simply awesome - I've never seen anything like it! And, before your blog here, did not even know it existed.
Thanks you for sharing your marvelous photos and this information with us!
Blessings to you!
Awesome pictures of the Madurai temple,thxs for sharing.
Beautiful pics..I went to Madurai three yrs ago and all I can remember is the bling in all the jewellery shops! :D
Nice Photo Journey !
the pictures are just breathtaking!!!
Wow! Breathtakingly beautiful! I've never been to Madurai before and now I can't wait to go there!
such a beautiful place... absolutely marvellous ..thanks for sharing cud never know otherwise..Its mesmerizing ..I went through pictures many times ... India is such a huge heritage ..would take years to explore ..thanks once again
Nice photographs of the historic town. And you've got a great blog header!
enjoyed Madurai through your neatly crafted frames :)
You have nice collection of pics. Have a great trip for meenakshi temple! The pictures of Temple are lovely.
Nice informative post and i like Madurai for the pure architecture of the temple .Its creative and very detailed :P
Just an architectural wonder. Was amazed at seeing it in person.
Its a grand structure which holds one in awe who looks at it.
Beautiful pictures. Perhaps you have missed the pillar having the statue of Meenakshi with three breasts. There is also a story behind this.
@P.n.subramaniam - yes sir..i did see that statue and my husband knew about the story..and he told me about it...u see my husband did a thorough research about all the places before he took us on this tour!!
The pictures of the kovil are breathtaking! :)
I am very fortunate that I have visited this temple n just loved every bit n corner of the temple :) u have a gr8 post on India tourist places loved all the pics....
You love a lot of travelling don't you?! :) Gorgeous temples those are!
Have always wanted to go to Madurai just for the temples!!!
Your newest follower :)
beautiful post...loved to see the landmark of my city captured so well by u :)
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